I was only cautiously optimistic mostly because I hadn't really been running. I mean, I really hadn't been running, I had logged all of 19 miles running, which is not a recipe for a success. On the other hand, I had LOADS of cycling miles, lots of intervals, and a healthy amount of confidence.
Perhaps I had a bit too much confidence. I decided to eschew my normal race day ritual. No checklist, no race day plan, I would just wing it. So you probably know how that turned out. Among the things I forgot: Race number belt, extra jacket (to keep warm before the race), and water bottles! Now the first 2, were annoying, but not really a problem. The water bottles, now that was problem. I actually had remembered them, but I put them in the freezer to stay cold for the ride to the race and forgot to take them out. Of course, I would have remembered them if I had my checklist which I normally check before I leave the house, but you know why that didn't work.
The first race of the year is actually the easiest for me. I usually have nothing to lose. That was definitely the case this year due to the tough winter Maryland experienced. I was mainly interested in getting some racing data to get an idea of where my fitness was. I found out. The Hagerstown duathlon is a sprint basically, 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, followed by a final 5k run.
It was a pretty good day weather wise. Cool and calm winds. Since the race is short I started warming up 30 minutes before the race went off. I got up a good sweat and when the gun went off I was nicely warmed up. Maybe too nicely warmed up, I went out at a 6:30 pace! Luckily I had NOT forgotten my Garmin and I realized I need to quickly reign in the pace or my legs would be jelly by the second run. I eased my pace back to a very respectable (considering my lack of run mileage) 7:45 per mile. I finished the first 2 miles in 14:21.
I didn't feel too bad after that effort and I was really looking forward to getting on my bike. I ditched my shoes, and had my bike shoes already clipped into the pedal and did my first flying mount of the season. I took 5 or 6 pedal strokes to get up to speed, and then eased my feet into my shoes. You make a tight right hand turn and you are out on the bike course. My bike strategy was to ride at my functional threshold power for the entire ride. I also wanted to break 30 minutes for the bike if possible, even though I knew the last 3 miles would make that tough. I was feeling pretty good, and started to feel really good when I went through the 5 mile mark in 14:30! I was 30 seconds ahead of my dream pace (my actual goal time was 31:00). Just after the 6 mile mark, a guy in my age group, passed me. This is always a challenge for me. I decided since it was the first race of the year I was going to push a bit and stay with him. We spent the next 4 miles trading passes and about a 1/2 mile from T2 he pulled ahead for good. He didn't get so far ahead of me that I couldn't see him so I just kept him in my sites.
I zipped through T2 in 55 seconds and caught sight of the guy who had passed me. I ran past him about a 1/2 mile into the run. Despite this I was no longer feeling so great. My legs were getting heavy, my muscles were starting to feel like they could cramp at any moment. So now I had to pay for all that lack of running. I downed as much Gatorade as I could at the next rest stop then set about just trying to hang on and not feel to bad. I was now running about an 8:35 pace, give or take 5 seconds. I was just looking for the mile to go marker, which meant I would only have to survive another 8 minutes or so. I was in survival mode and just wanted to maintain my pace when I heard footsteps. Crap, someone in my age group was trying to catch me. Much as I hated to, I increased my pace. The footsteps got a bit louder, I had about 1/4 mile to go. I picked it up a bit more. The footsteps seemed to quiet a bit. I could see the finish banner now. At that point, I just kicked for the line with everything I had. As a crossed the line, I turned around to see the footsteps turning the last corner, I had managed to hold off his charge.
I finished with a very respectable time (about a minute slower than last year's best, but a better bike time). There were some FAST old guys in my age group though. I finished a respectable 6th in my age group and left with the realization that a lot more running was in my future.
Later that day my calves started complaining. This normally would not alarm me, but I was scheduled to start a 6 day training camp the next day. I was starting to think this training camp would be way more interesting than the race.......... see my next post for the gory details....
Keep training ......
Peace
Robert
