Lakeside Double Du
Race: Lakeside Duathlon (Sprint & Regular)
Date: Saturday June 9 & Sunday June 10, 2007.
Location: Lakeside, Ontario (in between Woodstock and London)
Description: Sprint Du: 3 km run, 18 km bike, 3 km run // Regular Du: 5k/30k/5k
Website: http://www.multisportcanada.com/
Warning: This may be a little on the long side. However, it is a double race report and I write so that I can remember what happened.
Pulling off the double (2 races in 2 days) is always a bit of a challenge. You never really know how your body is going to react the next day. So the plan was to put the “hammer” down during the Sprint Du on Saturday and get on the podium, and come back on Sunday to “hammer” the bike and see what I had left on the run (likely being hammered by everyone else).
The drive to Lakeside takes approximately 1 hr 50 minutes from Markham (depending on how fast you go). The directions are easy but keep an eye out for that left turn on County Road 16, it is easy to miss. For the first time in the history of this race they were charging for parking. I guess the farmer that opened up his property for free parking previously decided to rake in a few dollars this year. It was only $2 and it is the only viable place to park in the area. So be forewarned if you plan on racing next year.
Picked up my race kit (awesome looking tech shirts for this race and some nice eats), and chatted with Mike Cheliak (the HSBC series photographer). He was going to do his first ever race today (Sprint Du) and had dropped 55 pounds for the occasion. That gave me a bit of extra inspiration as I made my way to the car to get my gear and all set for the race.
Warm-up consisted of chatting with more people: Mike Leader (fellow Team Running Free Teammate), John Salt (HSBC Series director), Kent Parkinson (all round good guy who is always there to help people out at the races), Gord Avann (an uberbiker doing his first Tri today), Speedy Gonsalves (Ride Blue Guru), Kelly Anthony (not racing due to a hockey injury) and a few other familiar faces from the series. It is like a whole other family and it is great to catch up with everyone after a long winter.
With this being my first Du of the season, I was raring to go. The first run was quick. Everyone seemed to be flying out there, except for me. I just kept plugging away but thinking that there was no podium happening for me today if these dudes can run like this.
Officially, I did the first 3 km run in 15:16 with an average heart rate of 170 bpm. I suspect that the posted distance was a little on the long side because I was not running that slow. I pride myself on my transitions and the first one took 27 seconds (fastest of the day). However, during transition, I broke the left heel piece on my Pedal Platforms. I found this out at the mount line. This heel piece is very important as it secures the heel, and maximizes the power of the pedal stroke. The only thing I could do was to tighten the strap even more, and not pull up on the pedals or else my foot would pop out.
My approach to the bike was simple. Push as hard as possible, pass as many people as I could, and hopefully position myself for a chance at the podium. Throughout the 18 km bike (more like 16.5 km) I picked off quite a few competitors but I had no idea where I was positioned. I stayed aero the whole way, and I can safely say that my new Litespeed Saber is the fastest and most comfortable bike I’ve ever raced on in 16 years. I finished the ride in 28:51 (Avg hr: 170). I had super fast transition of 19 seconds (fastest T2 of the day), and headed out on the run.
Once onto the run I realized I was in 7th place overall. I wasn’t going to catch the first place guy in my age group so I just held a steady pace that would allow me to maintain my position and not get caught. I finished the second run in 16:07 and an overall time of 1:00:58 (Avg Hr: 172, Calories burned 1241). I was 7th overall and 3rd in the 30-39 age group. A nice kick-off to the season. I waited for Mike Cheliak to finish up his race and cheered him in. He didn’t feel too bad afterwards and said he had a new respect for duathletes. Hopefully he will do a few more races.
I had some food, waited for the awards ceremony, got my medal (posing in my Team Running Free Long Sleeve Top), and headed home. Team Running Free was well represented on the podium: Peter Geering, Karen Gamble, and Mike Leader (who actually podiumed but a category mix-up officially didn’t give him the credit he deserved—but you earned it in my eyes buddy).
A few hours after getting home the aches and pains came knocking on my door. My left knee was in a lot of pain (felt like patellar tendonitis) and I had some pain in my right hamstring along with my Achilles (usual thing since I started playing competitive tennis again). So I basically spent the rest of the day icing constantly. Sunday’s race would be interesting.
Woke up on Sunday and walking down the stairs brought left knee pain. But it was a little bit better than yesterday and there was less pain when walking. Conventional wisdom would say don’t race today but I’m not conventional, so I gathered my stuff and headed down to Lakeside.
Once on site, I set up in transition, chatted with more people, and waited for Angus Kim (fellow Team Running Free teammate) to give him some spare 650 tubes. He somehow got lost and finally arrived with about 15 minutes until race start. I pretty much determined that I would play it smart and shuffle/walk/crawl, bike hard, and then shuffle in to finish. There was no need to push hard on the run, injure myself and mess up my Ironman training just for a possible podium finish.
A few minutes before race start, that large travel mug of Peets Coffee I had earlier was making its way through me. I waited in the port-a-john lineup but while in line, the horn went off for the start of the race. The line was going nowhere so I ran over to join the throng that had just taken off. I caught up with Jimmie Georgas (a duathlon legend who is now 81) and kept pace with him to catch up with what he has been up to. After a few minutes he told me I shouldn’t feel obligated to run with him so at the 1 km mark, I wished him a good race and went on my way.
My bladder was building with immense pressure so once the coast was clear, I ran off into the bushes and lightened up. I did the rest of the run aerobically. For some reason the official results only picked up my final run split so by my watch I did the first 5 km run in 30:25 (seemed slightly longish) and an Avg. Hr of 151. I did a quick transition and let it rip on the bike, passing many along the way. The calm conditions led to a nice 30-32km bike split of 53:32 (Avg. Hr: 165). Back onto the run, I kept it aerobic again to do an easy 30:34 final 5km run. This was good enough for a 1:55:38 clocking, 30th overall and 5th in the 35-39 age group. My average heart rate for the day was 160 bpm, burning off 2007 calories. I headed back out for a 20 minute cool-down ride, got some food, and headed home to start the icing process all over again. It feels great to be back racing and seeing all the familiar faces (new ones too).
Up next for me is the Binbrook Duathlon next weekend. Right now I know I'll be joined by Mike Leader, Larry Bradley, and hopefully a bunch of other Team Running Free teammates.
Click below for the Saturday Sprint Du Race Results:
http://www.multisportcanada.com/ms/events/results/display_results.cfm?resultID=634
Click below for the Sunday Duathlon Race Results:
http://www.multisportcanada.com/ms/events/results/display_results.cfm?resultID=633
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