I awoke a few minutes before my alarm went off at 5 am, and got up feeling rested after a decent nights sleep considering it was the night before a big race. It is nice to have a race right here in Lake Havasu City where I can sleep in my own bed and stay in my normal routine.
I swung by and picked up Blake on the way down to the lake. We set up our bikes and gear in the transation area, put on our wetsuits, and headed down to the starting area as the sun was just starting to light the morning ski. It was 50 degrees with a mild breeze. After some instruction the race started promptly at 7 am.
The water was not as cold as Thursday morning but a wetsuite was definitely needed. It was one of the rougher swims I have done. I kept getting sandwiched between other swimmers, but did avoid any headshots. Blake was not as fortunate and finished the swim with a fat lip. I finished the 1.2 mile swim in 39:27 and quickly transitioned to the bike.
The bike course was a two lap out and back course. The wind was starting to pick up and was coming out of the north which gave us a head wind on the way out. It was stiff but managable on the first lap, but the second time heading out it was really strong and not fun at all. The wind made everyone's bike times significantly slower than last year. I was 10 minutes slower than last year, finishing the 56 mile bike leg in 3:00:31.
I gladly got off the bike and changed to my running gear, but as I started running my quads screamed at my with each step. I was worried that I had pushed too hard on the bike and would not be able to complete the run. I just took it nice and easy to start, running the first mile around 8:30. Near the end of the first mile a rock had logged itself between 2 of my toes and was hurting pretty good, so after failing to get it out by wiggling my toes, I stopped, took of my shoe and my sock and got it out. It took about a minute but was well worth it. I continued on and my quads started loosening up and I seemed to be getting stronger running the middle miles in the low 8 minute range. With a few miles to go I was feeling my best and was hitting the final few miles in the upper 7 minute range. I finally finished the 13.1 mile run in 1:41:11.
My finish time for the entire race was 5:25:13 which was good enough for 9th place overall (8th beat me by 3 seconds and 7th by 7 seconds), but only good enough for 5th in the 40-44 year old age group. I can't believe how competitive that age group is! Next year I move up the the next AG though. If I would have been either in the AG above or below mine, I would have gotten 1st. I'm very happy with the top 10 finish though. It was a fun race.
Blake finished 26th overall in 5:56:?? and got 3rd in his AG!!!!
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