For the past two years, I've competed on this weekend in Bronda's Du, a short course Du at TMS. This year, in addition to Bronda's, the USAT Long Course Du National Championship was offered. This race, held on Saturday, would allow the top 18 in each AG to qualify for the 2016 world championships. While the location of that event has not been announced, it appears that it will be in Switzerland.
The format of today's event: 10k run, 42k bike, 5k run.
I went into this event a little anxious, as I've had very little bike time over the past 2 months. I've only ridden in the 3 sprint tris in October. Additionally, I've found that these events bring out REALLY fast athletes.
After reviewing the participant list on Frday, I realized that I only needed to finish to qualify for worlds, as the field was small and my AG had just 12 participants. This took a bit of the pressure off.
The venue was familiar, but the run courses were different, and the bike course longer than in my previous Dus there.
Having not raced this distance before, I was having a bit of trouble determining my paces and overall time, but, figured a total time of about 3 hours, allowing for a sub 1 hour 10k, 1.5 hours (hopefully less) on the bike, and a sub 30 minute 5k.
It was a cold-ish morning, with temps in the low 50's. A vest over my Tri kit, with arm warmers and calf sleeves would be the attire for the day. I considered gloves, and more layers, but, was glad I didn't opt for that.
When the gun sounded, I got off to a good start (for me), and was pacing under 9 minute miles. I quickly realized the strength of the field, as I was one of the slower runners. I paced under 9 minutes the entire way, and ran what would have been my fastest 10k ever. My Garmin showed the route to be a little short of 6.2 miles. Good run...for me. I shed the vest in T1.
Onto the bike. This is where I thought I might struggle. Lack of saddle time and a super fast field would make this a test. I felt pretty good for the first lap. However, by lap 2, the wind picked up. I had moments on laps 2-5 where I was pushing hard to maintain 12 mph. Typically, I like to be north of 18 mph in multi sport events, and, to be competitive, I'll need to be 21-22 mph. That will involve a new bike and wheels, and much more training. The lack of bike time showed on this one, as I was having some discomfort on the saddle, etc. Near the end of lap 5 Sheri caught me (the women started the race 3 minutes after the men). She finally passed me, and, at that moment, I caught a killer calf cramp. I tried to stretch in a bit on the bike, and it finally loosened up. Bike splits were right at 17mph. Yuck.
I caught back up to Sheri, and we dismounted together and headed into T2. My legs were toast.
The last run was miserable. I was glad to run the entire way, but, was north of 10 minutes a mile. I crossed the line at 2:57:42. 12 of 12 in my AG and 144 of 171 overall.
As expected, great athletes out there today...of which I am not one. But, I'm getting faster.
In retrospect, this is an event I should have given a little more respect, as it was my longest multipsport event to date. I'll know better next time.
I do believe that I qualified for worlds, but, unless it is in the states, I'll likely skip. I'm simply not competive enough to consider it.
Time to shelve the bike for a bit. The next "big" event in Dallas Marathon...I need to get some long training runs in.
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