I enjoy reading race reports and find them a great learning tool. In that spirit I take a stab at my first RR.
This was my first half duathlon (5k run, 56mi bike, 13.1mi run) I did Powerman Ohio in 07 with absoultly disasterous results. Going into this race I averaged about 8hrs a week training. The core of the training was 3 to 3.5 hr rides and 10 to 14 mile runs. I tried to get 1 long run a week and 1 long ride a week. On top of this bike work contained a lot of 2 x 20 w/2-5 min rest and 6 x 6 min 30 sec to 2 min rest, Run training included 5-7 mile tempo runs and a little track work 400, 800 meter intervals. I did a couple sprint Du’s with mediocore performances. Outside the races I performed no brick work I am fair on the bike but a terrible runner so I figured it would be better to work on running fast(for me) with good form rather than to run off the bike.
On to the race. I arrived a day early and set off to preview the course. After a lap of the bike course in my car I was starting to get nervous about the ride and imagining a long 13.1. Being from eastern Md I have to search for hills to climb. This course ,by no means is hilly, is a lot more rolling than I was expecting.
Back to the park for a quick ride of the course. Oh crap I can’t get a rhythm with the rollers, pushing to many watts up the inclines. Oh well go for a little run, at least the run is pretty flat.
Finalize plan,
5K just float, use as warm up 25min
56 mi was planning 210w avg, revised to 200-205w guessing about 3 hrs
13.1 get leg under me go no slower than 9 min mi around 2 hrs
5k off we go, no warm up so I ease into it. Damn, everyone is kicking my butt as I run with a very unfit looking group. Finnish in 24:55, yes!!! 5 secs in the bank.
56mi bike- again I ease into it. It is a bit of a jungle with a sprint, mini, and half du tri going on. It sorts itself out quickly and I am riding my own race. Try to hold 200w but it was hard to peg this number because I was pushing too many watts on the rollers. Anyway I was feeling good but with much fear and trembling for the run to come… My Garmin is a smart, it would beep every 10 min to remind me to drink. This is how I trained and it seemed to work well. My bottles had 300 cal each and following the beep I would kill 1 bottle an hr. However the weather was cooler than I had trained in so I did not listen to the wise garmin everytime. At the half way turn around I had to hit the porta pot, (I ride at home for 3hrs and never have to go). I just could not bring my self to let go on the bike because this race just wasn’t that important to me. With a satisfied feeling I start the 2nd lap. My legs feel great and the rollers start feeling good. I really wanted to kill the last half but I suck running really bad. So more of the same until mile 50. That is when a bee decided to fly into my mouth. In an attempt to spit it out it flew between my lower teeth and lip, stinging me in the process. It was a good thing that it was an isolated stretch of road because I invented some pretty good cuse words(patend pending) Oh well it was almost time to shut down stretch and cruise into transition. Pulling into trans I felt good, legs felt like they had a lot left
Time 2:46:26 20.2 mph 201w avg about 148 avg hr
13.1 run. After dismounting the bike I jogged to my rack. The legs and hips did not feel like I rode 56 miles. After exiting trans I made another quick pit stop. As I exited I started running and Garmin started beeping ( pace set for 7 min too fast 9 min to slow) so I pushed the pace but it wouldn’t stop beeping. So I looked at the watch to see I was moving at a 650 pace. After a chuckle I slowed to an 810 to 815 pace. Feeling good and slowly catching people I kept telling myself to respect the run. At the ¼ turn around I could see some had already fallen apart and having bad days. By half way the legs started to get heavy. I had been trying to get gel out of my gel bottle but the tip was clogged and only small amounts got out. At ¾ I wanted to give everything I had left. This time it would mean holding my current pace to the end. Just before the end the road tilted up ever so slightly but it felt like mt everest. Anyway across the finnish line I went with a run time of 1:49:02 at 8:20 mi avg 158 hr
Total 5:02:55
All in all I had a great time at this race. Incredibly well run. The weather cooperated and the people where great.
Lessons learned.
Halfs are raceable
Listen to garmin and get your calories on the bike
I am a sissy when it comes to bee stings
I did not test my threshold enough or close enough to race
Ensure your gel jug is working while setting up transition
I carried cytomax in 2 8oz jugs on run. Thinking about using gatoraide on run for simple sugar
Although I executed my plan I gave away way too much time on run1 and bike because I didn’t want to walk on the 13.1. in the end I was way to conservative