Columbus Challenge Duathlon Race Report

This was an epic race for me, a challenge which made me dig deeper than I knew I could.  I experienced the lows and highs of racing - emotions swinging from "all is lost", "I'm not going to be able to finish this" to "I can do this!", "I can win this!" on a minute by minute basis throughout the event.  Whilst it was an incredibly close race (only 7 secs separated Danny Fisher and me at the end of it), it was mostly a psychological battle with myself.  Danny and I started at the same time, and finished within sight of each other but through the whole of the race we only caught glimpses, could only imagine how hard the other was pushing and re-run endless scenarios in our minds about what the outcome would be.  Despite this, it was so much more than a solitary experience, there were lots of friends shouting out support around the course and the spectators close to the transition area really engaged with our battle, it was so much fun to hear their excitement as we raced and at the finish.  In the end though, there's a special sense of pride & satisfaction that I take away from this event, knowing that I tried as hard as I could, that I emptied myself completely.

Race report:

1st place overall - 1:13:45.4

Strava data - Leg 1 (Run 5k) - Leg 2 (Bike 15 miles) - Leg 3 (Run 5k)

Only 6 days after the Tri-Indy duathlon race, our local race, our local multi-sport race took place in Columbus, Indiana.  This is a big event for the local community, raising money for Foundation For Youth and their programs promoting all sorts of activities for the young people of the town.  This would be the 19th running of the event which started as a sprint distance triathlon, a couple of years ago an Olympic distance triathlon was added and this year, for the first time, a duathlon (run, bike run).

Whilst the Quaff ON! Racing team is mostly about running, we love to support this event and over the past couple of years various individual and relay teams have competed.  See this year's team race report from Matt Flaherty here.  With the addition of the duathlon, the traditional excuse of "can't swim" was no longer valid and after the fun Firetower 15.3 race earlier in the year, Danny Fisher and I thought it would be fun to have a re-match.

The race format was to be a 5k run (just like the Firetower race), 17 mile bike (7 miles more than the Firetower) and a repeat of the initial 5k run (1.1 miles more than the Firetower).  On paper, it looked like a pretty even match again, with Danny's far superior pace in the run but my speed on the bike.  The lessons of the earlier race hadn't been lost on Danny either - I had taken 40 secs advantage in transition which was a big proportion of my win margin, so he'd been practicing!

Last minute change!

Just a week or so before the race, one of the country roads used on the bike course was resurfaced with "chip & seal" making it dangerous so the organizers had to make a route change which resulted in a course 2 miles shorter than originally planned, at 15 miles.  Now it was going to be close - I started to believe that the balance had tipped in Danny's favor.

Ready for the start

Leg 1 - 17:48 (5:45 / mile)

Danny and I started the race side by side on the line under the finish banner, right from the start he pulled away from me quickly opening a gap, after 1 mile he was out of sight leaving me to a solo effort trying to minimize the deficit.  Danny had run a 5k PR at a local race the night before - I thought his legs would be tired, but he was on great form.  By the time I saw him at the turn around he'd built a lead of 1:40 in just over 2 miles, he was easily going to have more than 2 minutes on me after the first leg.  This was bad news, I thought I could close 3 to 3.5 minutes on the bike, but 4 mins seemed unrealistic and with exactly the same run course to complete at the end of the race, it was looking like Danny would pass me with ease before the finish.  These thoughts haunted me for the rest of the run, I tried to stick to my race plan, not go too fast now & run out of legs before the end of the race, just stick to the plan.  I saw Danny heading out on the bike as the bike & run course overlapped close to the finish area - I was pleased that he wasn't already out of sight, but I knew I had a lot of work to do in the next phase of the race

Leg 2 - 36:59 (24.3 miles/hour)

In transition I quickly got off my shoes & took the time to set them up for T2, with the tongues pulled forwards, ready to go.  I went to grab my bike & realized that I didn't have my helmet on - it's the first time I've missed that part of the transition routine, I think it indicates how much pressure I was feeling to get on the bike & get going.  Quickly fastening my helmet, I ran to the bike out, made a cyclocross re-mount (running & jumping onto the bike) and started to pedal.  Dan Smith, another Quaff ON team mate, yelled "2 minutes" at me - this really meant that the race was on, I had to go as hard as I could and hope I could hold on to the lead in the final run.

