Taylorsville recap

Road trip to Dougs Friday morning for some openers then it was off to KY to Dawn's for some R&R before the early get up for Saturday morning's race. Woke at 4:30, out of the house by 5:30, drove almost an hour in the rain to the race venue at Taylorsville State Park in Kentucky's rolling hill country, very beautiful area!
The rain stopped just as we were entering the Park so that was a good thing. Got unpacked, number pick up and it was a quick run and bike and then donn the wetsuit for the first open water swim of the year. Jumped in and swam about 400 meters for a bit of a warm up to get loose and I was feeling pretty good. Water temp was about 68-70 just right for a wetsuit. Horn went off and I was soon toward the front of the group with the leaders getting a gap by the first buoy. I was content going at my pace which was high tempo and never got into the red zone at all. Exited the water in 6th position, had a good T-1 and was soon climbing hills on the bike. I rode strong and made up 5 spots and rolled into T-2 in 2nd overall. Another good transition and was soon on the hilly run course and feeling good. I hit the half way mark on the run and was still sitting 2nd on the road, made the turn back and saw another runner running me down FAST! He ran up behind me, sat on my shoulder for a bit when he made his move. I stuck my hand out, told him to finish strong because he was obviously a much faster runner than I. He slapped my hand and said lets go...I picked up my pace to almost anerobic to try to go with him but he was just too fast. I backed it down out of the red and knew I had a comfortable gap to hold on for 3rd overall and thats the way it stayed to the finish. Doug finished 4th overall on a nice first race of the season too. He had a good run for not doing too much run training this season yet. He'll come around since he's going to Worlds in London this summer :-)

Overall I felt good in this race. I was solid in all three disciplines which means all the winter training is paying off...hopefully!

This weekend is Clays Park and the NEO triathlon season kickoff. Hope to have another good race against some of the best competition in this area, this race is always as tough as they get.