Chatted with a ton of people, along with Running Free’s own John Yip who had never done a duathlon before and the 10/40/5 format of the International Duathlon is not one that you want to use to kick off your duathlon experience with. But John is a good runner so I told him it would be a breeze for him.
Since I was coming back on Sunday to race in the Half Marathon, my plan was to race aerobically and not annihilate myself by red-lining. Placing was not that important (no one can catch me in the Series standings anymore) but if a podium spot were available late in the race I would go for it.
The first 10 km felt fairly easy. My perceived effort ranged from 6-7 out of 10, but my heart rate was saying otherwise. I saw my buddy Angus a few minutes behind and continued the trash talking we started at IMLP. I also saw John Yip flying and yelled at him to come a catch me (the cancelled triathlon racers started later than us regular duathletes – otherwise John would have be well ahead). I completed the first run in 45:48, with an average heart rate of 175 bpm. This was one of my best ever 10 km run splits and I wasn’t giving it all I had. What are they putting in that Tim Horton’s coffee?
The transition to the bike consisted of a long run in the sand and then a long run out to the road on the bike. I was using the Pyro Platforms so running out to the road with my bike in my running shoes was much quicker than everyone else doing it with cycling shoes. T1 took me 2:16.
The 40 km Bike ride went fairly well considering that I had no aerobars. The Wasaga course is flat but very windy, so if there is a bike course that aerodynamics is paramount, this is the one. With my new Litespeed Siena, my style of handlebars do not allow for aerobars so I had to do without. I pushed along at a pretty good clip and tried to stay as low a possible. Somehow I was passing a lot of dudes all decked out with aerobars, race wheels, and aero helmets. This provided some extra encouragement and motivation because I knew some of these guys were pretty good cyclists. I managed to complete the bike leg in a time of 1:16:13, and an average heart rate of 171 bpm. I had not ridden a bike since Ironman Canada so I was pleased with my performance. T2 was an exact reverse of T1 and I did it in the exact same time of 2:16.
The final 5 km run was all about saving my legs for tomorrow. I saw no one in may age group that was catchable so I just kept it steady until the end. The final run split was 24:21 with an overall finish time of 2:30:51. I burned off 3106 calories and had an overall average heart rate of 173 bpm. This was about 8 minutes faster than what I did last year. I had to attend a wedding later that afternoon so I gathered up my stuff and got out of there. My legs were already starting to feel a bit stiff and sore so tomorrow could be a rough day.
I woke up on Sunday morning and my legs were pretty sore. Walking down the stairs was not too much fun. What was I thinking in signing up for a Half Marathon a day after a tough race like an International Distance Duathlon? But I decided that pain and soreness was not going to be a deterrent on this day. I weighed myself to see what kind of eating and drinking damage that I done to myself the night before. I tipped that scales at 175. I had gained 5 lbs. Nice! I’m sore, tired, it’s 6 am, and I’m carrying an extra 5 lbs. Surely these were signs of a banner performance.
Got to Wasaga (had a large Tim’s double double on the way—can’t mess with yesterday’s success) waddled over to register, then went back to my car for final preparations. It was near perfect weather conditions for running. It was bright and sunny, around 12-16 degrees, but just a touch too windy.
With the way I was feeling before the race started, I just wanted to complete the race and if I was lucky I would do it in 2 hours. I was going to stay aerobic and totally obey my heart rate monitor today. The race started with a very quick pace. Everyone just took off. I knew I was hurting but not that badly. I resisted the urge to go with everyone and just kept my heart rate in the low 150’s. After 5 kilometres my legs felt surprisingly good. I knew they were sore but it did not seem to affect my gait or effort. My pace was in the 5:15 range so I changed my just try to finish game plan. I decided to hold that pace for 10 km, take in fuel in between 10 km and 11 km, and then attempt to negative split the first 10 km time split.
I completed the first 10 km in 52:47 (avg. hr: 153) and started ingesting a gel bit by bit during the next kilometre. Once I hit the 11 km marker I pushed the pace a bit. I started reeling in a lot of people from this point, and things were made easier with Eon D’Ornellas driving along the course pumping the tunes and cheering us on. He kept tempting me with some cold beer but I passed on it. Now if it were 30 degrees it would be been a different story.
The run back into town is mainly downhill so this helped my plan of picking up the pace. With 3 km to go I let it all go and pushed to the line. I managed to negative split the final 10 km (48:28) and finished with a final time of 1:46:56 (avg. hr: 160 bpm, 1884 calories burned). I was thrilled. Semi shocked actually. In May I did the Mississauga Half Marathon in 1:47 and pushed harder during that race. Plus I was well rested for that one, unlike today. This gives me confidence to know that I can pull off a nice run on fatigued legs (perfect for the Ironman run).
Multisport Canada and the Town of Wasaga plan on making this Half Marathon a yearly event. It is a race worth doing, especially if you want to go fast. It is well organized, each kilometre is marked, lots of aid stations with great volunteers and the post race pizza was a nice treat. I would love to do it again but racing these 2 tough events on back-to-back days may not happen next year. But then again, never say never.
As I post this I can confirm that my legs are toast (shoulders too). I have applied a series of ointments and iced them down. Work tomorrow should be interesting since my classes are on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Can you say elevator?
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