Mentally I'd rehearsed this part of the race, I had imagined catching & passing Danny at various points on the course & what it would mean in terms of margin at the end.  But the start was all about getting past the numb feeling in my legs and settling into my rhythm.  The new course had a couple of short, sharp climbs and I figured I had to attack these as hard as possible to maximize my gains - raising the effort level for each of these hurt and took time to recover on the other side of the hills.  Approaching grand view lake, I was starting to give up hope of making the catch early enough, but just as we started on the rolling southern loop of the course I caught sight of a shirtless rider and willed it to be Danny, I finally caught & passed him about half way round the course.  In my imaginary scenarios this was about as late in the ride as I thought it possible to still have a chance at winning - so the race was still on, but still needed to give it everything!

At around 10 miles, I started to get cramps in my calf muscles, it was a very peculiar sensation like the bottom half of my leg had gone numb and wouldn't respond to what I was asking it to do, my ankles stopped articulating and pedaling became much more "lumpy".  This was definitely bad - running on cramped legs was going to be very slow, slowing down on the bike to get rid of the cramps was going to cost me precious time.  I grabbed my energy gel but it stuck to the roof of my mouth, I took a drink but managed to spray it all over my face & helmet and then I started to get an acid reflux from the gel.  I really struggled for a couple of minutes, mentally it was tough to deal with, these things have not happened before, why were they happening now?  One benefit was all this had taken my mind off the cramps, and I'd lost focus on my effort - my heart rate had dropped and the brief moment of recovery seemed to be helping my legs.

After picking up the pace again I felt good coming into transition to start the final run.  The transition area always surprises me at the Tipton event, it's actually a steep down hill and I only just managed to skid to a halt in my socks to rack the bike and pull on my shoes.

Entering T2 at the end of the bike section

Leg 3 - 17:43 (5:43 / mile)

Despite thinking I felt good coming off the bike, my first mile was terrible.  My legs felt wooden and I was struggling to find anything like a comfortable pace.  My watch beeped at 1 mile and said 6:07... nearly 30 secs slower than my target pace and no way fast enough to hold off a fast charging Danny Fisher.  Shortly after this, the course passed the start / finish area and Dan Smith told me the gap to Danny at the end of the bike was 1:30 - and I'd probably lost nearly a full minute of that with my slow first mile.  I had to pick it up.  MacKenzie Caldwell (North HS's Cross Country MVP and 2nd in the State Champs) was running with a relay team and came past me in the first mile.  I convinced myself to hold on to her pace, to hold the gap and use her pace as motivation to elevate my own effort.  This worked and I actually passed her back around the half way mark as her initial pace started to fade, then I just had to keep going!  After the 2 mile mark, the course doubles back with a short loop around a driveway, as I came out of this to head for home, I caught sight of Danny entering the turnaround - he could only be about 20 secs behind me and we still had a mile to go.  I figured that it was "do or die" at this point - the rest of the race was going to take about 5 minutes and you can bear just about anything for 5 minutes.  The final coals got thrown on the fire and I did feel my pace increase just a bit.  After the 3 mile mark, it is all down hill to the finish line but Danny was so close I could hear him yell at me - I started to sprint not really believing I could hold him off but at this point I really didn't care, I knew that I had tried my hardest.

The final yards seemed to stretch out forever but the finish line did come eventually, and Danny hadn't come by me.  I didn't have breath or energy to turn around to see how close it was.

The Finish - 7 secs separation!

