my first duathlon of the year was may 3rd in kingston. only a week after the sporting life 10k, i was confident that my running portions of the race would be strong, so i spent the week focusing on my riding.
i got a new bike in the fall of last year and had been riding it inside all winter, but leading up to this race i still hadn't ridden the new bike outside. i didn't even have a chance to change the tires from indoor trainers to racing slicks until the wednesday before my race. and on that night i just rode up and down the street a couple of times so, other than that, my race would be my first real ride on the new bike.
the race was a short sprint: 2.5k run, 20k ride, 5k run. i always like to have a target time to mentally prepare for at every race, and for this one i was hoping for a time of 1.05.00 or better. i broke it down by the following:
2.5k run - 10mins or better
T1 - 1min or better
20k ride - 35mins or better
T2 - 1 min or better
5k run - 20mins or better
from my results at my two previous 10k races i felt like i could knock off at least 2 minutes from my run times in order to get my goal of 1.05.00. last year's race winner finished the race with a time of 1.05.25 so i thought that i might do well at this race if i could get my target time.
my wife and i made a weekend out of the event and headed to kingston on friday night. we stayed in a hotel for the weekend, poked around all day saturday and checked out some great restaurants, shops, natural food markets, farmers markets, artisanal coffee shops, and used the opportunity to hook up with some family. it was great. i'd never spent any time in kingston so it was nice to see it for the first time. as a post-lunch activity, i went to the race site on saturday to pick up my race kit, and i took the opportunity to drive the bike course to familiarize myself with it. the course started with an immediate climb of about 800 meters and after that there were at least three more good climbing sections and a couple of flat sections. it looked liked a tough, challenging little course.
i showed up early on race day feeling strong, well rested, well fueled and ready to race. at the sound of the horn i quickly moved to the front of pack and had to wait for the lead cyclist to catch up with me so that he could lead me and the rest of the athletes through the first run course. unknown to me, just like the bike course, this run started with a sharp uphill climb, leveled off for about 100 meters, and then turned a corner for another steep climb. i was huffing at the top of the hills but knew that it was a short run so i carried on at the pace i had settled into.
i didn't have a chance to take a look behind me coming into transition 1 so i wasn't aware of how much of a lead i'd been able to make. i headed out on the bike portion of the race feeling like everyone else was on my heels. after the initial climb i settled into the gusty headwinds on the flats and started pounding out kilometer after kilometer. the cycling portion of my races are always weaker than my running portions so i was pushing myself as best i could, fighting my way up the hills and tucking myself out of the formidable headwinds. those headwinds turned into tailwinds at the 10k turnaround so the return was much faster than the out, but there was one last strong headwind waiting for me just as i came over the crest of the final descent back into transition area.
still in the lead after the bike, i found my running legs about 2k into the last 5k portion of the race and carried a strong pace to the finish line, nearly 3 minutes ahead of the next athlete. thrilled with my time of 1.02.14, almost three minutes better than the time that i had wanted, i walked away with my first win of the year. it was a short sprint course, half the distance of the race that i'll be doing to try to qualify for the national team, but if i'm able to carry that pace at the qualifying race in gravenhurst then i should stand a chance of making the national team. it was also a small field but the feeling of the win was thrilling, and it made all of the hard work during the off-season seem all worthwhile.
me with my "Men's Overall Duathlon" trophy. and some other guy
me with my "Men's Overall Duathlon" trophy. and some other guy
