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

DINO Muscatatuck Mountain Bike Race Report

10th place overall; 2nd place 40-49 age group - Results
Strava data

I missed the first couple of races in the DINO Mountain Bike series as I focused on my running objectives through Spring & early Summer.  They're great opportunities for me to build fitness and bike handling skills for cyclocross later in the year as well as representing The Bicycle Station in local races.
The events are very family friendly with kids and junior races being held at each event - so I was excited to have Angus planning on joining me for his first race in the Junior category which mean he would ride a full race lap starting just after I was expecting to complete my 4 lap race.
The race laps for DINO are typically 6-10 miles with the Category 1 & Elite / Pro race being either 3 or 4 laps.  The Muscatatuck course is one of the shorter laps, 6.5 miles through twisting single track with no sustained climbs, the lap took about 30 mins to complete.  I hadn't had the chance to pre-ride the whole course so my first lap was going to be a learning experience!
At the start, the small Elite / Pro racers set off 2 mins ahead of the larger age group Cat 1 field.  I got a bad start, losing places on the fast grass sprint to the first section of single track - I'm always anxious about my lack of trail riding skills and worry about jumping in front of people, then holding them up in the technical sections.  As we settled into the first lap I let a couple of riders pass as they were clearly faster on the initial downhill twisting singletrack but I also passed a few riders who slowed dramatically on the first short climb.  Things quickly spread out, by the start of the 2nd lap I was part of a small group which gapped me on the more technical sections, but I quickly caught up when things leveled out or went uphill.  People were tiring quickly and I was able to make more & more passes stick, still ending up with clear trail behind me even after the twisty sections.  In the final two laps, I progressively caught & passed several of the riders I had seen riding away from me earlier in the race - I was hoping to catch up with Bicycle Station team-mate, Denny Barber on the final lap, but it wasn't to be - he rode a great race to finish 9th overall, about 90 secs ahead of me taking 2nd in the very wide "50-99" age group!

Me looking worried on the technical downhills....
Photo - William Snyder

I finished in 2:00:08 and had just 14 mins before Angus' race was due to start - having seen the whole lap for the first time in my race, I'd decided that I would run behind him to help instead of trying to ride alongside him.  I dashed to the car, grabbed a fresh water bottle & energy gel, pulled on my running shorts, a dry top and trail shoes and ran back to the start!
Angus' race was an emotional affair - his first real experience of technical mountain bike trails - we had to get off & walk over a lot of the obstacles and he got bounced around on a few roots & rocks which shook his confidence.  It took 90 mins to complete his one lap, about 30 mins of that was stationary as we let other riders pass and took some time-outs to get confidence back - despite some tears part way round, he finished strong with an arm in the air over the finish line.

Angus - still smiling at this point on the lap!
Photo - William Snyder

For me, the additional 60 mins of running / pushing completely emptied me.  Only afterwards, I realized I hadn't managed to eat or drink enough during my 2 hour race - it's a very different problem to riding on the road - it's a challenge simply finding time to take hands off the bars to find a bottle or snack.  My next event is a 6 hour mountain bike endurance race - I will have to do a better job at managing my nutrition if I'm going to finish that with any success.

Firetower 15.3 Race Report

1st place overall; 59:45.6

Strava data for [Run] (17:46.0); [Bike] (25:01.7); [Run] (15:59.1)

The Brown County YMCA organizes the Firetower 15.3 duathlon in beautiful Brown County State Park, this was the second running of the race.  Last year I came second to Greg Fraze who was using the event as a build up to his Duathlon Worlds competition (he got silver in his 35-39 age group), this year I had talked Quaff ON! team-mate Danny Fisher into competing and Greg made a return trip to defend his title.  It was sure to be a hard race!

The race with Danny was going to be interesting since he's a significantly better runner than me and we both figured it would be close, all hinging on how much Danny could limit his losses to me on the bike section with very little training.  He seemed to think there was no hope, I however, was worried - training or not, great athletes like Danny have so much inherent fitness and mental discipline to work through the pain it was no-way a "done deal" in my head.

