Event: Gear West Duathlon Date: Sunday, May 19, 2013 Location: Orono High School, Orono MN Hotel: Home, sweet home (10 minute drive away!) Weather: 66F, winds at 10 MPH from SSW, light rain (heavy rain right before, delaying start 15 mins) Official Results: Overall Results; Age Group Results; Gender Results; Awards Results Previous Results: Last time I was at this event was 1992, and it was held in the fall at that time Personal Results Goal: Top 5 in AG Actual: 3rd in AG Overall: 60th (249 total); 3rd in 50-54 AG (26 total) Garmin Garmin results link Pre-Cap What a long weekend. Friday night was spent driving to River Falls WI for the pre-event technical meeting for Podium Boy's first Modern Pentathlon. 50 mile drive took 1 hr 45 mins. Saturday it was the MP event itself kicking off with fencing at 8AM, swimming at 11AM, equestrian at 2PM, and the combined (shooting/running) at 3PM. Podium Boy came out as Male Youth C Champion (yeah!!) and is now going to Colorado Springs the first week of July to train with the Youth Development team at the Olympic Training Center and then compete in the national event. Podium has work ahead of head, there is a boy in New Mexico that might be a bit better than him at the moment. If you are curious, here is a link to photos from the Pentathlon event. And video: 20 13 Great Prairie Pentathlon Highlights from Brian Maas on Vimeo. As for me, Saturday was a very long day including travel time. When I woke up Sunday I was toying with bagging the Gear West Du and just going back to bed. Especially when the weather radar showed a big line of red heading our way. Still, with rain pouring down I left for the event. Heading to the Start Line Because of the rain, the event was delayed 15 minutes. I chose to run with the competitive wave, which means I got to leave with Wave 1 yet still be available for AG awards. I wanted to do this because I figured it would be very muddy (much of the run course is trail), and footing would be treacherous, especially on the second run. And it was muddy! Sorry, no GoPro videos...that would have been cool...but the battery was charging from the MP the day before. But to give you a taste, here are the flats I used. I used my backup Mizuno's as I knew my Nike LunaRacers would get destroyed. Before the raceAfter the race.  Run One (2.8 miles; Garmin said 3.03) Goal: sub 6:30 pace Time: 20.20 (7:16 per mile pace) Did I mention it was muddy? And I fell turning a tight 180-degree turn on muddy grass. Insult to injury. Transition One Goal: 1:10 Time: 1:50 Sort of a long stretch from the timing mat to the bike corral, so I'm not worried about being over my goal. Bike (16.6 miles) Goal: 21+ mph avg Time: 47:08 (21.1 MPH Avg) The bike wasn't that bad, as the rain stopped. What was bad was I had my first calf cramps of the year. I easily lost 60-90 seconds, maybe more, trying to shake those out. I was surprised as I had not had any this racing season. Maybe it was the slipping and sliding in the mud. Additionally, while I really like my new racing helmet, it got pretty steamy in there on climbs and the face shield did fog up a bit. But it cleared quickly.  Transition Two Goal: 1:10 Time: 1:18 At least the calf muscles did not cramp up while changing into the flats. Run Two (2.8 miles; Garmin said 3.03) Goal: sub 6:50 pace Time: 21:48 (7:47 per mile pace) The calf muscles were extremely tight as I started the second run. More of an old man shuffle. It took a good 1/2 mile before I can get into a normal stride. The second run felt better than the first, but after 250 people went through the course the first time, the second time was a swamp mud fest. I kept expecting to see lost shoes stuck in the mud. On the second run, before the mud flats Post-Cap This does not bode well for Apple and possibly qualifying for Worlds. I will need to finish in the top 6 in my AG, and as of now I count at l