today was a good day. today was the day of me first duathlon with the tri club.
i woke up at 430am (the race was supposed to start at 715am) and had a cup of coffee and the around 5am had a clif bar and some water. i headed out the door at 530am enroute to Mission Bay Park. I was there by 6am and the dedicated Tri club volunteers were already setting up the race. i sat in my car and listen to some music, sipped on a bottle of clif shot lemonade, and then went to set up my transition.
the transition setup was easy: my bike, bike shoes (on the bike), and my helmet. done. at 645am i started warming up. 10 min light jog then some easy stretching then 5 minutes of jogging mixed with strides at race pace. at 7am we were told that the course would be 2 mile out and back/13 mile bike (not a closed course)/repeat of 2 mile out and back. at 705am i was ready to go but there was a delay. the park rangers came over and becuase of the huge turnout (60+ guys and 15+ women) he gave the race director some crap because these are non-permitted club races. the race started at 730am. i stripped off my sweatpants and top...
for the race i work a QR tri top with a L/S underarmor heat gear underneath and QR tri shorts. i am always paranoid about getting cold on the bike. i hate the cold and that's why i live in San Diego (for now). so i stepped up to the line and for the first time got right up front. i usually stay back and then have to fight my way forward. not this time.
2 mile run#1:
so the race starts and one guy goes out fast so i stay "in his hip pocket". about a 1/4 mile in i can already tell his turn over is slowing so i take over and don't look back. i wasn't going all out by any means but was starting to gap the pack. at the turn around i was probably already up 20 seconds. i started increasine my speed about every 100 meters and increased my lead. i finished the first 2 mile run in 10:10.
T1:
super quick... in and out. i could see the other guys coming. i had a considerable lead.
13 mile ride:
i started hammering. i knew that were some good cyclist about to be chasing me. it started with two laps around fiesta island and i was averaging 23-24 mph (good 'ol adrenaline) and increasing my lead. right as i was finishing my 2nd lap i hit a rock and immediately felt something unexpected. i was on mile 6 of 13 and i thought... "no way i am getting a flat" and just kept hammering. a mile later.. sure enough. REAR FLAT! i was bummed, pulled over and started doing the dirty work. this was the firt time i have had to fix a roadside flat. the only other flat i have gotten on my bike was right by my house. i kept an eye on my watch and it wasn't until around 3 minutes after i stopped that the 2nd place guy passed... follow by a crap load of other guys. great. due to my incompetence it took me around 10 minutes to get back on the road. lame, but i was laughing... it's only a club race and i was still stoked about burying everyone in the first run.
so i start hammering like never before and start picking off people one by one until the end of the 13 mile ride.
T2:
flying of the bike. slipped on my shoes and took off.
2 mile run#2:
i was just starting as the leaders were on the home stretch. i ran a 10:40 for the last 2 miles, passed a lot of people, and felt really good which suprised my due to the fact that i was killing myself on the bike to make up time.
results:
not sure... maybe top 20 out of 60. but two fastest run splits of the day belonged to me. i'll take that.
lessons learned:
1. dont wear UA undershirt. i was burning up at the end, just like last time.
2. get better tires (already done, dropping my bike off at B&L tomorrow for tune up and getting new tires (michelin pro race 2) and tubes (specialized).
3. don't hold back on the run. i can recover on the bike.
the guy that won is a guy that i have done a couple open water swims with the club. he's a good guy and getting ready for IMAZ. i had a fun day and people kept coming up to me talking about my running (including bob babbitt, one of the origninal ironmen) and that i would have won hands down if i didn't flat. i just hope i paid homage to the bike gods and don't get a flat anytime soon. i can't wait for my first tri next week... redemption!! haha!!
this afternoon i went on a mellow 15 mile mountain bike and just cruised. i am beat!
update:
update... they just posted the official results on the tri club web page. the runs were even faster than i recored on my watch:
17th overall
1st 2 mile run - 10:07 (rank 1)
t1 - 0:22 (rank 6)
13 mile bike (with flat) - 46:48 (rank 37!)
t2 - 0:21 (rank 9)
2nd 2 mile run - 10:33 (rank 1)
http://media.cust.clickability.com/documents/MarchDu2006.htm
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7 comments:
Great job. Those are some smoking fast run splits! Sucks about the flat, but that's an amazing effort nonetheless.
Good job, nice work sticking it out even with the flat. I bet you could have taken Pete no problem. Bob must have done a double take when he saw you running by. I am pretty sure I will do the next club race and by the way your swim times are improving I better watch out or maybe I will drop some tacks on the ground, since I know you are not an expert flat changer.
I hate to say I told you so but, "I told you so." You're going to win your next tri...I'd bet money on it. I have a hard time THINKING about running that fast let alone doing it... Don't think I can attain that pace in my fastest sprint. Excellent job. And great job not losing your focus with the flat - you did what you had to do and kept going when others might've just bailed. Excellent!!
Jameson,
Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll check out Pre, the book on prefontaine. I'm pretty familiar with Dean Karnazes. He spoke at my tri club last summer and it was really neat to hear him. As you would expect, he had some crazy stories about training.
You might also like the book Sub 4:00 by Chris Lear. It's a story about Alan Webb when he was at UMich. They talk a lot about the training that those guys did.
To state the obvious: dude, those are fast run splits! At least you got the flat out of the way early in the season...hopefully it will bode well for a flat-free rest of the season.
That's so cool that the club offers races. I definitely need to check it out. I'm kind of waiting for the next Beginner's activity (bike ride or something) for an opportunity to check it out. I'm planning on doing the Devil Dog Duathlon April 22nd. And my first official tri race in San Diego will be the May sprint. I'm so psyched.
Damn, Gazelle-Boy! Those are some smokin' splits!!!
I'm with Spence, you are going to place, if not win your next tri!!!!
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