Duathlon started at 7:30am, tri-duathlon started at 7:40am. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve raced the Heritage duathlon 4 times before. It’s where my multisport endeavors really started, however, at this point in my multisport career I consider myself a triathlete type person. Duathlons aren’t really on my radar any more. But, what are you going to do when the weather isn’t going to cooperate.
Honesty I thought the whole even might be cancelled due to rain. Luckily (is that really lucky?) we got fog and mist for the duration of the race and I think pretty much everyone finished without incident. Lots of flat tires seemed to plague the field, but I don’t think that was weather related. Maybe they didn’t sweep the park roads lately??? Who knows? But, it was cold and wet but it got done.
There are a few highlights out of the dreary day. I set a PR for the duathlon course, so at least the ole fitness has improved. Average bike speed decreased from the tri on the same course last year but the finish run improved from last year. I attribute a fall in bike speed due to road conditions. No one wants to slam into another racer on slick wet roads… so I used my breaks more than I usually would.
Here are some interesting stats to check improvement (or not) from years past:
Leg One Run = 2 miles
Tri swim = 1/3 miles
Bike = 11.5 miles
Leg Two Run = 3 miles
Past Heritage Tri/Du PR’s
Duathlon best time (2006 Du) : 01 : 11 : 36
Triathlon best time (2009 Tri) : 01 : 08 : 55
Fastest swim time (2009 Tri) : 00 : 10 : 56
Fastest bike speed (2009 Tri) : 21.1 mph
Fastest Leg one pace (2006 Du) : 6.47 min/mile
Fastest Leg two pace (2009 Du) : 7.19 min/mile
2010 Du Stats :
Leg One – 6.50 min/mile (not PR)
Bike speed – 20.1 mph (not PR)
Leg Two - 7.11 min/mile (PR)
Total Time : 01 : 10 : 38 (PR)
Now, had I signed up for the duathlon, I would have been 13th out of 114. But, since they kept the results for the tri peeps separate, I was 49th out of 222. So I guess you could say I was 62 of 336 overall. BUT, should we count the guy they clocked doing the first 2 mile run leg in 3 minutes and 50 seconds that was listed in front of me a few spots???
Overall, not shabby, I won’t complain. This was a warm up tri for the IM 70.3 KS.
On a Garmin note, I need to invest some time to get up to speed on the multisport function on my 310XT. I tried to just switch modes and it didn’t happen so it treated the whole event as a run. 4 minute miles… not too shabby! Supposedly in multisport mode you hit one button and it moves to the next sport function automatically.
So it’s nice to see as I’m getting older, I can reach down deep and get back to 2006 form. =) Age is only a number, right? Actually, I’ve worked more on BRIK’s this year than in years past and I think it’s showing in the final run. I’ve finished events stronger than in years past. Now, I just need to put that in a bottle to keep for the whole season!
And check it out, I have pictures from this event and they aren’t too lame. =)
At the end as you’ve just pushed yourself to the finish line, they give you a medal and then immediately the photo exchange goes as follows:
Photo guy : Show us your medal
Me : Dude I’m too tired to lift it up…
Photo guy : Show us your medal (while blocking my path across a little bridge back to transition)
Me : I showed him the medal…
PS – I support the University of Kansas, even if they don’t sponsor me. =) AND, I beat the K-State guy at the race!
Overall it was a good race (after which I was on my trainer for 40 miles to get a long weekend in before ½ IM taper since it started raining afterwards). It’s a hometown race and I’ve been in it in one event or another for the past 6 years. It’s got a soft squishy place in my heart. =)
Week’s training below:
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