Danny vs Tim

Leg 1 - Run 5k - Danny beat Tim by 2:01

T1 - Run to Bike - Tim beat Danny by 9.6 sec

Leg 2 - Bike 15 miles - Tim beat Danny by 3:25

T2 - Bike to Run - Tim beat Danny by 6.7 sec

Leg 3 - Run 5k - Danny beat Tim by 1:33

Tri-Indy Duathlon Race Report

1st place overall - 1:01:27.4

Strava Data - Leg 1 Run 2 miles - Leg 2 Bike 20km - Leg 3 Run 5km

My son, Angus has been competing in the Kids Tri for Kids series of kid friendly triathlons based in & around Indianapolis.  So far this year he has entered 5 of the races which all feature a mass swim start for a 100m swim, a 2-2.5 mile bike and a 0.5-0.7 mile run.  It's been a lot of fun and a great Father-Son bonding opportunity as many of the races we just go as the two of us with an early morning start, leaving the rest of the family sleeping soundly.  The latest round of the series was organized in conjunction with the "grown ups" race at Tri-Indy and included the kids swimming in the downtown canal, just like the adult race!  The timing of the kids race meant that the whole family would come and join in the fun, having a picnic in the park and cheering him on and this opened up the possibility of me competing in the adult race earlier in the morning.

There was a duathlon race as part of Tri-Indy (run, bike, run) which fit really well with my training being only 1 week ahead of the Columbus Challenge Triathlon & Duathlon where my Quaff ON Racing team mate Danny Fisher and I were going to have a repeat showdown after the Firetower 15.3 race earlier in the year.  There's no way to truly replicate the race intensity in training so I was excited to go out & push myself, get comfortable with the transitions under race pressure and to be part of what is always as well organized and fun event in downtown Indy.

One great aspect to racing the duathlon is the mass start - most non-Ironman tri's are now time-trial starts for the swim with racers starting at 3 sec intervals seeded by expected swim performance.  Because I'm such a terrible swimmer, I'm always way back from the front of the race and never know how I'm doing or who I'm racing - with the duathlon starting with a run, we all toe the line, just like any regular 5k race, then the gun goes off and you can see the whole race unfolding around you.  I enjoy this a lot more, it's motivating to be amongst all the other competitors and there's even the opportunity to think a bit strategically about how you race (maybe I should just get better at swimming...).

Leg 1- Run 2 miles

We lined up outside the NCAA headquarters and went on the gun at 7:45am.  There were a lot of people setting out really hot and I settled in to an uncomfortably fast pace keeping the front of the race in sight.  Through the first mile, much of the early enthusiasm had faded and there were 5 people ahead of me and a pretty good gap behind me.  I made a conscious effort to slow down a bit & recover my heart rate through the second mile.  The two really fast runners looked like high schoolers and I doubted they would have my speed on the bike.  Judging the time gap against land marks, it was about 30 secs to the front which I thought was fine to control & overcome once we got out of transition.  Despite slowing up myself I passed 3 more people in the 2nd mile of the leg, finally entering transition in 3rd place overall, about 40 secs down on the lead.

Leg 2 - Bike 20km (12.1 miles)

In transition there seemed to be some confusion - the first two runners hadn't found their bikes and I wasn't certain where we'd entered the transition area - luckily I had made a mental note of the bright orange backpack at the end of the rack where I'd left my bike and I found it easily, and was quickly heading towards the exit.

On the bike, I'm still getting used to the feeling in my legs after the run - it's completely different to the sensation of starting to ride after swimming.  I settled into a pace and allowed my heart rate to come down after the somewhat technical start to the bike course.  Not long into the bike, Paul Smith passed me and this was a bit of a wake-up call.  I dropped out of the draft zone to avoid a penalty and assessed how fast we were going & how hard I was trying then made the decision to push harder and take back the lead.  I did this as we hit the first of two rail road crossings on the course - they're a little unnerving and break the rhythm, so I sprinted briefly after this to create a gap then settled back down and concentrated on maintaining my effort.

