Brief Race Recap: Duathlon Nationals 2021

I have spent the spring focusing on a fast 5k time and haven't really had time to seriously train for multi-sport, but I did really want to do this one race, the draft-legal Sprint Duathlon National Championship in Tuscaloosa. The race is a qualifier for the world championship. I had qualified for 2020 worlds in a non-draft-legal event, but of course the 2020 race was cancelled, so I wanted to try again, this time to qualify for the 2022 world championship in Australia. 

We had a bit of a scare driving to the Sunday race on Saturday, because we needed to arrive by 4:00 pm to pick up the race packet. I had given myself a 2-hour cushion, 9 hours instead of the expected 7, in case of bad traffic, but we got a bit of a late start, then got caught in a 90-minute traffic jam. All the sudden my GPS was estimating we would make it with only minutes to spare. So all bathroom breaks were cancelled as we tore across Georgia and Alabama trying to make it to the race on time. I made it to registration, just barely, but I was starving, dehydrated, and badly needed to pee, all at the same time.

Two dinners and many glasses of water later, I finally felt human again and went to sleep dreaming about porta-potties. 

On race morning things went a bit smoother, except for the part where I forgot my cycling glasses and so was constantly worried about my regular prescription glasses sliding off my face as I walked nervously around the transition area wearing my required facemask (despite already having received my vaccine).

Finally we all lined up at the start and were allowed to throw away our masks. Soon we were off, somewhat socially distanced as they started us in groups of 5, spaced apart by a few seconds each. This little bit of spacing actually mattered quite a bit as this was a draft-legal race, so the idea is to find a pack to ride with on the bike section of the race so you can conserve energy for the run. By spreading us out from the start, the officials were making it harder to employ the usual strategy on the ride.

I decided to go for a conservative 6:45 pace on the run so I would have something left for the ride. Even this pace felt pretty difficult for me, probably because of the non-ideal pre-race drive the day before. I ended up running closer to a 7:00 pace and headed out on the ride. 

As I feared, I didn't find a pack to ride with and could see only  a couple riders ahead. I caught one of them, then another rider caught us, and we had a group of three. Until we hit the first hill, then one of the guys dropped away, and now there were just two of us. But we could see a pack of 7 or 8 riders perhaps a quarter mile ahead. Me and this guy (I later found out his name was also Dave) worked together and started to reel that pack in. We made good progress on the climbs but they would always pull away on the flats and downhills. Finally at about Mile 8 out of the 12-mile ride, we were on a big climb, and I made up my mind to bridge the gap. I caught them right as we crested the hill, and Dave was with me. Then it was going to be easy cruising until the finish. 

It didn't take me long to realize that these guys were ahead of us because they were really good runners. My only chance to beat them would be to force them to work harder on the ride, so I took the lead and continued to push the pace. They stayed together as a pack, though, so we all rode into transition together.

As I feared, I had little energy left for the second run. I was struggling to run even 8-minute pace. The whole pack of riders passed me, most of them patting me on the back and thanking me for a strong ride. I guess I was the sap who worked too hard on the ride!

Finally I made my way to the finish, and the group of riders was all there. They all congratulated me on my ride and Dave thanked me for pushing him so hard -- he ended up on the podium in his age group. Greta got a picture of the two of us:

Glad to have met a new friend

I ended up 8th in my age group. That qualifies me to compete at the 2022 World Championship! Plus I had a lot of fun on the ride chasing down that group of riders. Maybe in 2022 I'll do a little more work on strategy, and maybe a little more duathlon-specific training, and see what I can do at the championship. Either way, it was a fun event and I'd like to do more draft-legal racing in the future.

Race report: 5K 5K

 After a year of running mostly at a relatively slow pace training for an Ironman, one of my goals this season was to build my 5k speed back again. The target race was the Lake Norman 5k, on May 2. I haven't run a sub-20 5k in my 50s (the last one was the Runway 5k in 2016 at age 49) so sub-20 minutes was the goal.

