Rob S.
First duathalon! and I finished!
Sep 16, 2007
Well the day started out completly rotten. I went to use my computer, and it wouldn't boot. So after having breakfast, I hitched my bike to the car and headed out to Lum's Pond for the duathalon. The night before I was devestated when I found out I couldn't use my ipod during any portion of the race. Since I have the Nike+ I have used it for all my races, and it helps me to keep pace.
When I got there I relized this was some serious business. Prior to entering the transition area, they alert you that you cannot remove items once they go in. They marked my number (270) on both my arms, and put my age (54) on my back calf. I stuck my sticker number on my helmet. pinned the number to my shirt, and put my number on my bike. I velcroed the timing chip around my ankle. I rolled my bike down to my hanger in the transition area. I noticed immediately that these people were serious. They had 4-6k bikes and time trial helmets. There were three participants that were over 75 years old. Awesome! Since this race was to help sponsor the Special Olympics it was fun to watch the kids cycling and running. Their competitive juices were really flowing. The weather turned nasty, and it got wet and cold. My shoes and socks were soaked. It rained until about 10 minutes prior to the start. It was overcast and windy the rest of the day.
Well right at 8:45 we got started on the 1.5 mile run. There were approximately 200 people at the start. I kept to the back so I didn't get smothered by the faster runners. The race was fan friendly and we had a lot of U-turns and loop backs so the fans could cheer us on. When I got to the transition area (13m40s) after the run, I knew from the fact that there were no bikes near mine that a lot of these guys had gotten out quickly. I threw on my helmet, changed my shoes, and sprinted out the transition exit (1m8s), and jumped on my bike. I decided I could hydrate later in the ride.
Normally cycling is my strength and for the first two miles I passed over twently riders. Then I hit the wall, head winds for the next ten to twelve miles. It seemed like every time I made a turn the headwinds got stronger. The hills weren't bad because they shileded the winds. I passed another five people before completing the ride. As I got to the park entrance I realized how bad a day it was. I was going in with the guy finishing his 5k to my left. Ouch!
I jumped off my bike at the dismount area (1h8m) and ran with my bike into the transition area. Threw off my helmet, changed my shoes and headed for the transition exit (2m6s), when my hamstrings started screaming. I slowed to a crawl but continued my trek. After about 100 yards my hammies were screaming. I stopped reached down and figured I was going to DNF. But I decided to go at a slow jog for awhile and see what happens. After about 1/2 mile I felt much better, but didn't feel like I could push very hard. At the 1 mile mark, I grabbed some water and threw it into my mouth, from the aid station, and puked it back up. so I continued on. At the 2 mile mark I knew that I could finish and figured it was time to time to try and add some pace. I thought the race was 3.1m, so I held back a little and crossed the 2.6m finish line (26:46).
So the race was completed in 1h52m13s. I was 97 of 111 finishers. I was 7 out of 7 in my male 50-54 year old age bracket. But I finished.
Now having a time I can look forward to improvement. I think I can improve about 10-15 minutes in cycling, and get my mile time closer to 8 1/2 minutes during the winter. Still won't be able to compete with the big boys but I least I will feel more comfortable.
97 270 DU Rob Siers M 54 WILMIN DE
1.5 mile run 98 13:40 9:07
transition 1:37
20 mile cycle 88 1:08:07 17.6
transition 2:06
2.6 mile run 103 26:46 10:18
finish 1:52:13 7/7 M50-54 71/77 M
