This Saturday was the 4 mile beach run in Daytona and the weather could not have been better. Of course it was warm, as it is Florida, but overcast and not too bad. There was a good turnout and the beach was not too bad as far as having a lot of soft sand. It was a low tide and pretty good conditions.
I started out a little slower so I could let some faster people by me to give me some "rabbits" to chase. Everything was going well and I felt good. I'm used to triathlons and running in open running races is eye opening to see how fast some of these guys and girls are.I was really wishing we had a bike first to tire some of them out. At the 2 mile turn around, I picked it upa bit and srated to hurt a little (in a good way). I train to finish every run with a negative split and this is why. I get an energy boost as I pass the faster runners who are now slowing a bit due to their pace and at the same time seem to suck a little wind from their sail as I go by.
I caught and finally passed a friend of mine that I have not beaten yet and that felt good. I guess the mile repeats with the 18 year old are paying off. A girl came by and tried to sprint by to the finish line, but that was not happening. I caught and passed her just before the finish. Come to find out, she is a cross country star from a local high school.
I finished with a 7:12/mile pace and got 6th in my age group. I felt good because though I didn't place, it gave me a good gauge of my pace for the next sprint tri on July 18th. The run is on the beach and I have a good idea of where I should be for the 3 mile beach run at the end. It was a great race and weekend with the family. I have some speed workouts planned for this week in prep for the next 2 triathlons. There are 2 in 4 weeks so I want to be ready.
Yesterday I had a good 25 mile ride with a quick 1 mile transition run right after. Felt good even though the legs were a bit tired from race day.