With about 2 miles to go, Paul passed me again, clearly my increased effort hadn't been enough to shake him off completely but now I was committed to reducing my effort a bit in order to prepare for the run.  It took a lot of self control to drop back & let the gap grow slowly as we approached the end of the course.  I guess there was about 30 secs between us as we turned off the road into the park and negotiated the pathways to get back to the transition area, maybe by luck or stupidity, I closed a lot of the gap by carrying more speed through a couple of turns and we hit the dismount line with me still in 2nd place, but only a few seconds apart.

Leg 3 - Run 5km (3.1 miles)

With almost identical times in transition, we headed into the run together and I had no idea how fast Paul was capable of going over the last 5k.  I took the lead as we ran over the bridge toward the Indy Zoo, as we turned along the river, my legs started to feel OK and I increased the pace to what I thought was sustainable for the rest of the race - worried that if we stayed together to the end that I'd have nothing left to sprint with.  The breathing & footsteps stayed right behind me for about another minute but then started to fade as I sustained the pace.  By the time we turned onto the bridge to cross back over the river at about 1.6 miles I was able to look back down the course & see a big gap had opened up - I was pretty certain at that point I had the win.  Thinking ahead to the next weekend and the race with Danny, I knew I would need to run as fast as I could through the final miles, so I set about maintaining & even increasing my effort through the final section of the race even though I could have relaxed and maintained the gap I already had - no training like racing, and I put an image in my mind of Danny running me down over the final mile to spur me on!  I crossed the finish line with close to 2 minutes gap, Paul finishing a strong 2nd.

It was a fun race with lots of other friends competing in the Sprint and Olympic distance triathlon races.  The kids race got underway a couple of hours later and Angus had a blast racing on many parts of the same course.

Things to do differently next time (only a week to make it happen!):

• Always rehearse the entry to transition from the run and bike, knowing where to find your rack is critical
• Transition is part of the race, time lost here has to be made up on the race course where it's much harder
• Probably go a bit harder on the bike, I think I was being conservative, but I was very pleased with the final leg run pace

DINO Mountain Bike Race - Versailles State Park - Race Report

12th overall (Pro / C1); 6th in wave (C1); 2nd 40-49 Age Group - Results
Strava Data

My 3rd weekend of mountain bike racing in 3 weeks was another in the DINO race series.  We love Versailles State Park and made a weekend of the race - it was great that many friends were able to join us and we made some new friends whilst we were there.
I just realized that I don't have any pictures from the weekend so this will be a boring text only write-up.

Lap 1
After two weeks of racing leading up to this, I was feeling more confident on my mountain bike and I have ridden the trails before.  The race starts with a long dash on grass and then heads up hill on single track - I was determined to make a good start and use my advantage of climbing speed early in the race.  This worked out for me, hitting the trail in 4th wheel, the front 3 riders quickly separated from me but I was opening up a real gap behind which I held for nearly all of the first lap despite being aware of riders in the woods behind me getting closer in the twisty technical sections that I always struggle with.  I was just starting to feel confident when a momentary lapse in concentration had me hit a tree with my right shoulder and I was on the ground with the bike on top of me.  I really had made a gap, it was some time before the next rider came past me as I tried to unclip from my pedals and find my glasses in the undergrowth!

Lap 2
I chased hard keeping the one rider who had passed me in sight as we grabbed fresh bottles, started the 2nd lap and climbed again.  I closed the gap down but couldn't pass so I took a bit of recovery - this is when I discovered I picked up the wrong bottle and had only water, not energy drink.  After the climb I lost ground and let another two riders pass me, then Denny, a team-mate from The Bicycle Station caught up to me and I let him pass but was determined to stick on his wheel.  Denny is an awesome trail rider and I found myself carrying speed through turns as I followed his lines.  We caught the group of 3 riders who had passed me since the race start just as we hit another rough, steep climb.  Denny went for the pass and I followed him, we really put the pressure on and sticking to his lines I was able to carry the same speed all the way to the end of the lap, pushing hard to try and open up an advantage over the 3 riders we now had behind us.  The lap ends with a split on a gravel road - left to start the last lap, right to the finish - as I hit the gravel I lost the front end of the bike & went down hard on my left side.  This time it really hurt and knocked the wind out of me for a moment.  Two of the three riders came though as I ran & jumped back on the bike (cyclocross coming to good use!).  Still a bit winded, hurting from the wreck I dumped my bottle but failed to grab the replacement as we started the climb on lap 3.

