Healthnet Triathlon

I had a week of recovery leading into this race. Every race is different and every recovery is different. My training week was pretty light this week with some active recovery workouts that helped to flush out my legs. My legs finally started to feel better on Friday just in time for Saturday morning's Healthnet Triathlon. My immune system was running a bit low all week. At midweek, I started to feel a cold coming on. It wasn't a heavy cold, but one of those annoying stuffy throats, headache, with a slight cough.
I was a bit anxious heading into the race with the cold and tired legs, but I was excited to race and have a good tempo effort. The swim is beautiful at this race. It takes place in the housatonic river at Indian Well State Park in Shelton, CT. The water was nice and flat this morning, although the current was running pretty well and it seemed that most swam around 4 minutes slower then last year. I felt pretty good during the swim and I just focused on finding a good rhythm. I ended up finishing the swim as the 3rd male from my wave. Friend and teammate Ian Ray led the wave out of the water with a smooth, consistent stroke.
Once I got through T1 and onto the bike, I focused on finding a good power level and I tried not to spike my effort too high. My legs felt ok, but mentally I was just not ready to go into the pain zone today. I was able to move along the bike course with a consistent effort and I was 1st body into T2. With a 3 wave field, I wasn't sure where the younger guys were as they started 5 minutes behind our wave.
As I started the run, I tried to focus on finding a good cadence and settling in. The run course is hilly and challenging. I was trying hard to keep my pace up without going into the redzone. That strategy became challenging as I hit the hills. My gameplan was to run with a consistent effort and see how things were settling in on the two loop course. The two loop format is very nice to get a look at everyone on the course. It's always nice to get a feel for how people are feeling. I finished the run in 35:14. It was a very interesting race to learn how my body would react to a race effort 6 days after a half IM. Results: http://www.triandduit.com/webforms/tad_ResultsDetail.aspx?rf=HealthnetTri2009.rdb&distanceid=1&Event=Healthnet+Triathlon&distance=Triathlon