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San Francisco, California and, Carrboro, North Carolina, United States

Sunday, April 8, 2012

CARY LONG COURSE DUATHLON

Heading out on Run 2. 
The Cary Duathlon is the last race in a 3 part series put on by FS Series.  The race consists of a 5 mile run 31 mile bike and another 5 mile run.  Each run is 2 loops of a 2.5 mile rolling hill course through Thomas Brooks Park and the surrounding communities.  The bike is full of rolling hills, views of Jordan Lake, and on Saturday, a stiff wind.        

First Run -- 5 Miles (27:11 5:26/mile pace)
The plan for the race was to run well, but not too fast, create a lead on the bike, and then run fairly easy for the second run to hold on for the win.  I took out the run at a pretty relaxed 5:20/mile pace and went through the first mile in 5:19.  I settled into around a 5:25-5:30 pace for miles 2-5 and came into T1 with roughly a 50 second lead on second place.  

Bike -- 31.5 Miles (1:17:05)
The bike was full of hills, wind and more hills and wind.  About 2.5 miles into the first run, I realized my legs were still feeling the effects of TX 70.3.  Since I wasn't feeling great, I had to ride smart.  I decided to attack the down hills and the flats, and ride within myself on all the uphills.  I was hurting and really didn't want to go too hard and then be caught by the other athletes with 5 or so miles to go.  I wanted to get off the bike with a lead, and feel good enough to run the second 5 miles.  The plan paid off, and even though I didn't have an excellent ride, I rode well enough to post the fastest bike split of the day and extend my lead.  A highlight of the ride was also having a lead vehicle show me the way around the course.  Sometimes a lead vehicle can be a smelly diesel pick up truck, but for this race, it was a Chevy Volt.  It was awesome to have an electric car ahead me!    

Second Run -- 5 Miles (30:19 -- 6:03/mile pace)
Jumping off the bike and back to another 5 miles run was rough.  Duathlons are much harder on my body than triathlons, and my legs were not so happy about the 5 miles I was about to do.  Like last week, my legs began to cramp, but unlike last week, the cramps were only in my calves.  I can run with cramping calves -- not fast, but I can make do.  Fortunately for me and my calves, with a good-sized lead I had some time to spare if my run was slow.  At the first turn around, a little over a 1.5 miles into the run, I saw the second place athlete. I calculated that I had slightly over a 3:00 lead.  I was running roughly 5:50-6:00/mile pace, not blazing fast, but knew that this would be good enough to get the job done.  I also had a a few more turn checkpoints to see if the second and third place runners were making up any time.  At the second checkpoint, my lead was still about 3:00, and I thought to myself, "perfect, sustain the same pace for the next 2.5 miles".  My lead was the same at the third checkpoint, so with only 1.5 to go, I eased up.  I was tired, and feeling the effort of last weekend; I did not want to put myself into a hole if I did not have to.  I ran about 6:30 pace for the final mile and cruised into the victory with a 2:40 win (results).

I'd like to thank FS Series for putting on a great race, I had a blast and hope to be back for a few more.  I'd also like to thank my better half for making it to the race, taking some great pictures (shown on the post) and cheering me on.  It's always fun to have her in the crowd.  She often trains with me, so having her at races just makes it another day of training.   

Starting the second loop of Run 2.  I was little tired by now. 

Coming down the finish chute.  

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations! Two particularly awesome things here: (1) 5:20 being an "relaxed" pace; and (2) the jersey. Looking forward to seeing you next weekend!

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  2. Thanks Joe. Can't wait to see you and Suzanne this weekend!

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