We made a family weekend of it, camping in the state park on Friday night (even though it's only 15 miles from home!), this made the early start easy for me.  After a Skratchlabs recipe baked egg bite (see below) I simply rolled down the road on my TT bike to complete registration and get my transition area set up.  The race isn't a huge affair which is nice in one way - no lines for sign-on, plenty of transition area space with no fighting for places on the racks, but it's also something I hope will change as the organizers persist with it as an annual event and work on promotion to attract more people.  The 5k pavement run, 10 mile pavement bike and 2.2 mile trail run course is challenging for people wanting a hard race, but safe and manageable (with no swimming!) for first time multi-sport participants.  The final trail run is a really fun twist to the traditional duathlon format and takes advantage of the amazing trail network and challenging terrain in the park.

The first part of the race unfolded pretty much as I had expected.  Fisher was gone off the front in the 5k, and after the first mile or so it was just me & Greg Fraze running about 5 secs apart (Greg ahead of me) all the way to the turn.  I felt pretty good with the pace (about 5:45/mile) and in the second half of the 5k closed the gap on Greg to enter transition only 0.6 secs behind him - Danny of course was long gone, having run a 16:29 5k, he was about 1:20 ahead of us.  Closing the gap on Greg gave me some confidence as last year he was pulling away from me.

Making the turn in the 5k run

The bike section is quite technical, downhill with sweeping bends to a pivot turn, then climbing all the way back to the start / finish area which you ride past to re-trace the 5k run course making ~9.9 miles in total.  Greg has killer transition skills and opened up a gap as we set off to chase Danny Fisher down.  Just as we got going, Greg missed the first turn but quickly rejoined, still ahead of me after a trip over the grass!  I passed Greg with a surge of effort on one of the short uphill sections but I knew it would be tough to open any significant gap on him.  It wasn't until the turn that we finally got sight of Danny, who was, by that time about 20 secs in front of us.  I finally made the catch as we climbed back towards Hesitation Point, to be honest I was getting worried about how much effort and how much distance it had taken to recover the time loss from the run.  It meant that I had about 4.5 miles to build a big enough cushion to avoid being caught in the second run.  Having completed the climbing, the road flattened out and started to feel more like a traditional time trial, I found the legs to turn a bigger gear and pushed on towards the turn, and finally the transition area for the second time.  I only had 10 secs advantage over Greg and his superior transition skills meant that once again, I was following him out onto the final trail run.

Coming off the hard bike effort, my calves cramped as soon as we started to run and the first mile of the trail is almost entirely downhill over rough terrain giving no respite to settle into a stride & shake out the cramps.  Having Greg clearly in sight the whole time was pretty much the only thing which kept me going at this point!  After about half a mile the cramps eased and I started to feel a more normal running gait come back to me whenever the path leveled momentarily.  The second mile of the trail is, you guessed it, almost entirely up hill with some brutally steep sections.  Each time we attacked one of the steep pitches, I felt I was taking some of the gap back to Greg and by about 2/3rds of the way up the hill I'd closed to only a couple of seconds - this was fortunate as I saw him go off course again and was able to call out to him the mistake (although I was so short of breath, I was worried that my feeble "yell" hadn't been heard).  He quickly rejoined just behind me and I didn't know what to do - I hadn't earned the lead on merit and I didn't really want the race decided by a simple mistake.  I eased up just a bit but on the next steep section, the sound of Greg's breathing dropped away and with a quick glance over my shoulder I saw a clear trail behind me, I had maybe 3 secs gap.  The final section of the trail climb is ridiculously steep, simply maintaining forward motion is a challenge let alone anything that might be considered running!  I knew this was coming and had saved something for the final effort (as the Strava data shows my heart rate peaked at 176 bpm) I stayed on my toes and tried to spring with each step as I climbed, finally breaking out onto the level trail with 0.2 miles to the finish and the win.  Greg finished 2nd and Danny came in 3rd, a minute behind me having run the trail 40 secs faster than me.  Quaff ON! team-mate, Erin Webb also had a great race, coming in 5th overall and first female.

Tim, Danny & Erin - Quaff ON!

It was great to win the race, having such a close battle with Greg made it more fun, but also made me try harder in every part of the event - it was a shame that he went off course, I'll always have a question in the back of my mind if I would really have caught & passed him on the final steep pitch of the trail but there's no way to know that - all I know is I put it all on the line, gave my best and had a great time being tested by both my peers and the terrain.

