Giddy-Up Horsey

Saratoga Springs, NY, known primarily as the town to visit during the summer if you're a horse racing aficienado, played host to a very different group of athletes this weekend - the duathletes and weekend warriors who came to participate in the first ever Saratoga Duathlon, a 5k/28k/5k event. The 5k runs wound through a very hilly course on the campus of Skidmore college, while the bike portion of the race consisted of a 4-circuit flat loop through the adjacent neighborhoods. The strategy for this race was to run the opening 5k as though it were purely a 5k running race, and then attack the bike and survive the final run.

Things went pretty much according to plan today - at the sound of the gun, the first several lines of runners (myself included) hit the course at full clip. Running along the course trying to stay on the shoulders of the guy in front of me (who was setting sub-6:00 min/mile pace), I allowed myself to open things up as much as possible, despite the numerous climbs and decents. When the road turned upward, I switched to an ultra-fast cadence to keep my momentum going and to save my legs a little bit. When the road turned downward, I did my best to lean forward into it, relax and let gravity give me a little help for once. But at about 4k I was already starting to feel blown from the effort. Thankfully, it was right about at that point of the course where things leveled off and turned relatively flat-to-downhill all the way into T1. As the field spread out in my wake and the thump-thump-thump of the other 100 or so runners behind me completely vanished, I found myself crossing the timing matt into T1 with an 18:50 5k, sitting in 18th place overall. Supremo.

Out of T1, the legs were surprisingly okay as I pushed myself around the first lap of the 4-lap course. Because this race was not USAT sanctioned, there were no officials on the course making sure everyone adhered to the no-drafting rule. As such, I passed a lot of people who had a funny perception of what constituted "three bike-lengths", as they were practically team time-trialling thier way around the course! I hid my grin through my gritted teeth, knowing I was passing them on my own and into the wind without the benefit of a draft. Another rather comical part of the bike course was how, despite having race numbers on our clothes and on our bikes, the "officials" responsible for recording lap numbers insisted we shout out our race number every time we came through the lap line. So as I'm big-ringing my way up this false-flat once every 5 miles, I'd be greeted by cheering spectators and a woman holding a clipboard screaming: "Call out your number!!! Call out your number!!!".

Pushing through the final kilometer of the bike, I took in a gel and got ready for what I knew would be the last big push of the day. Oh yeah, the gel... Mental note, Carb-Boom gels have the consistency of water whereas my usual fuel, PowerGel, is more like pudding - so firmly squeezing the gel pack is not neccessary, unless you fancy wearing the gel instead of ingesting it! Anyway, T2 is always sort of interesting and is so different than T1. During T1 there's so much adreneline from the start of the race and so much relief that the first run is over that I tend to just float right on through and onto the bike. But during T2 I always end up having to have a little talk with myself: "Self, I know you think you should be done with this race right now, but in fact, you actually have another 5k race to do". Self typically responds: "No thanks". And so begins my inner conversation which lasts for approximatly 20 more minutes.

Out of T2, there was one runner in front of me and two in back of me, all about 30 seconds apart from one another. After the first 1k, I realized there was no hope in catching the runner in front of me, and I could hear the runner behind me catching up to my pace. He and I ran shoulder-to-shoulder for about 3k before he slowly started to pull away in the final 1k. Keeping the gap as narrow as possible, I stayed on him the best I could and wound up coming in within 5 seconds of his finishing time - putting me 12th overall in the race, 2nd in my age-group.

In all, it was another fantastic race - and an exceptional day of training. I met my primary goal of running the first 5k as a running race with little concern for what effects that may have caused on the bike and last run. Given the hills of the run course and the fact that we're just coming into June, a sub-19 5k is spot-on for a multisport race. As the weeks progress, we'll be looking run sub-18's in the sprint triathlons and ultimatly trying to go sub-36 in a pure 10k later this year. So stay tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Slide

With the subject of tonight's discussion being on mental preparation for the upcoming race weekend, I can't help but emphasize the importance of communicating with your power animal.

If you didn't laugh, please rent the movie "Fight Club" and revisit The Daily Grind.

Seriously now. Sunday is the Saratoga Duathlon - an event very similar to the recent Shamrock, only a slightly less important race on my schedule. That is, Shamrock was what I considered a "B" race, whereas the Saratoga Du is one that I consider a "C" race. The primary reason for this is that this event is not USAT sanctioned, so it's sort of a "practice" race in my eyes (no ranking points awarded). These types of events are great because the atmosphere is a little bit more relaxed and they provide the perfect setting to try new things out. In this case, I'll be trying out a more aggressive race strategy, particularly with the run portions of the event.