Lap 3
No water, I downed my energy gel which stuck to the roof of my mouth like glue.  I was able to catch up to the two riders ahead of me on the climb but Denny was long gone.  I managed to pass both the other riders before the top of the climb but knew that in the technical section which followed I stood no chance of closing on Denny so I had consolidation on my mind when I wrecked for a 3rd time - lost the front wheel on a root and hit my left side hard again.  By this time, the lack of water and repeated bashing had taken it's toll on my body and I was starting to feel really weak.  Two riders caught up to me & I let them passing, thinking that if I could stick with them I may be able to recover ground on the last climb section & hold position to the finish.  When the climb came, instead of picking up places, there was nothing left and I lost ground - I really did have to consolidate then, I could hear riders behind me in the woods, surely they would catch & pass me as well before the finish.  I found some strength and picked up the pace just enough to stay out of sight finishing the race in just over 2 hours.

As the Adrenalin subsided I realized just how much my arm & leg were hurting - my left glove was full of blood from a large gash in my arm caused by the gravel fall at the end of Lap 2.  After some painful scrubbing in the bathrooms to get the dirt out of it, one of my fellow racers who's a nurse patched me up with butterflies & a large dressing.  Bruised, bloodied and aching I headed back to the campground to pack up the trailer & head home.

This was definitely the most competitive I'd raced, and yet the most frustrating as well - following faster riders makes me painfully aware of how much trail skill I lack.

Things to do better next time:
Don't pick up the wrong water bottle
Carry a spare bottle in case the hand-off goes wrong
Don't fall off my bike

Catching up on Race Reports - Tri State 6 hour race - East Fork Country Park

4th place Men Solo category - 6 laps in 5:13:57
Strava Data

The Podium
Ceremonies moved into a shelter as a massive thunder storm hit the park!

I've fallen behind on race reports, I've had thoughts about this race for the past 3 weeks but haven't written them down.

As part of my plan to build some good bike miles and gain experience / confidence in bike handling ahead of the cyclocross season, I entered a round of the Tri-State 6 hour series.  My schedule with family & other racing prevented me from making a consistent attempt at this series but the format was really appealing to me and the East Fork race fell on a free weekend between DINO races.  The race was superbly organized and the whole crowd of racers & supporters had a real community feel about it - people helping each other out, no egos, just a lot of fun - this is definitely a race series I'll consider next year.  Kent Baumgardt was there taking pictures as well which means everyone in the race gets great photos to share on facebook and in blogs, kudos to Kent for his relentless support of cycling events in the region.

Nutrition Plan for 6 hours - SkratchLabs, UGo Bars and Quaff ON!

After my nutrition failure at the Muscatatuck race the previous weekend, I was determined to drink a bottle on every lap and to eat during the race.  This might sound basic, but most of my endurance riding experience is on the road when it's easy to sit up for a moment, drink, reach round to your jersey pockets and get food.  On a mountain bike in the forest, it's a completely different story, finding time to grab anything is a challenge.  I was also determined to use real food as much as possible because 6 hours worth of gels and blocks was something I simply couldn't face.  I'm a big fan of SkratchLabs and the Feedzone Portables principles of making real food for exercise, but gels are really easy to access and I took a leaf from my triathlon racing by taping 6 gels to my top tube which meant no reaching behind to find food on the trail.

