Weekend Warrior speaketh.....

Saturday morning way too early: Well, the two alarm clocks I set both went off as scheduled at 5:10 a.m. as well as 5:19 a.m. and I roused myself to a state approaching wakefulness despite the early hour. I had set out my race shorts the night before along with the transition bag and assorted stuff necessary to complete my run/bike/run switches. After getting some water bottles ready to go and loading the bike, I was on the road by 5:30 a.m. for the 2 plus hour trip to the race site. Good times listening to some old cd's from my youth on the way out there including some classic Def Leppard I haven't heard in years. I arrived to the site of the race at a small local college where the race had been moved from the original site. I reported for packet pick up only to discover the race director had not actually received my entry. Not a good way to start off my on site preparation mentally since I feared having to turn around and go home without racing. Can anyone say wasted trip? I should note that as a veteran racer I have observed many people completely lose all perspective and start arguing/yelling with the staff at such moments all to my horror because I always thought doing so was stupid since you are hoping these people will assist you in your quest to enter their race and yelling at me has seldom induced me to help someone. The race director was cool about it though. He asked if I happened to have entered within the past 12 hours online; "No" I replied. I mailed my entry about 2 months prior. Well, said director never received any mailed entries; only ones via Active.com. Umm....interesting. So, since I recall sending this entry off with several others and marking it "paid" in my race calendar I was mystified. However, I was not about to argue with the guy so I said it must have gotten lost in the mail. Thinking about it later I wonder if it was received at the location of the original race course and not forwarded to the race director at the new site. I asked if there was any way I could still enter. Sure, he replied, we just need a check for the race fee and with that he gave me an ankle strap with my timing chip attached and said let him know if I check with the bank and the original check has been cashed. Excellent news since with the scribble of a few lines on a blank check I am now officially in the race.

Also more good news: I am #63 which means the field is on the small side. Other news that alters the race plan include the fact that the course location move has resulted in the race being shortened from a 5/40/5 to a 4/40/4. Thus, we are running 1 mile less on each run leg and the run course is basically around the grounds of the college but almost entirely on grass. Excellent from my perspective since I always prefer to go shorter. The OCD racers must have stayed home today since I did not see anyone visibly upset by the alteration in the distances though I did not stick around waiting for that to happen since I had a transition area to set up. The run course is 2 miles long which means we will be making 2 laps of the course before mounting the bike. Also, this was one of those races that did not give out shirts but rather, a race pullover jacket (quite rare). I had the option of either size (S) or (M) which almost made me laugh since I figured there's no way that sucker will be fitting but it actually made it over my broad shoulders and not inconsequential gut. Wonders sometimes do occur.

I walked my bike over to the transition area and set up my bike, helmut, gloves, glasses, shoes and towel. I did about a 1 mile warm up and met a fellow St. Louis Tri Club Member named Peter who lives in Belleville. He was wearing our club shorts and I also talked with a guy named Terry who saw my race top and asked about our swim workouts since he lived in Manchester. I tried to talk him into joining the club and we ended up comparing notes on our mutually horrible swim experiences with triathlon. I have some glimmer of hope that he may join the group since he was intrigued by the notion of finding someone at the swim sessions at Crestview who might actually have experience teaching someone or giving pointers since he said he needed help. I can emphathize.

There was a race meeting for the competitors about 10 minutes before the race basically explaining how many loops we were doing (2 on the run and 2 on the bike) and the fact that the roads were open to traffic. The race was extremely low key. We started by a giant outdoor art sculpture and the fast guys immediately took off. I started off at a pretty quick clip but slowed down after the first 1/2 mile to a comfortable pace in probably 30th place or so. There was only one minor hill on the course that lasted for about 10 seconds so I was relatively happy running this course. After the first lap a number of competitors stopped at the transition area and mounted the bike since some competitors were doing the short course 2/20/2 race. My race position did not really change at all on the second lap. My first two miles were run in about 16:10 (8:05 mile pace) while I finished the second lap in 33:15 so I slowed about 32 seconds per mile on the second lap mostly because I wanted to be crisp and not too winded on the bike. I think there were about 15 guys ahead of me doing the long course at the end of the first run leg.

