Lakewood Valley Triathlon 2.0
Whenever there is a new version of software or a sequel to a great movie, you always hope it will be bug-free or better than the last one. Well, this was my second year doing the local triathlon and I can say that my performance was better than last year, by over 22 minutes!!!

The Owensboro YMCA put on the Lakewood Valley triathlon today in Whitesville, KY, about 12 miles outside of Owensboro. The event is a 1/2 mile swim, 15 mile bike ride, and then a 3.1 mile run. Again, this year, I was lucky enough to have my mom down here to visit and cheer me on, along with some fellow triathletes. She is also attending the Intl Mystery Writers Festival this week in the Big O.

We had quite a bit of rain and storms last night, but this morning was cool and slightly overcast. The race temp was about 73 degrees F and the calm lake was warm - about 80 degrees. The sun did come out later on the bike and run, but still not too hot. The swim was long and wet. At least I didn't feel like I was dying when I got out of the water. There is a 1/4 mile uphill run to the bike transition, though, which might make you wish you were dead!

Last year, I was unprepared for the "rolling hills" on the bike and a couple times had to get off the bike and rest a bit. Not this year, though. I stayed on the bike the whole way and improved my time by over 10 minutes. Check out this link to see the route and the elevation changes - Rolling hills, very few flats, some steep grades, beautiful countryside. That description about sums it up. I may have been a little worn out from the bike, because my run was slower than I hoped, but still better than last year. When I left T2, I still had a chance to meet my goal of under 2 hours finish, but I just didn't have enough left for the run and came in with a final overall time of 2:04:23. All in all, I felt good afterwards and will be ready for the next challenge, which will be in Racine, WI in July.

Today's Mileage: 15.1 miles
2008 YTD Mileage: 254.7 miles
Miles to reach 2008 goal of 750 miles: 495.3
Avg Price of Gas in the 'boro: $3.90