Heritage Park Triathlon Duathlon - Race Report

The start of the run around the lake...that we should have been swimming in.

I got up at 4:45am today to give myself plenty of time to get to the race.  I rolled out of bed and the first thing I did was flip on the weather.  It showed pretty much what I expected, 50 degrees, rain and 7-10mph winds.  Not the best weather for a race, but I'd pretty much set myself up for this, so I wasn't that worried about it. 

Oddly enough, I went through my regular morning routine, I shaved, showered, etc. just to kind of wake up and get me into the right frame of mind.  I threw on my tri-shorts and a long sleeve technical shirt - today did not seem like the day to wear a sleevless tri-top - and headed downstairs for a little breakfast.  I choked down some oatmeal and a glass of milk and headed out the door.  I had packed the car with my bike and gear last night, so I was ready to go.

I got to the parking area about 5:45am and proceeded to find a place to rack my bike in transition.  I started to set up my area, but realized that 1) it was raining a bit and I didn't want all my stuff to get wet yet; and 2) it was still waaaay freaking early because the race didn't start until 7:30am. 

I walked over to pick up my chip and get body marked and headed back to my area.  As an aside, it was kind of silly to get body marked today since I was wearing long sleeves and there wasn't a swim, but hey, I'm not in charge. 

Mine's the crappy white bike right in the middle, affectionately known as "Sir Blanco".

I jacked around with my stuff for a bit and chatted up a few people.  About 7am I went for an easy one mile warm up run and stretch, just to get the kinks out.  I visited the porta-potty one more time and I was about ready to start the race.

Who's that goofy tall guy...oh wait.

As I was lining up to start the race, Mrs. Gias walked up and found me.  It was pretty crappy weather, so I told her I wouldn't be offended if she didn't want to come out and watch, but of course, she's awesome and came out and took a bunch of pictures.  Thanks, sweetie! (and if she hadn't come...major guilt trip later)

Well, a minute or two after I saw Mrs. Gias, the race started. The first leg of the duathlon was a two mile run that I wanted to take easy to see how my left knee was going to hold up.  I started running and felt strong, but I held the pace back a bit to make sure I could continue the rest of the race.  Those first two miles went pretty quick and before I knew it I was in T1.  I did the first two miles in 16:39 - an 8:19/mile pace.  Faster than I planned to be going, but it still felt SLOW compared with the monster athletes I was competing with. However, overall I was pretty happy with this first split.

Here's me coming out of T1 trying not to look like a total idiot...mission failure.

T1 was actually a place where I had a bit of anxiety.  Getting on the bike, while running, in front of people, had the potential to be a disaster.  Let's just say I am not nearly as graceful as I should be and I recently took a fall on my driveway that didn't have me brimming with confidence.  Luckily I didn't have any falling incidents and got out of T1 in 54 seconds - that's an excellent time for me (and for most people), I'd take less than a minute in every race.

Quit smiling for the camera and pedal faster!

The bike leg started and it was about a 4 mile loop we did three times.  There were some good and bad things about the ride.  The good: it started with a nice downhill section and ended with a decent downhill section; of course the bad: the middle was pretty much all up hill, which was awful.  Other challenges of the bike course was the fact that it was 50 degrees and drizzling the whole time.  This made visibility through my sunglasses streaky and cloudy at best.  I know what you're asking right now, "Geek, why didn't you take off your sunglasses?" - well the drizzle and wind would have then went directly into my eyes and likely would have been even worse...lesser of two evils I suppose.  I also think I was the only one wearing winter thisulate gloves while riding the bike...what can I say, I'm doing this on the cheap and it was cold. 

The bike went well and I averaged about 16.2 miles per hour, which isn't fast, but it's pretty decent for me on this course.  Only one person in the race averaged more than 20mph, which tells me the course was slow and difficult today. 

What kind of weird ballet-dismount is that?

The other nice thing about the bike was that it was on a loop.  Yes, it was a little monotonous, however, I also got to see Mrs. Gias every 12 minutes when I passed the spectators, so that was a nice bonus.  I finished the bike in 42:08.  The first lap seemed slow, but before I knew it I had finished all three laps and was ready to head into T2.

Me falling down woudl have been a far more interesting picture.

If I was nervous about falling coming out of T1, T2 was a total nightmare scenario.  It was wet and I am not the best and unclipping and continuing to jog next to my bike.  Also, if you've never ridden a bike for a while and then tried to run right afterwords, it's harder than you think.  Your legs are wobbly and it's hard to get your bearings. Luckily, I unclipped waaaaaay early and was able to run into T2 without falling on my butt. 

Frankly, that's like a victory for the day right there.

It was at this point that I began to questioin why the hell I ever decided to try multisport.

I got through transition in :59 seconds, again, less than a minute, I'll take it.  I started the home stretch three mile run.  I have to say, I felt weaker than I thought I would.  I don't know if it was the earlier run, the fact I didn't drink as much as I should have on the bike or if the bike/weather combination really just wore me down more than I think that it should have.  For the most part the run was pretty uneventful and I kept a decent pace, not as fast as I'd like, but not bad.  I did the run in 27:18 or about a 9:06/mile pace.

I was honestly beat near the end of the run and I really couldn't kick much to finish at full speed.  That's odd for me because usually I have a little something left in the tank to finish hard and strong.  I guess I was just really beat today.  Honestly, the cold and rain (and the terribly thick, humid air) got to me. 

In any event, I finished the race with a smile on my face and felt good about it.  My final time was 1:27:56 and since I've never done a duathlon before, it's a Personal Record! Ha!  After I finished I met up with Mrs. Gias, got some post-race goodies (chocolate milk, bagels, etc.) and went to find my stuff in transition.  It was pretty cold and raining still, so I didn't stick around to chat with people too long (and nobody else was sticking around either). 

So a  few thoughts on the race:

•  I'm humbled by the fitness level of these people.  Wow, I thought I was in pretty good shape, but the people I raced today are machines.  They are fast on the run, faster on the bike and just keep going.  It's a lot to take in.
• I've got a race next week that's about twice the distance of this race...I'm a little worried.  Mrs. Gias asked me after I finished (and was totally worn out) if I would have rather gone into the race next week not knowing how hard this was going to be or if I was glad that I had this little warmup/wakeup call.  I told her I wasn't sure...
• Total respect for Ironman triathlons.  They are literally, ten times longer than what I did today.  That's crazy.
• Triathletes love their gear.  I mean, I had kind of figured this out before today, but the number of $6000 bikes with every gadget imaginible, even for people with no hope of ever winning anything was unbelievable. 
• I've got lots of work to do.  I can finish races...but I want to be faster.