One thing that you notice spending a lot of your time in the south is that the race season starts pretty early. This year I decided to jump on this wagon by racing the Cary Long Course Duathlon in Cary, NC. A low-key event with some significant distance (5 mile run, 31 mile bike, 5 mile run), I figured this would be a good early-season test of where I was at coming into the spring and summer.
This was only my second duathlon and I have to say I have come to appreciate not having to face an early morning swim or messing around with a wetsuit. I also appreciated the rather civil 9 a.m. start time. The course was centered around a very large outdoor sports complex which boasted being the home of spring training for the olympic baseball team with the run winding through the paved trails of the complex and into a housing development and the bike course looping along the back roads in the area.
I felt pretty good about the distances coming into this race and, based on the finish times from the previous year, felt I had a good shot at the podium. The plan (such as it was) was to try and not kill myself on the first run so that I would have something left at the end. Shortly after 9 we were off and I fell in with the first 10 runners or so. Being that the course was on fairly narrow paved trails for the first 3/4 mile I wanted to start in the front so I wouldn't get caught up in any bottlenecks. The course consisted of two, 2.5 mile out-and-back loops and I have to say I really liked this course. The combination of turns, slight uphills and downhills, and frequent turn-arounds made it more interesting. After a first lap time of 14:30 I was sitting in 7th place. I was very happy with the time, but knew I needed to ease up a bit given that we were just 2.5 miles into a 41 mile day. I vaguely kept my eye on the racer in front of me, trying to maintain a steady distance, but coming into the last leg he picked up the pace a bit and I didn't bother responding. I came into T1 in 29:30 with significant gaps between the runner in front of me and the runners behind me.
This year I finally invested (if you can call $10 "investing") in some speed laces and they were just great. I was super speedy through transition, though had a bit of a hard time getting onto my bike as you were faced with an immediate sharp right turn and climb coming out of T1. Now, I mention all this to set up the scene for what would become the disastrous portion of this race. I began the bike course having lost sight of the runner in front of me and with no sign of cyclists behind me. Coming into the first intersection I followed what I thought were the police officer's instructions and went straight through. Very quickly however, I began to doubt this decision. For one, the course began to climb steadily uphill and, while I didn't have a good sense of the course map, I didn't recall this elevation gain from the course profile. Second, as I progressed down the course, I not only never gained sight of any riders in front of me, but also never saw riders coming up behind me. Now not seeing people in front was not too troubling--I'm used to the stronger riders pulling away on the bike--but I did expect some of the stronger riders to be coming up behind me.
After two miles of this I decided that I had, in fact, made a wrong turn and headed back. Sure enough, at that very first intersection, I should have gone right. I got back on course, but I had added four miles (and about 13 minutes) to my bike portion. Visions of the podium quickly faded. The rest of the bike course was pretty good. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances, but the road surface seemed a little rough and there was a stretch along a two-lane highway that was a little dicey. After 35.5 miles of riding I finally pulled into T2, now well-behind the race leaders. I made another quick transition (again, loving those speed laces) and headed back out on the run.
I ran strong, but had already decided that I wasn't going to push too hard. I did make the mistake, however, of taking in some Hammer Heed at the aid station. I don't know why, but Heed just does not work for me. I also don't know why I can't seem to ever remember this. Coming into the first lap I was struggling a bit with a side stitch and too-labored breathing. I eased up some more until I could get my legs under me, using some of the other runners to find a rhythm. One such unfortunate soul was a 41-year old guy who I caught with about a mile left in the race. I mention his age only because, as he saw me come up next to him he must have assumed that I was in his age group and he put on a little speed. This actually helped me find my focus to finish the last stretch strong. I came into the finish line a little over 2:46.
The wrong turn had definitely cost me a 2nd place age-group finish (and I may have even been able to eek out 1st). So, lesson learned. It at least taught me to spend a little more time going over the course maps, especially on these smaller races where you can't rely on other races and an army of volunteers to keep you on course. It also suggested that there are good reasons to keep a racer in front of you coming into transition and not let them get out of site.
Despite the setbacks, I really enjoyed this race. The run course was a lot of fun, and I was really happy with my run times over the course of the day. I would definitely keep this on my calendar for an early-season race (and invite anyone down to NC next year who wants in on it).
MajorTOM