I went into transition and completed the transition in 1 minute 15 seconds. I took my time to catch my breath as I was putting on my cycling shoes. We had to walk/run our bikes out of transition to the road and mount there. Most of the cyclists were rocking out on full tri bikes with discs and aero helmets. Not yours truly with my old school road bike. I did not have a chance to preview the cycling course before the race but I would be making two laps of the course so I figured I would push hard all the way on the first loop which was an out and back course and use the knowledge of the route learned on the first loop to plan a smart second loop. The first few miles were not ideal since we were rolling on hard impact crushed rock (averaging 17-19 mph) but then we turned onto a concrete main artery road that was thinly traveled at that hour. There was a hill about 1 mile from the turn onto the concrete road but it was not very long or steep so I was able to ride up it averaging about 14-15 mph. Once I crested the hill I pushed hard on the downside and switched into the big chain ring and started rolling 23-25 mph for a minute or two. After about 3 miles we turned left onto a second main artery road and traveled for about 6 miles until we turned around. Again I was able to hold a pace between 18-19 mph most of the way.

On the first lap 3-4 riders past me the first few miles and after that my position held until right before the turn around when I passed a few cyclists who were also riding something other than a tri bike. At the conclusion of the first bike leg at the college I swapped out a water bottle for a second one provided by the volunteer staff and also picked up a gatorade twist top bottle that I carried for the next mile while I drank it. Good stuff but I lost a few seconds coming to a complete stop to pick it up. My time for the first 20 mile loop was an hour and 3 minutes. I was trying to maintain a thirty minute per 10 mile pace which I held on the first 10 miles before the turn around but the wind was at my back on the way out but in my face coming back to the college so I naturally slowed down a little. As I was a few miles out from the second lap I began to pass the top racers beginning their second lap ahead of me. I tried to count them and came to around 20 or 21 riders. Not bad I thought. Well, I tried to maintain a good pace going back out now that I knew the course and my legs felt pretty good. I rode another 30 minute split for the first 10 miles and on the way back was able to close the gap on three riders that I think had passed me on the first loop.

When I dismounted the bike they were still about 20-30 seconds ahead of me but looking at them it was apparent that I would be able to catch them on the run so I was pleased. The second transition was pretty quick since I was determined to get in and get out as fast as possible. Total time for T2 was 45 seconds which was basically racking the bike, switching into running shoes and ditching the helmet and gloves. My legs were feeling a little sore but still turning over fairly well. I was able to catch four runners within the first mile all of whom looked like they were hurting. I saw three of the four start walking as I was approaching them. I stopped for water near the first mile and took in some water and dumped the rest over my head. I think stopping really interfered with maintaining a good pace but I felt like I needed the water. I stopped a second time in mile two for water as well. At the conclusion of the first loop I was running at about 19 minutes or 9:30 minute per mile pace.

I started the second loop determined not to stop for water and hoped this would lead to a faster time. Not stopping for water was a good idea since I was able to pass another runner at the water table and tried to hold my pace to the finish. I finally began noticing the heat which was increasing and I could feelt my arms and shoulders getting baked but I was near the finish so I had no worries. The finish came up and I came across the line in 3 hours 20 minutes and change. Not stopping for water dropped my second loop time by a minute for the 2 mile course to a 9 minute per mile pace.

Overall thoughts on the race: I was happy to be allowed into the race given the circumstances and also pleased the race was shortened afterward. Also, the previous duathlons I competed in all had bike legs of between 20 to 24 miles so it was great to go roughly twice that distance in a race knowing that I recently signed up for a half ironman this coming summer which would include a 56 mile bike leg. Now I know I can race the bike at a good clip for long distances and can complete the half ironman assuming I survive the swim. I will post more after starting a new entry; stay tuned.