Great weekend of Pewaukee races! I was fortunate to participate in the 5k Friday, duathlon Saturday, and sprint tri Sunday. Chelsea did the 5k and got a new PR by several minutes! Great feat and proud of her for running hard in the very hot weather that we had—it’s not easy! She then supported me in my endeavors the rest of the weekend, making things a lot easier and more enjoyable for me. I used my races as training opportunities after losing the better part of a month to injury. I didn’t even put on my race wheels—just showed up to go hard and get back in shape, and also to get some great transition practice in. I did have the 2 fastest transitions in the duathlon, which I was happy about considering I improvised during my T1, and ran past my things during T2… In the 27 second range for each transition. I got some great lung conditioning during my bike rides. Tried not to overdo it on the running for the duathlon, then gave a hard run during the triathlon. Considering where I was a couple weeks ago, I am very pleased despite not being at full capacity. Averaged a 1:39 per 100 on the swim. Only 2 minutes behind the fastest swimmers of the day. 7 min, 14 sec put me at 57^th overall in the water. Compare that to last year, when I was 647^th overall in the water… How’s that for an improvement! I also ran faster this year, despite having raced the past 2 days and not having as much running fitness as a month ago.

Friday 5k:

Chelsea and I showed up at the race site about 10 minutes prior to race start. Bib pickup had closed, but fortunately for us Gigi was there and had picked up our things for us! Thanks! The weather was hot. I’d guess it was 85, and there was no help from clouds—we had sunny blue skies. Chelsea and I ran the race together. The course had some long grades and a few sharper hills, which I knew would be troublesome in the heat without her having much experience yet. She did great, pushing herself the first 1.5 miles of mostly uphill stretches, then pacing the way back and pushing it the last quarter mile uphill to the finish. 28:37, great for her 2^nd race and only a few months since she started running. She was 6^th place in her age group!

Saturday Duathlon:

Another hot day, 5 pm race in the 85 degree heat and sun. Chelsea and I arrived to the Pewaukee Village Park around 3:30 after some quality time spent shopping together… Chelsea helped me get all set up with my gear in transition and then we found some shade to sit and relax, listening to the event music and people-watching as we waited for the start. I took some time just prior to start to do a short warmup run, do my stretching, and finalize my transition plans. I didn’t plan to vie for the win, so I hadn’t even bothered to bring my race wheels. Otherwise, my gear setup was normal. I knew my run and bike wouldn’t be very fast due to my lack of training following the injury, but I felt this would be a great time to practice some quick transitions.

The gun sounded and off we went–my pace was about a 6 minute mile. The heat made perceived exertion a little difficult to use for gauging pace, and I slowed down a bit following the first hill. When I came into transition I had averaged just over 6 per mile. In transition, I grabbed a bottle off the ground that I hadn’t planned on taking when the race started. I knew I’d need it after the run. It was hot. T1 took me 28 seconds. Fastest T1. Not much to say about the bike. It was a hilly course. I tried to go hard as I could, but my lungs were having a hard time. Legs got a bit tired toward the end too. I drank all of the 2 bottles I had with me. It was hot. Coming into T2, I ran right past my transition rack. Even with the mistake, T2 took me 27 seconds. Fastest T2. Not much to say about the 2nd run other than it was miserably hot. Took about a mile before I felt okay. Finished strong.

My body held up and I got a fantastic day of training in. Had 2 of the top 3 transitions. Time to rest up for the next race, 11 hours away.

Sprint Triathlon:

Woke up just after 4 am. Chelsea and I headed down to the beachfront. I set up my transition, then got my wetsuit on about 45 minutes before race start. 20 minutes of warmup in the water. Went off with the elite starting wave. Averaged 1:39 per hundred, finished in 7:14. T1 was fine. Nothing much to say about the bike, other than within a mile my legs were ready for it to be over. Definitely felt the race from the day before. Ended up averaging 22.5 mph with my training wheels. Then on to the run course. Surprisingly, I was much happier running than biking. There was quite a climb on the run course, which was tough in the heat. I caught a bunch of racers during the run, and had a fun sprint to the finish. 2 guys ahead of me with 400 yards to go when the finish came in sight. 1 was about 30 yards ahead, the other about 75. We all picked it up about the same time. With 200 to go I passed the first guy, then was in as much of a sprint as I could muster. I was gaining on the guy in front, and we were both in a sprint to the finish. It’s a very long finishing chute, and we both maxed out toward the end and I finished about 1 step behind him. I dry heaved once and had about a 30 second window where I was expecting to puke, but never did. Fun race! Averaged 6:21 on the run. 5th in my AG for the triathlon.

Great weekend! Event organizers did a great job!