Originally written on May 12, 2014
The Lake MacBride duathlon is the first race in a series of
3 duathlons sponsored by Scheels. Last
year, this series was my first venture into multisport racing after several
years of just running. Not only did I
really enjoy it, but I actually was fairly competitive and took 3rd
in 2 of the 3 races.
Race morning started normal – with me being nervous as
hell. I wasn’t confident in the training
I had done since it was mostly indoors, but that is the same for most people at
this point in the season. There were two
guys I could never beat last year (one is a professional triathlete) and I knew
ahead of time that both were competing in this race. As we lined up to start the race I heard
about a 2nd pro triathlete in the field as well…this did not help my
nerves or my confidence.
Run 1 (2.43 miles)
The first run began with a fairly steep downhill section
before heading into some off-road trails through the park. I tried not to start out too fast –
especially with the downhill, but nonetheless I was getting a little nervous
when at the bottom of the hill I was in 7th place. It was way too early to panic but not too
early to start thinking about panicking! Fortunately once I hit level ground I was
able to get into a good rhythm and settle into a goal pace of about 5:45 per
mile. Staying at this pace quickly paid
off as I had moved up into a tie for 3rd at the halfway point of the
run. By the time I reached the
transition area, I was only 1 second behind the current race leader. Run
time 14:09; pace 5:49. 2nd fastest split.
Bike (18.09 miles)
I mounted my bike relatively
well for the first time ever in a race! In
each of the duathlons last year, I lost at least 10 seconds just trying to get
onto my bike after leaving transition, however today was much better. While still not fast, I didn’t lose too much
time and I was able to start pedaling right away.
The course started out with a short downhill around the
beach before heading back up a hill and out of the park toward the town of
Solon. At this time I still was near the
lead, maybe only 15 seconds back with no one in sight behind me – and my legs
were feeling really good. Unfortunately
my version of feeling good is not the same as others. Within the next two miles not only did I lose
sight of the race leader, but the other professional triathlete in the field had
blown past me as if I was out for a trail ride with me kids. “OK, I’m still in
3rd place” I told myself.
Just before the halfway point of the bike course I was passed
again. Seriously people, I’m riding the
fastest I’ve ever done and I’m still getting passed? Over the next 8 miles I went back and forth between
3rd and 4th place until finally towards the end of the
ride I was able to put a little distance between myself and the current athlete
holding 4th place and come into transition with a solid 3rd
place. Bike time 45:01; average speed 24.1 mph. 4th fastest split.
Run 2 (3.5 miles)
I was really excited about reclaiming 3rd place. My wife yelled to me that I was actually only
about 1 minute behind 2nd place.
For the next few moments I was doing all kinds of math in my head. “Just make up 20 seconds/mile and you can
take over 2nd place” which was followed by “if you lose 10
seconds/mile you’ll drop to 4th!”
Like I said, this only lasted a few moments because I started heading up
a pretty steep climb and then all I could think about was “just don’t give
up”. Once up the hill and onto another
gravel trail through the woods, I just wanted to find a nice rhythm but it
never showed itself. I could feel myself
tiring and my GPS confirmed it. I passed
what I thought should be the turnaround point, however it wasn’t there nor had
I seen the leaders by this point. Did I
go off course – it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done that. Soon after I could see the leaders start coming
back after turning around. It turns out the turnaround point was just moved. Fine, I hit the turnaround still about a
minute back of 2nd but I had increased my lead on 4th
which was big because I was running out of gas.
Run time 21:01; pace 6:00. 2nd fastest split.
Finish line
Total finish time was 1:20:56 in 3rd place about
1 minute out of 2nd and almost 2:40 ahead of 4th. Congratulations to everyone who competed and
finished, whether in the front or the back.
Final results can be found at this link. And a big thank you to all of the mothers,
especially my wife, for allowing me to hijack the morning of Mother’s Day so I
could race (while she tried to cheer and entertain the kids). Really good race put on by Just Go Faster and sponsored by Scheels.
Next race in 3 weeks: Pigman Sprint Triathlon in Palo, IA,
June 1st…crap, that means I need to swim.
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