Duathlon: I woke up early the next morning for the duathlon. I later learned that as I was setting up my transition area another aftershock had occurred. Being on the ground, rather than on the third story, and moving around, neither Peep nor I even noticed it. Small aftershocks continued to rock the area for the rest of the weekend.
The race began with a 10 kilometer run, for which I kept a relaxed pace. Then it was on to the bike, a very short loop we had to complete eight times to make 44k, a bit longer than the standard 40k distance. The short loop made it very friendly to spectators, as the fans were able to see the competitors after each loop. I felt good on the bike, again not overexerting myself. I was satisfied with my performance as I headed into the transition area to switch back to running, this time a 5k. My second run was slow and my calves were sore, as I had expected. I had recently changed my running style to land on the ball of my foot rather than on the heel, a more efficient way to run. However, this style requires more calf strength than the old style and I had not adequately built up the strength I needed for the races.
Of course, the earthquake was the main topic of conversation among all the participants. The Syrian national team was so shook up by the experience that they ended up sleeping outside, fearful to go back into their rooms. There are no earthquakes in Syria. I checked out the news reports back at the hotel after the morning duathlon, while resting up for the aquathlon. The quake's epicenter was to the north, in a sparsely populated area of Myanmar. It registered 6.7 on the Richter scale. The last report I have seen put the death toll at 74 in Myanmar, with only one death in Thailand. A lady was crushed when the wall of the poorly constructed building she was in collapsed on top of her.
Aquathlon: After recovering from the morning race, it was back to the hotel for a shower, lunch, and a short nap. We then headed back to the race venue for the second race of the day, the aquathlon. The Mekong was flowing fast, as usual, and they started us out on the beach. In order to do so, they shortened the swim to just over 1000 meters, down from the usual 1500 meters. The water was a bit cold and I had a little difficulty catching my breath early on. I eventually got into my rhythm but was thrown off again near the end when a fellow competitor knocked my goggles loose. I had to tread water as I cleared them out before finishing the final 100 meters of the swim. The 5k run went better than I had expected following my race in the morning, probably due to the setting sun and cooler weather of the late afternoon. Then, it was back to the hotel to shower, eat, and sleep again.