The race with Danny, which we'd debated over several pints of Busted Knuckle in the preceding weeks shook out like this:

5k run - Danny beat Tim by 1:17

T1 - Tim beat Danny by 0:17

10 mile bike - Tim beat Danny by 2:19

T2 - Tim beat Danny by 0:32

2.2 mile trail run - Danny beat Tim by 0:40

Equipment:

Shoes - Saucony Kinvara with elastic laces

Bike - Mercian TT bike (all steel frame, 26" front wheel) - retro still works!

Nutrition - Skratchlabs Lemon & Lime hydration mix; Baked Egg bite for breakfast (Skratchlabs Feedzone Portables recipe here)

Dances with Dirt Race Report

Dances with Dirt - 10th May 2014

Team placed 2nd overall

Strava data for my legs: Leg 1; Leg 7; Leg 10

Dances with Dirt (DWD), Gnawbone is arguably the biggest race of the year for the Quaff ON! Race team.  It's a trail race festival hosted in our "backyard" of beautiful Brown County - there are 10k, half marathon, full marathon, 50k and 50 mile solo races as well as the 100k team relay race - all these events are off road and cover some pretty extreme hilly trails as well as some bush whacking.

I've participated in the team relay race regularly since 2009 when one of my neighbors put a team together - we were much more in it for the experience and atmosphere of the event than the racing at that time, with fancy dress and fun being top of the agenda.  Last year was the first time I ran for Quaff ON! being part of the second team and this year we were able to enter 3 teams, each named after one of the signature beers - Busted Knuckle, Hare Trigger and new for 2014, the Six Foot Blondes, our all female team.

The Quaff ON! Crew

The relay event involves teams of 5 each running 3 legs spread throughout the day.  The nature of the legs varies between long & fast mostly on trails to short, technical & nasty bush whacking, the challenge is to try to match up the strengths of the team members to the different demands of each section.  The two male teams were, on paper, pretty evenly matched in terms of running strength but the Busted Knuckle team had a distinct advantage of consistency, 4 of the 5 members had run (and won) the race for the last 3 years.  Familiarity with the course and the same people running the same legs year after year really makes a difference - knowing which way to go as well as when to push hard.  I was on the other team, Hare Trigger and we had a collection of great runners most of whom had done something in previous DWD events but none of us had run together as a team before and experience on specific legs of the race was practically zero.

Team Hare Trigger (from L to R): Pat Thomas; Jeff Yoder; Scott Breeden; Logan Worley and Tim Proctor

The race started well, after leading the whole first leg, I made the first hand over with something like 15 secs over Busted Knuckle.  The next team to exchange was the Six Foot Blondes, some 3 minutes back - Quaff ON! racing held 1-2-3 and it looked like that is how the race would continue.  However, after leg 2, Busted Knuckle had taken a 2 minute lead and never looked back, stealing a little more advantage on just about every leg.

My second run of the day was on Leg 7 and pitched me against Danny Fisher over 5 miles - I knew that I would lose time but was determined to minimize the loss.  The leg was about 3 miles of fast singletrack trail and then 2 miles of bush whacking, including about 3/4 mile directly along a creek and climbs so steep I needed hands and feet to scramble up.  The briers took their toll and I ended the run with bloodied and torn legs.  I was pleased to finish only 2 mins slower than Danny's time but this was just another add to our growing deficit in the race for the lead.

Briar'd & Bloodied

My final stage, Leg 10, was a relatively easy 2.8 mile run all on trails, unfortunately the other team now had such a lead that I shared the first mile with Cole Smith who was their runner starting the leg ahead of mine!  This did give me something to chase down and I was able to close a ~15 sec gap over the first mile before our paths separated.

With the lead team being a complete leg ahead of us, the rest of the race was pretty much a solitary affair.  We saw them briefly at the remaining exchange points and we were by this time so far ahead of the 3rd and 4th placed teams we didn't see them either.  It turned out that the Quaff ON! girls were having an epic battle for 3rd place finally stretching this to just over 15 mins after over 8 hours of running.

At the finish, we cheered home our anchorman, Logan, and took the obligatory trash talk from the winners whilst the after-party started.

