Epic Battle (while, at least in my mind)

Yesterday I was suppose to have the day off of training, sleep in and just relax. Sleeping in didn't happen, Rach got back from a "trip" at 5 am and need a ride home from the airport, so alas I was on the road with Jackster about 4:45 to get her. My day off of training consisted of an 11 mile bike time trial in Medina followed by a 15 minute run with Jmac. As the title of post would suggest, something big happens. Okay its not that big. A buddy, lets call him Dennis had mentioned that he was doing the TNT (Tuesday Night Time Trial) in Medina. The weather looked good when I was leaving work, sunny and little to no wind. So I decided to loaded up the bike and go "ride" the course, but take it easy. By the time I got started on my 11 mile journey, the clouds had rolled in and the humidity had increased; but still no wind. I took almost a minute off of my time from 2 weeks ago and added almost 1 mph to my average. I am seeing some great improvements in my riding and am really happy about it. Dennis, remember him, he beat me 2 weeks ago by 8 seconds; this week 9. What!!!! Here I am feeling good about myself for improving and I am losing ground when I need to be gaining it. Such is racing.
I got word today that my race in Des Moines next weekend has turned from an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5K swim, 40 k bike and 10k run) to a duathlon (10k run, 40k bike and 5k run) I am not overly excited about that changed format, but with the flooding and weather related issues that part of the country is dealing with right now, I am happy that Hy Vee is still able to put on a race. The pros that are trying to qualify for the last remaining Team USA spot will be fun to watch; and from what I hear this run/bike/run format will be much better to spectate.
So far I have had a good week of training, feel good coming off of a great race last Sunday and looking forward to Hy Vee. I need to stay focused on improving my run and continue to improve in the water. From the last post I had, if it wasn't real clear, the elites in this area are really good in the water; all over actually. But I need to be able to keep them in sight coming out of the water to feel like I have a chance. Kind of that out of sight out of mind mentality.