As I've been reflecting on last weekend's performance at the Shamrock, as well as previous performances, I feel as though the one area that still requires improvement is how I run the run portions of these multisport events. With such an extensive cycling background, it's easy for me to ride at my full potential during the bike portion, knowing exactly where I am in terms of "reserves". But running (in a multisport race) is different for me. I tend to focus more on staying on people's shoulders than on trying to move up in the group. This has the greatest effect on my overall performance during the second run, where there are typically much fewer people on the course to work with. I think that by really pushing through my limits after T2, I'll be able to put myself several more places into the field. Moreover, this will be of the utmost importance in the triathlons this year, as the podium spots are usually decided in the run.

So, the question is: "what to do about it?"

My assesment is that it's primarily mental, and what's required here is to take my focus to the next level on race day. I recognize that I tend to go too much into survival/comfort mode during the runs - as contrasted with the aggressive/discomfort mode I put myself in on the bike. I'm guessing it simply comes down to having more confidence on the bike. The key is recalling all the running work I've done this year, all the volume during the off-season and all the speedwork I'm performing now, and know that I'm capable of doing more in the runs - know this as firmly as I know my abilities as a cyclist.

As I begin to draw my focus between now and race day, I'll keep these things in mind and look to racing Sunday more as a running race than a cycling race. I'll be aiming to pace aggressively, trying to approach my 5k PR time on the runs. The bike course of 20 miles is a circuit (4 x 5 miles) so pushing the pace here will be easier than an out-and-back route. With such a relatively low amount of pressure on this race, it should be a fantastic event and a good day of training.

Thanks for reading.

That Elusive Shamrock

This past weekend, Liz and I traveled back to our old stomping ground for the first big race of the 2005 season, the Shamrock Duathlon in Glastonbury, CT. The Shamrock is a typical road duathlon, which starts with a 5k run, proceeds with a 40k bike and ends with another 5k run. The run courses here are pretty flat, and therefore pretty fast, but the bike course is quite hilly, something which generally plays to my advantage. Last year, I took 4th in this race... one off the podium, and this year, I could think of no better way to start the season than one-upping my performance last year.

Arriving in CT a day early, I had the opportunity to pre-ride the course Saturday afternoon with my good friend Sebastian. During the pre-ride, the weather was very warm with plenty of sunshine, though there was a significant headwind which made the flatter sections of the course rather frustrating. Adding to this was the famous Connecticut pollen which was flying around like snow. Regardless, I finished up the ride feeling super fresh and then wrapped up my workout with a 2.5k run, just to keep things loose. Things were good.

That is until I woke up to 45 degree weather and pouring rain. Not the most ideal conditions when you weigh 145lbs. soaking wet (literally). Nobody at the race was really thrilled with this scenario, but hey, you never know what it's going to do on race day. So my strategy was basically to run at sub-threshold pace right up until the last possible minute and start the race as warm as possible. This actually worked pretty well, as almost immediatly after the gun went off I was able to ramp up to running at my race pace, picking people off one by one as I made my way through to the front. In fact, I was pretty warm throughout the entire first run, and began thinking things weren't going to be as bad as we all originally thought. But as soon as I left T1 and started along the bike course, the conditions really started to take thier toll. Between the winds, the temperature and the rain, it was a pretty epic ride for eveyone. After about 20k, my hands and feet were blocks of ice, my glasses were fogged and wet and my legs were stinging from the freezing cold water splatter... but still, I was able keep pace, putting the damage on at each of the climbs, gradually making my way into the top 20 overall by T2.

As I racked the bike in T2, I heard Liz cheering and telling me I was currently 17th. But running out of the transition with numb feet took some time out of my pace for sure. The entire first 2.5k I struggled to get my temperature back up until finally I was running somewhat normally. Though at one point on the course I heard Liz shouting "looking great Joe!!! Now open it up!!!" - It was here I recall thinking: "Ummm... it is open". Digging deep, I rounded out the rest of the run course at a great pace. However, during the last 100m, a runner whom I'd felt drafting off me the entire second half of the 5k suddenly started to get fiesty. Mr. Tough Guy who wouldn't take a pull or move off my shoudlers for 4.8k suddenly found some legs to start a sprint in the last 200m. So as the two of us ramped things up coming into the finishing stretch, he gave things one final push and wound up taking head-first digger right across the timing matt. As it turns out, we were given the same finishing time of 1:36:05 which earned me (us, I suppose) a tie for 3rd place (age-group) - I took 18th overall from 150+ finishers. Ironically, he was granted 17th place overall, perhaps for doing cartwheels through the finish in front of the USAT officials.

In the end, it was a phenomenal first race of the season. Given the race conditions and the stiff competition that I've come to expect from CT venues, I'm quite pleased with things. Special thanks to Sebastian for the pre-ride, espresso & malt balls and to Darin for the requisite pre-race Bertucci's dinner and for putting us up.

Thanks for reading.

This is how it all starts...