CHILLY WILLY DU

Did Chilly Willy (www.chillywillydu.com)again this year and was able to squeek out another overall female victory but it wasn't easy. I figured I had a big target on my back this year and really wanted to defend my win from last year. I had a good opening run (5k) and went onto the bike (10 miles) with a lead but not very much of a lead. I lost that lead at around 6-7 mile mark (can't remember exactly when) and lost it bad! I have been riding the trainer quite a bit (see last post) and this leaves my legs quite tired which showed on the bike! I can run just fine with tired legs but pushing over big gears into the wind I don't do so well with tired legs! Anyway, the girl who passed me got a bit of a gap (probably 30+ seconds) which I had to deal with on the second run (another 5k). She is a good runner too so I really had my work cut out for me. The run route is on pavement for the first half and sand (some soft and some packed) for the second half. I'm not a very good sand runner so my plan was to run hard the first half of the second run and hold on for the second half in the sand. I managed to catch her just as we hit the sand and she held on pretty well. I went into the well pretty deep to hold the lead and won by only 6 seconds! Close battle......again! I hope this isn't how the whole season is going to go! I'm glad I was able to defend from last year. I think my fitness this early is pretty good and right about where it should be for mid-Feb so I'm happy about that. The Dane came in 5th overall (I was 12th overall for the whole field of 200++) which he did mostly on the bike because he came off the first run right behind me and rode like a madman on the bike! He did very well and I'm proud of him. Overall, a good race for both of us I think. The next race will be a new Olympic distance tri (1.5k swim/40k bike/10k run) at Fort Desoto on March 17th (one of my favorite holidays, St Pattie's). Looking forward to getting my new wetsuit (2XU) and trying it out on a few open water swims before then. Until then, will continue to slog away in the aerobic training zone! Looks like it's paying off!