It’s hard to believe that the 2006 triathlon and duathlon season has come to an end. In my first full summer of racing, I gained a lot of experience, and made some great improvements throughout the year, particularly on the bike.
The final race in the Subaru series was a duathlon held in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Heading into this race, I was sitting in 6th place overall in the series point standings. The top five get invited to the series ending banquet and receive an award, so I needed a good race to move myself up in the standings!
I woke up early and headed down on a grey morning. I was worried that it would be cold, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the temperature was perfect for racing! Blair had also come down for the race, along with his parents who were visiting from Ottawa. After losing to Blair by all of 9 seconds in the season opening duathlon in Waterloo, I really wanted to go hard and see if I could take this one!!
RUN 1: 4 km – 14:25 (3:37/km)
5/23 M25-29, 37/487 Overall
If you’re read any of my previous posts, you’ll know quite well that swimming is my biggest weakness! I was really looking forward to going out hard in the first run, and trying to stick with the lead pack. With the relatively short distances in this race, the term “sprint” really did apply. I stuck with the pros for the first kilometre, and realized how fast it was when we hit the 1km mark in 3:15! I slowed a little in the third kilometre coming back up the hill from the turnaround, but finished strong and came into T1 with a very fast 3:37/km average, and in 5th place in the age group.
BIKE: 23 km – 37:41 (36.6 km/h)
6/23 M25-29, 50/487 Overall
The bike course was flat and fast. I usually try to keep my heart rate around 160 bpm on longer bike rides, however, in this race, there was no holding back. The first 10km was into a strong headwind, however I hammered through it, and really turned it on coming back in. My speedometer broke a few weeks ago, so I could see my speed, but I knew my average was going to be fast! When I checked the results after the race, I was very happy to see the 36.6 km/h average! My fastest yet in the tris, and certainly getting up to another level compared to the 32-33km/h range that I was in last year and through the beginning of this year.
RUN: 4 km – 16:05 (4:02/km)
5/23 M25-29, 47/487 Overall
I was a little disappointed coming into T2 to see five or six bikes alread on the rack. I didn’t think there were that many age-groupers ahead of me, but there were a few unfamiliar faces at this one. After the fast first run, I really wanted to push the second run. I just couldn’t seem to find that sub-4:00/km pace though, and was 1:40 slower on the second run than the first.
Total: 1:09:21, 6/23 M25-29, 33/487 Overall (Full Results )
Overall, I was very happy with the race!! I was happy with sixth in the age group, especially since there were a few duathlon specialists ahead of me. My 33rd place overall finish was one of my best ever, and my finishing time relative to the winner’s time was also the closest I’ve ever been! All in all, it was a great way to end the year!! I managed to beat Blair by a little over 5 minutes, which made up for a couple of the whoopings I took earlier in the year!!
Looking at my duathlon result, I think it’s clear what my goal needs to be over the winter – learn to swim effectively!!! My biking came a long way this summer, and I learned how to push harder on the run. With some improvement on the swim, I’m hoping to be even more competitive next year!!
[…] While this philosophy resulted in a couple relatively decent bike splits near the end of the last year, I don’t think this translated over into fast run […]