Camarillo Duathlon Championships - September 2012

Here is my recap of my re-visit to last year's first ever time event race for this amatuer athlete.  The Camarillo Duathlon, at Camarillo Airport, California, (www.camarilloduathlon) consists of 2 distances - Olympic and Sprint.  Last year I competed in the sprint distance ( 1.5mi run, 10bike, 1.5mi run) and with all the training I have done in 2012, I was ready to tackle the Olympic distance (3mi run, 19.5mi bike, 3mi run).

The wife and kids were here to support me and it makes a big difference when you have actual people to smile to and give a big thumbs up as you suffer along.  The weather could not have been any better, even if the run got a little hot at the end.

Setting up in transition in the morning was one of the most frustrating ones I've had in a long time.  Probably because it there was gap between my last event and this one and I must have forgotten the normal routine.  First I left my one and only water bottle in the back of our car and Jessikah had taken it and the kids to go get some breakfast.  Secondly, when I had went to fire up my Garmin GPS watch (for pace and distance) it didn't come on, despite a fully charge battery.  It had locked up!  It was coming up to 5 minutes before race start and here I was with no water bottle for my bike and a dead watch.  Grabbing the phone, I look up YouTube on how to soft-reset the Garmin 305 watch.  Within a few minutes, I finally get my watch fired up!  Jessikah pulls up within 4 minutes of start and I run the water bottle to transition, fill it up with water and NUUN Hydration.  After double checking everything, I run back to the start line with about 45 seconds left!!! 

And BAM! the horn sounds and off we go at 8:00 a.m.  There were 43 participants in the Olympic distance (34 men, 9 women) and the pace was fast as we were humming along at 6:45min/mi.  I realized that most of us probably wouldn't be holding this pace, at least myself, and backed off to 7:30min/mi. and not feed off adrenaline and pay for it later.  The reason why I like this race is because it is mostly FLAT!  The run course takes us from the park to the the street that runs parallel to Camarillo Airport and is mostly paved.  The course is 1.5 miles out and back, so we end up doing this as a double loop.  That means I get to see my family as they cheer me on!

I get back into T1, finishing the 3 mile run in 22:23 - 7:42 min/mile (Best was 5:45 min/mile at 16:35) and feeling pretty good as I had pulled back the reigns early on.  I switch into my bike shoes, strap on the helmet, don the sunglasses and load up my pocket with fuel.  T1 came through in about 45 seconds (the best was 34 seconds) and off I was onto my favorite leg....the BIKE.

As I had already lost some ground to the faster runners, I found this opportunity to pluck them off one by one to put me back into contention (I was already 31st place after Run #1).  I begin my bike fueling myself and I quickly tried to consume about 3/4 of a Hammer Apple-cinnamon bar and a gel pack at the same time.  Rolling through the strawberry and herb farms, you get a nice whiff that reminds you that you are living the life! I continue to pluck off the riders as we trek for 19.5 miles, and there fewer and fewer ones towards the end to battle against.  I come in 7th best at 54:34 - 21.3 mph avg ( Best was 51:00 - 23 mph avg). 

Coming back into T2, I log a 38 second transition throwing on my running shoes and race belt/bib number. As I head out for the last 3 miles, I remember the bad feeling I had last year when my calves started to cramp on me and I had to stop and stretch them out.  This year with all my training, it paid off and I was able to stave off any issues other then the normal fatigue that was settling into my legs.  You always get this weird jello feeling and your legs want to keep moving at the same cadence that you were going on the bike and you have to mentally block all the negative triggers and focus on the stride at hand.  It got pretty tiring at the end and I just wanted the race to finish!  I come down the last stretch and put in all the power I had left to finish in 23:56 - 8:15min/mi (Best was 17:13 - 5:56 min/mi).  I was beaming a big smile seeing my family cheer me to the finish line and all the training had paid off.  I got 11th place with a finish of 1 hour and 42 min and my goal was to top 10.  Next year.....as I can see and taste what I need to do get into top 10!  Overall a great race with a smaller crowd and great people.  I will find myself back here every year to compete in one of funnest Duathlons around.

Olympic Duathlon Race recap:
Run 3 mi - 22:23 - 7:42 min/mi
T1 - 45 seconds
Bike 19.5 mi - 54:34 - 21.3 mph avg
T2 - 38 seconds
Run 3 mi - 23:56 - 8:15 min/mi
Overall - 1 hour 42 min and 18 seconds