At the end of each lap we passed through the "pit" area to pick up a fresh bottle and more food.  After this there was a section on paved roads to connect back up with the trail system in the park, making it the perfect opportunity to eat.  I had a mixture of PB&J sandwiches cut into bit sizes with no crust and bananas cut in half, as well as some UGo salty bars to help stave off cramps.  All this was willingly passed up to me as I rode through by Joanna Matuszak who was there supporting the eventual winner, Tomas Golas.

The lap followed twisty single track around the park.  There were lots of roots, some challenging obstacles and beautiful scenery - however the start was about a 3/4 mile dash uphill on pavement.  Determined to be more aggressive on the start, I went into the first section of single track 4th wheel.  It was immediately apparent there were plenty of people with better trail skills behind me, there were also a lot of people in the team relay race who were on a one lap mission instead of a steady 6 hour effort.  I gradually let the faster riders pass and the pack quickly thinned out over the first lap.  It then became a question of mentally staying on top of the level of effort (not trying too hard); finding time to eat and trying to remember where I was on the lap & what came next.

For most of the race, I was riding solo occasionally either passing or being passed by riders in the team relay race.  It was only on the last lap that I started to see some of the solo race plates ahead of me and I was excited to push on in an attempt to pass a few people & make up places in the race - I was pretty tired at this point and it didn't dawn on me until after the finish that these were actually people a lap down, so it wasn't for position anyway!  In the moment, though, it gave me something to aim for and push through the final lap fatigue.

The race is organized to finish at exactly 6 hours, any distance completed after that time isn't counted, so results are based on the time each rider completed their last full lap.  On my 6th lap, I crossed the line after 5 hours 14 minutes - my lap times had consistently been in the 50-53 minute range so there was no way that I could complete a 7th lap in the remaining time - I rolled to a halt and opened a beer!

I was happy to finish 4th overall in the Male Solo race - looking at the results afterwards, it's amazing how small differences add up - I could have made that 7th lap if I'd averaged 1 minute less per lap, on a 50 minute lap, that is a pretty small margin and I could have likely made that difference by just pushing harder on the pavement section at the start of each lap, but then I wouldn't have eaten as effectively which would have influenced my performance later in the race.  All the analysis in the world can't change what happened and in the end it comes down to going as hard as you feel you can over the time - I did that, I was pleased with my preparation and nutrition through the race so there's no regrets.

Here are some of Kent's great pictures from the race:

The end of the pavement dash at the start of the race

Picking my way down the trail

Dodging the trees

Here is the preparation notes I made before the race:

Kit

- Spare wheels

- 3 x spare tubes 29er

- CO2

- Track pump

- Chain lube

- Spare chain

- Spare brake pads

- Tool box

- Check saddle bag tool kit - chain tool, wrenches etc

- Duct tape

- Insulation tape

- Chamois cream

- Umbrella shade & pegs

- Cooler

- Sun screen

Clothing

- Bibs & jersey (2014 strip)

- Spare bibs & jersey (2013 strip)

- Helmet - Bontrager

- Spare helmet - Giro

- Full finger gloves

- Spare full finger gloves

- Spare short finger gloves

- Spare socks

- Under helmet hat (light weight)

- 2 x clear glasses

- Sun glasses

- Towel

Nutrition

> Assume 1 x 20oz bottle per hour plus 1 on drive to event plus 1 pre race plus 1 spare = 9 total

- Water - 2 x gallons spring water

- Skratch Labs powder - make up all bottles pre-race - need to get 4 additional Bicycle Station bottles

- Small (16 oz) bottle on 2nd cage tied in as back-up in case I lose the main bottle

- 4 x back-up Gatorade 20oz bottles

- Smoothie for pre-start

- PB&J - Assume 1 per lap (5) half sandwiches

- Trail mix (salty)

- Salty chips - 2 packets

- Gels - 6 taped to top tube (3 caffine, 3 not caffine)

- Shot bloks - two packets (carry in jersey pocket)

- Bananas x 4 - cut in half for easy access

- Beer - 2 x Quaff ON! growler with Hare Trigger

- Ice for cooler