Not only was the Duathlon National Championship held in Oro Valley, but the transition area was only 5 min walking distance from my house. It would have been a shame to miss such a convenient opportunity. Knowing every corner of a course is an advantage, not to mention that no swimming would be involved! So I signed up for my first duathlon.
I must say that it was awesome to see so many triathletes training on Rancho Vistoso loop the week leading to the race. You could see all kind of people with all kind of bikes, even brave athletes training with full disc wheels when we had strong wind gusts. The wind got so bad on Friday that the mandatory bike check-in had to be cancelled! Yep, Tucson in April can get pretty windy.
Race morning:
I woke up 2.5 hrs before race start. Usual race breakfast consists of a bagel with double Nutella layer (actually, this is my everyday breakfast!) and some juice, followed by a cereal bar 1.5-1h before the start. The 2 min ride to the transition area was a delight, and I must say it was nice not having to fight for the best transition spot as racks were numbered. After setting up transition and chatting with fellow athletes, I went for a ~10 min jog, throwing in a couple of 60s race pace intervals. With 25min to spare before the race started, I doubled check my transition, took a gel, went for another 3-4min jog and headed to the start line.
First run (5K):
Wow…was pretty much how I felt just 60s in the run! The front group took off leaving us in the dust despite what I thought was a reasonable 6:00 min/mile pace on the first portion of the run, which was slightly uphill. After the first U-turn, we headed down on Innovation Park Dr. which has a nice downhill for 1.5 mile. At this point, it became tempting to speed up a bit to lessen the gap with the front group but a look at my heart rate convinced me not to. Although my coach advised me to run in zone 4, I was already in zone 5 with yet the most challenging part of the run to come. So I maintained my pace, slowing down a bit on the climb to reach transition, finishing my first run with a 6:21 pace.
Bike(35K):
T1 was pretty smooth. As I was running out of the transition area with my bike, ready to mount it, I almost passed someone who yelled at me “don’t pass!”. I guess you are not supposed to pass fellow athletes while still in the transition area? I still need to double check that one. Once on the bike, we started with a nice warm up climb going up the first portion of Rancho Vistoso Bld. Following my coach advice, I pushed hard from the start, especially on the hill while using the first part of the downhill to recover. The course consisted of rolling hills, so you were either going uphill or downhill, not many flat sections. Going down fast enough on Bee Canyon allowed you to gain enough momentum to climb the upcoming hill. The U-turn was at the top of the hill on Moore Rd, which was great as you don’t have to brake like crazy to get into your U-turn. After the first loop, I was still feeling good and kept the same power to finish the two loops in about 52min. I had never rode that loop that fast, so although being pretty excited about my time, I was now worried about how this would impact my second run.
Second run (5K):
One of the advantages of a duathlon, I found, is that starting your second run you already got your first taste of the course, so you get a pretty good idea what sections are going to be the most demanding. The first part being slightly uphill but then followed by a 1.5 mile downhill, I decided to start hard on that first part and then using the downhill to “recover”. However, I got passed before the first U-turn. As one athlete passed me, I was struck by how heavy his breathing was and came to wonder if this guy was really faster than me and was he able to endure more pain than me and push himself harder? If that’s the case, I thought he might not be able to sustain that pace all the way through and so I tried to stay on his heels, but he and another guy took off on the downhill section. I guess I should learn how to run downhill?! As we approached the U-turn, I realized there was no way I was going to catch them and my focus then turned to a fast TriCats runner who was getting closer. With the final uphill climb approaching, I started to slowly slip in that infamous state of mind when your brain starts telling you “why are you doing this? Just walk it now, who cares?” At this point, it became all mental and “happy and positive thoughts” are what keep you running. Focusing on crossing the finish line usually works for me, no need to say I did not sprint those last 100 yards! I was done. My second run was 20s slower than my first run, which to me was a satisfying race strategy and result.
As you finish the race, you are welcomed with a wet towel to help you cool down, drinks and food then followed. One nice touch is the possibility to walk to the results booth as soon as you cross the finish line to get a printout of your time and rankings (overall and age group), I’d like to see that at every race! The pros started an hour after we did, so it was nice to be done and be able to watch them compete and finish. This was my first race running with the new GEC outfit and I loved it! It looked and felt great. Thanks GEC and all the sponsors to make this race a successful one. Overall, it was a great race with really good conditions and I will definitely do it again in 2012!
