Striding Home

Another weekend and another race. This weekend was the second annual Saratoga Duathlon - a 5k/20M/5k run-bike-run event in Saratoga Springs, NY. Despite the massive amounts of rain we've had in the Northeast over the past month, this weekend was sunny and warm right from the get-go... Maybe a little too warm, actually. That's right. For the first time this season, the temperatures soared above 80 and posed quite a challenge to all of us as-yet-to-be-acclimated athletes.

Following another mini-taper after my second block of Build this season (and the Shamrock Duathlon last weekend), I helped the legs and lungs wake up a bit on Saturday by going out for a short, but intense, jaunt on my tri bike followed by an equally short run. Although I felt a bit sluggish and bothered by the heat (and my allergies) beforehand, I wound up feeling nice and loose afterwards, and eagerly awaited this morning's start.

With the sun bright and the temperatures warm, I got in my usual pre-race warm-up of riding and running after arriving at the race site and before racking my bike and getting myself situated in the starting corral. And at 8:30am, the gun fired, and we were off. The Saratoga course is tricky; the 5k runs are hilly - with both long false-flats and leg-breaking rises - and the bike course (a 5 mile loop repeated 4 times) is super-fast, with a little rise at the end of each loop that really makes you work. Right out of the gate, and as usual, the pace was being set pretty high. Rounding out the first mile in a touch over 6:00, I was already starting to cramp up and have difficulties breathing on account of the heat. I could hear, however, the silence behind me - with only a few sets of footsteps in my draft. Embracing this fact, I continued to stay with the leaders through the last of the major climbs knowing this would grow the gap on the rest of the field behind me, despite the deficit it could have put me in. It was a gamble, but it worked. At mile 2 I was in a select group of runners with a sizable lead on the remaining 175+ competitors behind me. At the 2.5 mile mark, the road turned to false-flat downhill which was just enough to help me keep my pace yet recover the slightest bit before T1. At mile 3, Liz and my Mom were there to cheer me on and Liz - who once again demonstrated her mastery of taking photographs while counting leaders - shouted to me that I was around 20th overall.

Coming into T1, I clocked a 19:15 5k and went straight for my bike. With only 30 seconds or so in transition, I quickly started the bike leg at a blistering pace. Pushing through the first lap, I managed to pass a handful of riders who'd come and gone from T1 just before me. My goal - despite it being a pretty tall order - was to try and knock off ten guys and get myself into the top ten overall. With good legs, I kept my head down and the gears high, and gradually chipped away at my competition. When all was said and done, I'd knocked off about 6 guys over the course of 20 miles, bringing me into T2 at around 14th overall.

At this point, the heat was in full effect and I knew I had my work in for me - just to finish. Out of transition, my legs were cramped and my stomach was sloshing. But after about 800 meters, I gradually began to get into my rhythm on the run, and I began to regain my focus. Up the road by about 200 meters, I saw a loan runner pushing along at around about the same pace as I. Fighting the urge to slow down, I made a deal with myself: use the hills to catch this guy, no matter what the repercussions - if he stays away after giving it my all on the climbs, let him take it, ease off and just finish - otherwise, continue to push it through to the finish, as it's one more position in the overall.

Sure enough, I managed to catch this guy on the very last rise - and I did so with authority. Coming up on him, I ran his shoulder for about 10 seconds, and then accelerated away, hoping to damage his confidence and have him slow a bit in my wake. About 30 seconds after I passed him, I looked over my shoulder and saw a gap of about 50 meters. Sticking with my promise to myself, I continued to push it as hard as I could, especially after the road turned down a bit and I had the chance to recover. Rounding the final corner, I took a final glance over my shoulder to see the same gap, and then gave it my all over the last half mile.

My all was enough to hold him off, putting about 15 seconds on him and bringing me into the finish with a 21:20 5k, and a finishing time of 1:41:28. And though I felt I may have underperformed today on account of the heat, my work was good enough for 13th overall of 181 finishers and (another) 2nd place age-group win. Update! The official results page was updated to properly identify 3 of the top 13 overall competitors as participants in the relay format, meaning... Yup, I took home 10th overall for the individuals, making my official debut into the world of "top ten" on the short-course!

In all, it was another great race. I'm pretty pleased with the fact that I managed to race back-to-back weekends with pretty decent results, especially given the radical change in weather. One thing's for sure: summer's here to stay.

Official Age-Group & Overall Results

Thanks for reading.