4K Run
30K Bike
4K Run
This being
the first race of the multisport season, the weather for the race is often
unpredictable. I’ve seen hail, wind and
cold temps to sun and high humidity.
The weather on this day was pretty darn good. Some would say it was actually pretty hot,
but other than the last 4K run, it was a non issue. Even the wind didn’t play much of a factor
on the bike (although it was definitely there!).
I arrived
at the race site at Creekside Church, just outside Waterloo at approximately
8:40 or so with Darryl Huras, who was doing the running side of a relay team
with Brian Scott from Waterloo. After
arriving, I quickly pumped up the tires and dropped my bike and bag off in transition
and went through the standard race registration process. I elected to bump myself up to the first
wave to compete with the elites and faster age group athletes.
It should
be noted that I just got my new Argon E118 only a few days prior, after
spending nearly 7 hours at the Braun’s Cambridge store having it built up and
fitted for me. I did a short 45 minute
ride on the Saturday before the race, and a simple 15 minute ride on the bike
on race morning. That’s all the time
I’d spent on it before the race. Things
seemed pretty good on those rides, so I was hoping for good things during the
30K bike portion of the race.
At about
9:50am, we started to assemble at the starting line for the first wave that was
to go off at 10am. I situated myself
near the front beside Scott Dickie and a bunch of other Running Free
athletes. The race started right on
time, with the horn going off right on schedule. As usual, a whole winter of built of energy
releases, and people fire off the start like crazy. It’s only about 100m to the first left hand
turn, where things were pretty tight. I
just tried to make sure not to get caught up in anyone’s feet and make it to
the first downhill in a safe position.
The first K
of the race you get a fast downhill, followed by a short little uphill. By 1K, there were likely 20 or so guys in
front of me and I went through it in 3:35, so a pretty quick pace. It is a very gradual decent followed by a
flat stretch to the 2K turn-around point at the end of the Laurel Creek
Reservoir.
By this
point, everyone seemed to settle into their pace and I actually began to pull
some runners in and pass them, as we retraced our steps back to transition. When we finally made it back to the
transition zone, I was likely somewhere around 12-15th overall in
the first wave. I finished the first 4K
run in 14:34, a 3:39/km pace, good for 19th overall in the race and
3rd in my AG.
I quickly
took off my shoes, put my helmet on and grabbed my bike and was off. T1 only took 35 seconds, which was pretty
good. I haven’t mastered the running
flying leap onto my seat as of yet, so once past the mount line, I carefully
got on my bike and started the charge down the road. Once out on the road, I quickly got up to
speed and then got my feet secured into my shoes and strapped in.
The bike
course once again has changed in this race.
Previously, we had to do a rectangular loop to Bamburg and then turn
right to a turn-around and come straight back to transition. Last year’s GPS of the race had it about 1K
short, given we couldn’t go much past the turn-around due to a gravel
road. This year, instead of turning
left into Bamburg, we continued straight, all the way to Hutchison Rd. The distance turned out to be 30K right on,
so that’s good.
Similar to
all other years, we had to head out on Erbsville Rd. before turning right onto
Kressler and hit a couple of pretty steep hills right off the bat. I didn’t find these too bad, especially the
second one, which I almost didn’t feel since I really pushed the downhill hard. Once past the second hill, we turned left on
Hessen Strasse road and would take this all the way to the turn-around.
By this
point, I had passed a few more people and was sitting around 10th or
12th in the race. I worked
with another rider for a few K until that fell apart. I can’t remember whether I passed him, or if
he pulled away from me.
It was
about that time that I looked back and saw Scott Dickie, working his way
through the bike course. He has been
riding very well lately, so once he eventually passed me, I was hoping to be
able to stick with him. I did for a
short period of time, but eventually he pulled away and I couldn’t keep
up. Now I found myself on my own, and
just focused on my own race.
For the
first 5-10K of the ride, my power was up over 300 watts on average. I usually start some of my rides on the high
side, but not 300+ high. I decided to
back off a bit, rather than keep pushing a pace I knew I likely couldn’t hold
much longer.