The race was sponsored by Quaff ON! and our trusty beer truck, Smokey, was already serving beer to the thirsty runners who had already completed the 10k, half and full marathon distances.  The girls brought home 3rd place to complete the Quaff ON! domination of the event.  Not long after they got home, we were able to cheer in Joe Bell, Quaff ON! team mate who had chosen to run the 50 mile race (yes, 50 miles all on his own!).  He finished in 9 hours 33 mins and took 7th place overall, a truly awe inspiring result.

DWD is a great event - it can be a serious race (and we love that), but equally it's a wonderful way to spend a day with 4 companions enjoying the beautiful countryside and natural resources we're so fortunate to have so close to hand.  I know that I'll be back for more and I hope that we can keep the Hare Trigger team together to capitalize on some course knowledge and close the gap on Busted Knuckle!

Getting older... getting faster - Seymour Half Marathon Race Report

Seymour Half Marathon (5/3) - P1 overall - race time 1:16:42 (13.1 mile time 1:17:26)
Strava data from this race

On May 1st I turned 44 - not a momentous age milestone, not even a change in age group, and I didn't really pay it much attention.  The age group fact isn't strictly true because of a strange quirk in season start / end definition I actually have a Cyclocross racing age of 45 now!  I only started running seriously in 2010 and I've enjoyed a continuous improvement in both my 5k and half marathon times.  With my recent PR at Louisville, I was wondering if this would be a turning point.  It's hard to imagine running faster, the training intensity and race effort were quite daunting - I was starting to think that things would be downhill from here, certainly for the half marathon - I still have aspirations to break 17 mins for a 5k race this year!

The Seymour half marathon is a small race promoted by the Crossroads of Indiana race series, it's the same weekend as the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon but has only 200-300 people vs 30,000 in Indy - far more relaxed and easy to access.  I'd signed up ages ago with no real agenda, two weeks after Louisville and two weeks before the Dances With Dirt team relay race, it was always going to be "just another run".  I had a plan to make it a training race - run 4 miles hard, take a mile easy, run 3 miles hard, take a mile easy, run hard to the finish.  My race preparation was very different to Louisville - instead of careful diet, focusing on good things to help my body perform, I had my birthday meal out, drank more than I would normally in a week and ate a lot of birthday cake.  The night before the race, Clare and I went to Bloomington on a date night and consumed hot dogs, pulled pork nachos and dips at Quaff ON! Bloomington as well as couple of beers and a late night!

I set out fast at the start of the race per the "training plan" however, when I got to 4 miles (on schedule @ 5:50 min/mile) I still felt good, the next couple of miles were both sub 6:00 and then I started to think that I could perhaps break my PR, a year older than I just set it!  After a pleasant run out into the country north of Seymour we made a turn-around and I face a block head wind for about 1.5 miles back into town, despite this, my pace stayed good, all below 6:00 min/mile which meant with a push in the last 5k I should be able to go under my Louisville time.  I was conscious that the race course mile markers were coming early relative to my GPS watch markers, coming into the finish I knew that the official distance would be short of 13.1 miles but with a PR in mind, I resolved to run on after the finish to get to 13.1 miles by my GPS - which in fact is probably still short of an official USATF course distance despite my efforts to run the shortest course.  I'm sure I looked ridiculous continuing through the finish shoot at race pace and running off down the road, but I wanted to know what a real half time would have been.  My GPS watch measured the race at 12.98 miles with a race time of 1:16:42.  I ran on to a GPS distance of 13.11 miles in a time of 1:17:26 which I feel is a legitimate PR, some 19 secs faster than my Louisville effort.

All this goes to show that preparation isn't everything - sometimes it all just comes together when you're not really expecting it.  I certainly put less pressure on myself for this race compared to Louisville, maybe that is a factor.  I also went out harder than I would normally, I am a conservative pacer and paranoid about "blowing up", going out hard and holding on to a pace at the finish is something I'm rarely brave enough to do and I think that was a bigger factor in this race than anything else.

My team mate Joe Bell came home 3rd overall and Sara Martin took first place female with a PR, cheered home by her parents.  Joe and I were also able to cheer on Chasity Smith (although not wearing a Quaff ON! jersey, she's the brains behind our race kit design and logos).

Joe Bell; Tim Proctor; Sara Martin
Quaff ON!