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 With the addition of the duathlon, the traditional excuse of "can't swim" was no longer valid and after the fun Firetower 15.3 race earlier in the year, Danny Fisher and I thought it would be fun to have a re-match.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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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