Friday 8 February 2013

2013 Duathlon Series Race 2 Report


2013 Duathlon Series Race 2

Second race of the season.....I admit I was feeling a bit nervous today as my training during the past week didn't feel like what I could normally do. On Friday night I finalized my race plan and goal times for this race.....and if all goes according to plan I should be able to meet my goals. I looked at the results from last year and I my run times were lacking by at least 1-2 mins on each leg. I should be able to shave off at least 2 minutes in total off the run legs and 30 seconds for the bike leg. 

Weather:

This didn't feel like winter. It felt more like early autumn. It was slightly humid, temperatures hovered between 17-20*C, and the thing that would effect me the most was the wind. Since the bike leg is a lap course that would consist of 7 laps, race day weather had headwinds in both directions instead of the one direction only. 

The Race

My course was the long course of all the events today. (3.2K run, 20K bike, 3.2K run)
Start time was at 0830. 

Leg 1 (Run 3.2K):

My original race plan was to maintain a steady 4:00/km to get roughly the same time as my first race. However...things fell apart. I ignored my race plan to keep up with the faster runners and burned myself too much which would ultimately make my final run suffer.

Garmin Connect
T1
Someone knocked over the bike racks, transition was a mess. I was lucky that my bike only fell down to one side and not like my friend whose bike got tangled in with other bikes. I was also lucky that my bike didn't get damaged since it landed on the drive train side. 

Leg 2 (Bike 20K): 

I TT'ed myself for the first lap and a half before a chase pack caught up with me. We rotated pretty quickly and I pretty much stayed in aero most of the time till we reached the middle portion of each map close to the turning points. Headwinds were ferocious and other racers with TT bikes literally sliced through the wind compared to people that used road bikes....I luckily have started using aero bars again and didn't suffer as much of an aero penalty compared to other people. I managed to shave off 2 minutes compared to my last race which is excellent!

Garmin Connect
T2
My right calve cramped up coming out of transition. I quickened my pace and shortened my stride to get my heart rate down to 180bpm for a quick recovery for this last run. 

Leg 3 (Run 3.2K):

This was an extremely hard run as the first K consisted of me controlling my pace to stop my calves from cramping further. It gradually got easier afterwards as my muscles adjusted back for the run. This time my run time was just about on par with last time as my pacing during my Leg 1 run definitely effected this run. Pacing difference was approx 5s/km.  

Garmin Connect

Stats and times

Times not including transition splits

My official chip time was the same one I got on my watch: 1:06:21.

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