Sylvan Beach Duathlon

I did a multisport race! Yeah it has been a while. No, it wasn't a triathlon, it was the Sylvan Beach Duathlon. This is now the second year I have done it, even though I did not post about it last year. It's actually kinda sad that I didn't. I love that there is no swim, but it seems like a lot of fast people come to this race. Last year I had an awesome race (for me) even though I made some mistakes, and still was next to last in my age group. That just kinda takes the wind out of my sails. I know, at least I am doing it, what difference does it make where I place, right?

The Week Before

As per my usual, once I sign up for a race I feel extra pressure to perform my best... so I go do some crazy workout that ends up with an injury or something. This one was no exception. This time one week out from the race I go for a run and try to push to my pace from last year's duathlon. Last year I did the first two miles with no walk break at 10:11 pace! So I went out and was running intervals at 10:00 pace for 6 minutes, then I noticed my knee started bugging me. DOH! I rested it most of the week and had Dr T. work it over a bit with some cold laser therapy and Graston. Turns out I had a little tendonitis where the top tendon attaches to the kneecap. I took it a bit easy on the first run, but had no issues in the race!

Laser action!

Finishing touches on Frankenbike were borrowing the wheels from Donna's Fuji D6 Pro and installing a new Torhans Aero 30 drink bottle. I took it for a test ride and adjusted the seat height more from the crank change.

Frankenbike!

 

The Race

Part of the reason I did this race was honestly because I had talked a guy from work into doing it... he is doing his first triathlon soon and I thought this would be great experience for him. And it was, as he did the ride on tires about half flat and only brought one gel pack for nutrition. Poor guy was 'livin the dream' for sure! But he still beat me on the second run, dangit! Never mind that he is 29 and a runner... LOL

 

Run 1: 2 Miles

Official:	21:16.1	10:38/M
Garmin:	21:13.4	10:30/M
Last Year:	20:22.2	10:11/M

I managed to stick fairly well with my plan on this segment this time. I took it fairly easy and didn't let adrenaline get the best of me. I stopped to walk a couple of times even. I figured I'd be able to race better later on if I didn't kill it here, particularly my knee!

 

T1

Official:	1:25.6
Last Year:	1:25.9

Wow, I am surprised how close the numbers are! I was racked in a similar location this time, but that close? Last year I remember that I forgot to remove my visor and had to shove it in the back of my jersey as I put my helmet on... no issues this time!

 

Bike: 18 Miles

Official:	1:00:25	18.4 Mph
Garmin:	1:00:33	18.0 Mph
Last Year:	59.18	18.8 Mph

It's hard to judge the bike from year to year with weather differences. I have not been training on the bike much this year though, so I am happy with this! I had the added benefit of the bike upgrades, borrowed race wheels, and aero helmet this year though.

 

T2

Official:	1:18.5
Last Year:	1:40.5

Not sure what I was doing in T2 last year, baking a ham?

 

Run 2: 8K (5 Miles)

Official:	56:28.8	11:31/M
Garmin:	56:10.6	11:27/M
Last Year:	53:37.5	10:54/M

This is IT, the famous run of the Sylvan Beach Tri/Du. Well famous around here for being freaking HOT! It is June after all, and temps are well in the 80's if you are lucky by the time you get to this run. There is one long straight stretch where you're running on the road on the sunny side and there is just NO shade. There are just enough trees to cut down the breeze too. Fortunately there is a guy in the middle with a water hose being an awesome neighbor and spraying the runners. Whoever you are dude, you rock!

I quickly reverted to a 6 minute run, 1:30 walk interval for this one. I have not been doing bricks either (see the part about no biking), so this is pretty much what I expected to do in these conditions. Did I mention how freakin hot it was? I was adjusting my intervals to walk the aid stations and pour the cold water on my back, that helped.

 

Nutrition and Hydration

I felt like I did a pretty good job with that this time. We were out of eggs, but had some egg whites which I had with an Ezekiel english muffin for breakfast. I also had some cereal in a big on the way to the race, and some EFS drink. On the bike and run, I carried EFS Liquid Shot mixed in water. I picked up water from the aid stations. This usually works well for me, but I got to where I didn't want any more of the EFS/water. It was maybe just too warm. I did take in enough not to bonk at least!

 

Conclusion

I really didn't have my head in this race... if I hadn't talked someone into doing it I probably wouldn't have done it. I knew I was not well prepared, which stresses me out. I knew I wouldn't do as well as I did last year. With that said, I am still glad I did it! I got in there and pulled it out. Not exactly the way I want to race, but I did it.

My plan going into this year was to not sign up for a race unless I already feel ready for it, which I kinds broke with this one. But there aren't that many duathlons around, and I have not been swimming, so I will have to take it as it comes a bit. I'll tentatively think about 'Du The Bear' this fall! I should have my new bike built by then, more on that in another post!

Darren

My First (Two) Half Marathon(s)!

Here's a really late report. But I realize I haven't had anything going on in this blog for a while. Time to wake it up!

I was planning on doing the Seabook Lucky Trails Half Marathon for a while, particularly since I got an Active.com Schwaggle deal on it for cheap! I thought it would be a good first race because it was on trails, and it usually has good schwag. But it it turned out that I reached 10 miles in my training faster than I thought! So I signed up for the Galveston Mardi Gras Half Marathon the week of the race. So here are my late race reports!

Galveston Mardi Gras Half Marathon 2/5/2012

Race morning the weather was definitely not cooperating. It was less than 50 degrees, raining, and very windy. YUK! But having signed up for this at the inflated last minute prices, I definitely was not going to skip out on this one. I wore a bike rain coat that Donna had picked up for the MS-150 before, nothing we were worried about in case I decided to ditch it along the way. With my favorite Under Armour long sleeved shirt and compression tights, the cold wet rain was really not too bad after I warmed up. I even pulled the jacket off and tied it around my waist after a couple of miles, once the rain eased up a bit. I kept it in case the rain picked up harder again and it got colder. The hardest part was the middle 7 miles along the Galveston seawall, all with a cross headwind!

Nutrition: Too long since the race for me to detail my race morning... I think it was an Ezekial English Muffin with eggs, and maybe a Powerbar. I think I also drank some Scivation Xtend, which I think is fantastic stuff. For the race itself, I took four bottles of water with about 400 calories worth of EFS Liquid Shot mixed in across the four. This worked perfectly for hydration and nutrition all in one, with roughly one bottle per 5K. A constant flow of energy since I sipped some each walk break, and no stomach issues!

Results: Not quite what I had hoped for, but given the conditions I am just glad I finished it. I am glad I did it though! 67th in my age group 2:40:37 for 12:16/M. Garmin details here.

 Seabrook Lucky Trails Half Marathon - 3/17/2012

Weather was nice but on the hot side. Leading up to the race, I wasn't even sure I was going to be able to do it. I was fighting IT band issues since Galveston. I went on a trip to visit my mom in Alabama and ran some trails back home the weekend before. That went pretty well, so I decided I could survive another half. I was hoping I would still beat my Galveston time and PR, but that didn't happen.


The trails are really tight in a lot of places, particularly with traffic in both directions since we were running two loops.That certainly didn't help things. I did and felt pretty good the first loop, but then I started fading. Between the heat and the lack of training since Galveston, I was just fizzling out.

Nutrition: Same as Galveston, but more water from the water stations.

Results: 30th in my age group, 2:42:31 for 12:24/M. No PR. Garmin results here.

Redman 2011 Bike Route Tour

Update, tour data is fixed and I will upload the Computrainer version as soon as I test it out!