VA Duathlon Race Recap

My first duathlon of the year took place on April 1st at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry, VA.  The weather was in the low 60s and sunny.  This duathlons (run-bike-run) distance is 5K-37K-5K.  It is a small event with about 200 participants.

The night before the race had me up late glued to the Kansas vs Ohio State game eating pizza. As I am writing this report after KU lost to Kentucky in the final last night I have to say Kansas had an amazing year and surpassed all expectations. They showed heart and drive and a willingness to never give up throughout the tournament.  That's a universal law to be successful at anything.  So back to the race report.. I ate a bowl of oatmeal and sipped on some Gatorade Endurance before my hour drive out to the middle of no where.  I was feeling really full from all the food I ate Saturday, I definitely should of passed on the vegie eggrolls.  Sometimes all the energy I burn from training catches up with me if I don't continue to refuel enough throughout the week and there are days when my body tells me to eat eat eat and I listen :) , but I try not to let that happen.  Anyways my stomach wasn't feeling too great at the start of the race. 

I arrived at the race site with what I thought would allow me time to run a couple miles warmup, but it took FOREVER to get my race packet and I really had no time to warmup, not ideal.  The 5K run started with a group of us going through the first mile in a little over 5 minutes then a few guys took off in the front (or maybe I slowed). For whatever reason my legs felt heavy and I couldn't stay with the lead group through the rolling hills and finished the first 5K in 17:39.

(First 5k on the rolling run course)

I hit T1 looking forward to bike.  I lost a good 20 seconds from taking off and then on my race number belt. I'm programed to put on the race belt in T1 after the swim; it messed me up having it on already I think.  Before the race I had noticed my front brake pads were pulled against my wheel due to the car ride over.  I was convinced I had fixed it during my transition setup.  But as soon as I hit the first bump in the road the brake pads slam against the wheel. Every time I would correct it they would slide over again rubbing the wheel.  This is not a good start!   I'm now riding while pulling the brake pads over every few minutes so they don't rub the wheel, to very little avail.  But I would push onward.  The bike course had a few sharp 90 degree turns and around mile 9 I took one way too fast and found myself head first into a muddy ditch along the side of the road.  I was okay, it was a soft landing thankfully.  The front of my bike was now covered in mud, haha.  I started to think I should call it a day as I saw a few fast runners I passed on the bike ride on by me. I thought there was no way I was going to win this race now.  Quiting is not an option for me however.  I still had 14 miles to try to catch back up to the leaders before the run.  So now not only was my front aero wheel heavy with mud, the crash only exasperated the front brake issue.  This stuff is fun!  Did I mention I was pointed to go in the wrong direction at an intersection.. yeah so I lost another 30 seconds there trying to get back on course.  Eventually I did finish the bike course in 55 minutes.  I probably lost 90 seconds in the crash and who knows how much time was lost with the brake slowing me down. I would assume I could finish that bike course in 51-52 minutes had things gone to plan.

(T2- rack bike, put on shoes, grab gel, GO!)

(Running out from T2)

I came off the bike muddy and in third place.  Bruce and Marc were ahead of me and they are good runners.  I did what I could on that last 5K to catch them. My final 5K time was 17:22, which I am very happy with considering the hills.  I figured I would end 3rd overall because I hadn't passed them.  But Marc took a wrong turn on the run course somewhere, which put me in 2nd place at the finish. My finish time was 1:31:24, the winning time was 1:30:00. Both times broke the course record. 

(Taking off on the final 5k making sure I have my race belt on)

It's always an adventure! It sucks my crash cost me the win, but that's the way these races go sometimes.  It would have been easy to call it a day after the crash and the bike mechanical, but I don't race because its easy.  I race because it's hard and it hurts and that's fun for me. 

(With the race over I'm probably thinking what happened with the bike!?)

Two weeks until Boston Marathon!  I have one more week where I'm allowed to bike and run a decent amount before taper week.  This weekend I have the Autism Awareness 5K here in Virginia Beach.  I'm not looking to go crazy on it as I need to save it for Boston.