The course
this year I’d say is generally tougher than last year too, as there isn’t much
flat ground at all. We were either
climbing or descending. The hills weren’t
huge or anything, but there were lots of them.
A few K
from the turn-around point, I noticed someone had got on my wheel and was
sticking pretty close to me. Before I
even had a chance to say anything, another rider passed both of us and called
this guy out behind me for cheating. I
think after that, he dropped back a bit, because after the turn-around, he was
no longer with me.
I think I
averaged just under 38 kph to the turn-around point, which was ok, because I knew
it would be slightly better coming back.
The wind was mostly out of the south, but I think there was a little bit
of westerly in it, so I think it helped more coming back, then it did going
out.
Things
really were spread out by this point, and I believe I counted 12 riders in
front of me at the turn-around point.
For the most part, I was working totally alone, which is never good, but
eventually, at about the 20K point, I caught up and passed one other
rider. I eventually made it back to
Kressler and tackled the two rollers before turning back onto Erbsville for the
final push back to transition.
A friend from
Waterloo was at the top of one of the hills and snapped a few cool pictures which
you can see below.
I made it
back to T2 in 47:20 with an average speed of 38kph and 288 watts for the 30K bike
ride. This was good for the 10th
fastest time in the race and first in my AG. T2 took 38 seconds which is ok, but I could
definitely look to shave a few seconds off here. I quickly racked my bike, put my shoes back
on, grabbed my visor and was off.
When I
started the run, I saw my son Holden, who said I was the 13th person
to come in off the bike. As it would turn
out, there was a relay athlete ahead of me, so I was really in 12th
I think.
I quickly
made my way down the hill and was feeling generally pretty good at this
point. There were a few runners just up
ahead, including Dickie, who I could see around the corner. I was likely 250 or 300 meters behind him at
this point. I went through the first K
in 3:59 and hit the aid station for some water. The first cup I drank, the second went on my
head and down my shirt, as it was getting warm.
I started
to approach and then pass a few other athletes as we approached the turn-around
at 2K which I went through in 3:50. At
this point, I believe I was in 10th place, with another athlete
about 20 meters ahead. Eventually I caught
him, but at the same time, someone was right on my heels. As it turns out, the guy I was about the
pass was the guy who yelled at the guy that was drafting me on the bike, and
the guy right on my heels, was the guy that was drafting me on the bike! When we passed him, he yelled out to the guy
behind me, “still drafting eh?”. I heard
the guy behind me say something like “I’ll talk to you later about it”, which I’m
sure he never did.
Once we got
past this guy, I was technically in 9th, but running almost stride
for stride with him. It was actually
good (for a while) to have him beside me as we ran back up the hill to the
corner to make the final push for the finish line.
Unfortunately,
as we started running down the hill, he snuck in behind me and was actually
running so close to me, he kicked my feet.
Not once, but twice. The second
time really pissed me off, so I had to yell out at him. To top it off, about half way up the
finishing hill, he decided to pull out from the draft behind me and start his
finishing kick around me. I tried to
respond, but didn’t have the energy in the legs to keep up
The last
200 meters of the race is over some bumpy grass, which makes it a bit hard to
sprint really hard. Despite that, I
pushed on, and actually ran past my son Holden, who decided he wanted to run
with me through the finish line which you can see in one of the shot below.
In the end,
I did the final 4K run in 15:27 for a 3:52 pace and 14th overall in
the race and 1st again in my AG.
Overall, I finished in 1:18:31, a new PB for this race, but given that
the bike course was different again (both in the course and actual length), you
can’t compare to other years, but generally, I’d say I have improved, since the
bike course was tougher and longer.
GPS Data for the various segements:
Victoria's Duathlon 4K Run #1
Victoria's Duathlon 30K Bike
Victoria's Duathlon 4K Run #2
Next up for me is the Woodstock triathlon on May 27th. It’s just a semi sprint with a 750m swim, another 30K bike and a 7.5K run. It seems like a long time since I’ve done a Multisport race. In fact, I haven’t done one since 2010 (Lakeside I think). I’m looking forward to it, especially now that one of the primary sponsors is Recharge with Chocolate Milk…in fact, that’s the name of the series now. It should be a blast!
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