NOTL Duathlon Race Report

I guess I am now officially a multisport athlete, having participated in an event of more than one discipline. Luckily, it was the two events that I'm (supposed to be) good at: running and biking. I didn't have any huge goals for the day since I'm barely in run shape, and who knows what will happen on the bike. There were, however, three plans I had, one for each section of the 4 km run/ 23 km bike/ 4 km run race.
1. Take it easy on the first run. Treat it as a long day run, pay no mind to other people's paces, and leave lots in the tank for second run.
2. Score at least +10 on the bike (pass ten more people than pass me).
3. Let it all hang out on the last run, to get a good estimate of the threshold HR. Hopefully crack 18 minutes (prefer 17:30).

Now let's recap the race and see how well the goals were met.
The gun went off, I settled into my pace, lost one of my Powergels out of my pocket, was getting passed, and, within 300m, completely abandoned my plan. I'm too competitive to let someone I believe should be slower than me run away from me. So I went much harder than I planned. This led to a sidestitch, which I haven't experienced in years. I don't think I got one during the marathon training. I held tough, knew it would disappear during the bike, and got things done to transition. (Mission one: failed)

I had a relaxed transition, both times, which cost me later, but it's all a learning experience. As I was heading out for the bike, I was held up by an official who wanted the chinstrap of my helmet tighter. After messing with that for a minute, I was off. I settled into my rhythm pretty quick, turned the gear over well, got passed by a few, but passed a bunch more. After the helmet issue, I was too distracted to keep count, but I'm sure I hit my goal. i-Magic lies about power. If I could turn the power they claimed, I'd be much faster on the bike. I'm not disappointed by the result, I probably could have done more, but it is what it is. Headwinds suck for little guys, especially ones on a road frame. (Mission two: accomplished)

After another slowish transition, I was out for the last run. I now knew the markers, so I could mentally tick off the ground covered. I felt good coming off the bike, and kept a good pace. I did a lot more passing here than I did on the bike. My only disappointment was with 1 km to go, I had three guys I had been running down just a few yards ahead., and I couldn't close the gap. I don't know if it was a lack of legs, or a lack of killer instinct (I remember thinking how much it would suck to get clipped that close to the line, and might have backed off doing it). That cost me a few places and a few seconds. In all though, I gave pretty much everything I had. According to the results, I did 17:47 (I was 17:19 for my "relaxed" first leg). I did have a much better last leg compared to the rest of the field, so that's a nice result. My "grip" on pace has always been a strength, so it's good that's still around. I'm not fast, but I don't slow down. (Mission three: accomplished)

In summary, a good day. As I was finishing the first leg, I saw Claire and as I passed her, just rolled my eyes. Why do I do this to myself? What a stupid event. By the end, I was thinking, "I need to do this again." An absolute blast. This is the first time in a LONG time I've been in the bottom half of my age group results (26/47), but I'm OK with that. Those guys in front of me probably had more than a month of aerobic running in their legs, and a more concentrated effort on tempo work will pay off in spades over the winter. (So will the investment in a TT bike :)

Big thanks to the folks at Birdsong Chalet B&B for putting us up for the night, and huge thank you to my wife, cheerleader and sherpa. I couldn't do it without you.

Official results