Heatwave race report

I did ok in the race, not great, not terrible. It was not an “A” race for me this year, so no big deal. Lots of travel this week, work, stuff at home, blah, blah, blah. I really just wanted to beat my time from last year, which was 2:42:07. So at least I managed to do that.

It was a typical hot, humid Mississippi day. I felt it when I stepped off the plane on Tues. (Don’t try this at home!) Turn your oven on to 350 degrees and let it sit for a couple of hours. Then open the door. Welcome to MS in the summer!!! Actually, it wasn’t that bad. It was a short race so the heat didn’t bother me much. I’m used to it even though I had been gone for several weeks. There was a little headwind coming back in on the bike, but it was not as bad as either IMAZ or COS.

Swim 900 yards. Time = 13:45.
Don’t get too excited. The distance was not marked right. It was too short. I figure it was only about 600-700 yards. It went easy. Nothing special.

T1 = 1:26. Got out of there ok.

Bike 24.5m. Time = 1:25:03. Pace = 17.5 mph.
I was going to try the flying mount thing with my shoes already clipped in, but it didn’t work. I was mounting from the wrong side and one of my shoes popped off. Had to go back and pick it up. Cost me 1:00 minute. I didn’t bike well at all. Just didn’t have my legs today. Don’t know why. Forgot my bike pc. Left it in COS. I just tried to go as fast as I could, but didn’t have anything to pace with. Didn’t matter. Could not have gone any faster anyway. Went 18.5 mph last year. So I am regressing.

T2 = 1:58. Took too long here. Can’t remember what happened. I was trying to get my Garmin started, but otherwise, just slow I guess.

Run = 6.2m. Time = 58:53. Pace = 9:30/m. I actually ran pretty well! I got off to a good start, but not too fast. Too many times, I start out too fast and bonk. But the Garmin police kept me in line. I was at 9:30/m for first 2m. Mile 3 is mostly up hill. At the turnaround, I was at 9:45/m. Figured I would make up time on the back 3m, which I did. I ran about 9:15/m over the last 3m to finish at a 9:30/m pace, pretty good for me. I ran the last mile well, so I finished strong. Don’t know what my pace was on the last mile, but it was probably sub 9:00. I could have kept running. I felt pretty good. I have been running consistently in COS so it paid off. My breathing was great! I breathed easily the whole way. Maybe this will show up again in IMAZ…

Overall time = 2:41:03. Mission accomplished!

That’s about it. Got to train more consistently for IMAZ Nov, my other A race.