Camarillo Duathlon Series #2 - August

Well the last few months of training has come to my very first timed event.  The Camarillo Duathlon series runs a race every few months in the year.  As never having done a timed multi-sport event before, I figure I try this out, minus the swimming (because I competively sucked at the time).  A Duathlon (not to be confused with Biathlon) is setup as run-bike-run.  Distances: Sprint - 1.5mi / 10 mi / 1.5mi.   -  Olympic - 5k / 20mi / 5k.  As running is also not in my wheel house just yet, I stuck with the sprint level.  Weather was great and Jessikah and Bradyn was there to support me.  We were able to stay at Jeff & Jessica Torok's residence in Moorpark so the drive to the start line was 15 min stress free (Remember this on your next far away event...might be worth arranging a hotel).

After setting my towel and goodies, I hit the restroom with a warm up run.  After getting back, I also took the bike out for one last spin and gear setup.  Do note that other athletes will "take up" your space since the bike is off the rack, so be sure to block out your spot with your race bag.  I had practice the transition a few times at home so that this would hopefully be a in-and-out deal.

Transition 1 and 2

Start of the Sprint Group

8:15 a.m. arrived quick and it was the sprint group's turn to get going.  Watching the Olympic group go first and watching them do their U-turn by us and realizing how quick they came was sure intimidating on how fast some of these runners are!  Gunshot is initiated and we are off.  For being my first event, I stuck to my heart rate zone 2 (147-155 bpm) which put me in the back/middle of the pack.

Smiling for now....

Coming back from the first leg, I was still fresh but definitely needed to make up some time running an 8:33min/mi pace.  As I entered into the transition area, I looked for my bike rack and spotted it quickly.  Earlier before the race, I spent a few minutes invisioning where my bike was....it is easy to forget where it is located in a sea of bikes placed next to each other! 

At my bike, I switched shoes and threw on my helmet.  Grabbed the bike and started to run towards the mounting station.  However a few steps into, I realized that I had left my "fuel" food on the towel.  So I turned around and grabbed it, sprinted back to mounting station and off I went.  The bike leg is where you need to spend time ingesting gels/food/etc. depending on the length of your event.  

Bike Leg 10 miles

The bike leg is my strongest asset.  Here I was able to pass almost everyone in my sprint group with an exception of 5-6 guys (there are about 35 of them).  My average over the 10 miles was 21.8 mph.  Because the Olympic group took off sooner and had longer distances, it was hard to understand who I was really competing/passing.  One of the weird things was that I wasn't wearing cycling gloves as I had trained with.  With the slight mist/fog, I could detect a little bit of grip issues that I wasn't use to. 

I'm Back!

Leaving Transition into last run leg 1.5mi.

Upon arriving to the dismount station on my bike, I unstrapped out of my shoes one at a time and then continue pedaling with my feet on TOP of my shoes.  This allowed me to literally jump off my bike and run it into the bike rack.  Then with one motion, removed my helmet and slipped on my shoes.  One thing I noticed (and from the above picture) while in transition #2, most bikes had not made it back yet.  I was in good position!  Off to run the last 1.5mi. leg.

Once I felt my legs and knew how much gas I had left, I did turn up the speed a little bit to keep my placing, but 2 faster runners were able to catch me. 

In the end I ended up placing 8th place with a combined time of 59:xx minutes out of a field of approx 35 men.  The fastest time recorded was around 48 minutes, I got some work to do!  I did reach my goal of top 10 and all the hard work (BRICKS) left me feeling great.  Having Bradyn there was nice for his support and the opportunity to see his Dad staying active to maintain good health.