Race day came and I toed the line with several hundred runners, most of whom would be running the Lake Norman Half marathon, which shared the course for the first 1.55 miles. Carl would be joining me for the effort, shooting for a sub-19. There was pandemonium less than a quarter mile into the race as the race leaders and two of the lead bikes inexplicably took a right turn off the course. The eventual half-marathon winner ran an extra quarter mile, but fortunately I was in a group that figured out what happened before going off course. Carl, unfortunately, did do some extra distance in sorting out where to go. 

I wasn't feeling great but I wanted to give myself a chance, so I sucked it up and ran a 6:23 first mile (you need to run 6:26 pace to go sub-20 minutes). The first half of the race was mostly uphill, so I was counting on a downhill finish. We reached the turnaround where the half-marathoners continued straight ahead while the 5kers reversed course, and I could see that Carl was in first, there was one runner between us, and I was in third. Heading downhill now, I hoped it would start to feel easier. It didn't. I completed Mile 2 in 6:31, still on track for a sub-20. But then the road flattened and even seemed to be going slightly uphill. I couldn't keep up the pace, no matter how hard I tried. I got slower and slower. I think I may have even slowed briefly to a 7-minute pace. When the hill ended and we were going downhill again, I just couldn't go any faster. I started wondering if anyone was going to challenge me for third. I figured even if they did, I would still be first in my age group. I did a lot of negotiating with myself, fighting the urge to stop or slow down drastically. Finally the finish line came into view and I could see the clock. Not only had I missed my chance at a sub-20, the clock was already in the 21s. My official time was 21:07.

Carl won the race but was also nearly a minute off his goal time. We got some great prizes but hardly felt like we earned them because we hadn't met our race goals.

Checks, giant awards, and beverages! But disappointing finish times

By the time we were scarfing down post-race breakfast, we were already hatching a plan for a do-over. We'd do a 5k time trial on the track the following week and see if we could do better. This time we recruited Chas and Derek as pacers.

Fast forward a week and we were lined up on the track, with Chas pacing the 19-minute group (Carl and Brad) and Derek pacing the 20-minute group (me). My plan was to run even 95-second laps. If I could do that 12.5 times, I'd have my sub-20 5k. I let Derek set the pace and he updated me on our progress. We started a little fast but soon settled into a groove. We were right on pace through 4 laps - about a mile. My old soccer buddy David Boraks was there and snapped photos of the two groups. 

Chas, Carl, and Brad trying for sub-19

Derek and me going for sub-20

About 6 laps in, I could see Carl dropping out ahead of me. Apparently he just didn't have it this day. But Chas and Brad continued on. Meanwhile I was having struggles of my own. Had Carl and I tried to reboot too soon? I made it through Mile 2 still on pace, but I was really beginning to labor. Maybe if I slowed just a bit I could pick it up and still finish strong. My 95-second laps were becoming 98- and 99-second laps. Just two laps to go -- surely you can pick up the pace now, right? But I couldn't. I think I was finally able to get back up to goal pace for the final lap, but the damage had been done and my time was 20:20. That was definitely the best I had done in a couple years, but not the sub-20 I had been looking for. 

Brad ended up with a 19:30 -- short of his goal but still a big PR for him, so that was great! I think if I had another month of training with continued perfect weather, I could maybe hit that sub-20. But unfortunately I'm registered for a duathlon in 2 weeks. Then I'm planning a big bike trip across Virginia, and I'm signed up for an ultra in August. So 5k training is over for now. I did what I could, and I did run a pretty decent 5k for a 54-year-old, all things considered. I had planned to lose some weight this spring, which definitely would have helped in the 5k, but given that many folks have gained big chunks of weight during the pandemic, I probably shouldn't complain. I'm excited about my plans for the rest of the summer, so I don't think I'll change a thing! 

Click here for my Lake Norman 5k data

Click here for my track time trial data