Hammonton Sprint Duathlon Race Report

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity

To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment

Would you capture it or just let it slip?

-Eminem "Lose Yourself"

1st Run: I tried to go slow, I really did. I was aiming for the target pace. I don't know what happened. I did have a tail wind on the first mile. I saw my pace time and I was thought "crap, I'm going to burn my legs out!" But the legs felts awesome. I decided to go with the flow on it. Made the turn around and came back. I saw the first of the Tri's on the bike on the way back going past me. I was working hard that last mile or so and wanting to get on the bike to rest the legs.

This is where my legs lived today

T1: Into T1 I went. Found my bike, two racks after the 2nd tree on the left. Grabbed some water from the water bottle I had there. Changed shoes no problem, got the helmet and gloves on, took off the pull over, and ran to the mount point. Jumped on and took off. I had a bit of a problem getting my 2nd foot clipped in. But eventually it locked in. I was off and biking!

Bike: The first leg of the bike went pretty well. Because of the wind, I decided to stay on the horns as much as I could. Right away, I made about 10 passes and felt like Macca. 

Only I don't have a TT, and this wasn't Kona. Or a Triathlon.

The tail wind helped. Anyway, I kept making passes on the way out there. I had a couple of people pass me, but I let them have it and saved the legs. There were a couple of hills I hammered up. I did get passed by a tiny itty bit lady on a TT. 

Ok she wasn't this small. But her bike WAS this color. 

Around the turn, grabbed another gear and hammered it to get up to speed. Oooph. Head wind. And gusting cross wind. I made a couple more passes and caught up to the itty bitty lady on the TT and passed her. I couldn't make it stick. We kept leap frogging each other the most of the way back. I was very careful to stay out of the drafting zone, but was content to let her set the pace so I could give the legs more rest. At 45 mins, I popped a GU. I was worried with that fast run and fast 1st bike leg, I was gonna bonk. 

About 2 miles or so from the T2, Itty Bitty Girl and I were going up a hill that was the overpass to the Turnpike. She slowed down, which put me in the draft zone. So I muttered a four letter word, grabbed another gear, stood in the saddle and hammed up the hill. I made this pass stick and that was the last I saw of her on the bike. I biked back to T2 with no problems, having a bit of fun getting low and fast on the bike down hills. 

Yee-effing-haw

The turn into T2, I unstrapped my shoes and then did a flying dismount from the bike and ran back to the rack. Grabbed my shoes, ditched the helmet and gloves, grabbed some more water and popped another GU for the 5k.

My cheering section was there, which is an awesome feeling. THere was a bit of banter with one of them as I ran out of T2 to the final run.

2nd Run: I was hurting. I noticed on the bike the hamstring of my left leg was starting to ache. But I remembered what Macca said: "What do I do when the pain comes? I smile." That exactly what I did on the bike and on the run. This run's pace was much slower, but I'm still pretty happy with it. It was a pretty uneventful run other than that hamstring hurting the whole way. Ran out to the turn around, told the volunteer I was I thought they said "5k RUM not run!" waved and headed back. The last 100 meters or so I saw the finish line, had some gas left in the tank, and sprinted for it. 

Official Time: 1:36:26 - 3rd Place for my age group.

Things I learned:

I have some speed! I didn't know this. Both the 1st run was a PR and I think the 2nd one might have been as well.

The bike: I'm much more effect on the horns than on the hoods. I seem to have an easier time with generating power when I need it.

Cold weather sucks. Nuff said.