It was cold and wet last weekend for the Dousman Duathlon, it was cold and a little less wet for the Cannon-Wells Duathlon. It was in the high 40s/low 50s during the race. It started raining before, not too hard, and was not raining at start time. It was cold. It was a mass start, everyone at once. Including the relays, there was probably about 140 people, so it was not too crowded. The run is flat, like last week, so it is basically a 2 mile sprint. I was a little slower than last week. I felt it, I was sucking wind last week, this week it felt like I was sucking more wind and had to put a lot more effort in for less of a result.
I would say the bike is 50/50 flat and hills. No major climbs, but many rollers.
The final run is mostly flat, there is a little uphill at the turnaround, nothing big, but you know you are going uphill.
I felt sluggish/fatigued during the week, and that morning.
I think my times show that I was fatigued, when compared to last week, they were not as good. The bike course last week was longer and more difficult, and my time was faster. My second run this week was a little off. I am pretty happy with my results. Last race of the year, so I cannot complain too much.
Interesting story during the bike. I was making up some time on the bike. About 5 miles in I come up on this guy, got next to him, and he started cranking away. He was probably about 3-5 minutes in front of me, at least, so I came up on him pretty good. When he started cranking, I backed off and got out of the draft zone. After about a minute he seemed to be slowing, so I passed him, and he stayed in my draft zone. We came up to a hill and he passed me, then I passed him, and he stayed in my draft zone. He continued to stay in my draft zone. On a climb, he passed me, and as he was passing me he said, "Rules say that drafting is not recommended, but nothing about being illegal". I just shook my head and did what I usually do, race my race. He continued to draft off me, when he had the opportunity. There was a guy on a road bike who was in our general area, and he came back and forth around us. He did not draft. I will come back to the guy on the road bike, he is 47 years old, I read his calf. In the last two miles of the bike we get on a bike path and I picked up the pace. The guy drafting off of me was still on me. I passed someone on the trail, the person passed me back, and the drafting guy passed me and drafted off that person. Anyway, I came into transition, and ran out. The guy on the road bike came out of transition faster, and so did the drafting guy. So on the run I caught the guy on the road bike and he told me he was doing his first race and we chatted a little. I am not much of a chatter while running. I have enough trouble breathing. At the finish, I patted the guy on the back and congratulated him. He was talking to the drafting guy. The first time guy came up to me in transition after the race and chatted about a couple things. He said that he knows the drafting guy and did not agree with him. He told the drafting guy he should probably not be drafting, even though the rules don't prohibit it, because he is pissing off the guy in the Gear West kit, that would be me. Drafting guy did piss me off a little. Drafting guy told his buddy that he barely had to pedal during the bike and his legs felt good during the run. Really? I race my own race, so I was not that pissed. "Drafting not recommened" is not draft legal in my mind. I have done 18 races this year, and nearly 60 in my short career, and I have never drafted. I want to know how well my legs/body can take it when pedalling the whole time and then coming off and running as hard as I can. That is why I do this. If I ever do a draft legal race, which I doubt I will do, then I would probably draft, because it is legal and part of the tactics of the race.
Enough with that. It was an interesting experience.
2010 Cannon-Wells Duathlon Results
Run (2mi) - 14:28 (7:14min/mi)
T1 - 1:05
Bike (14mi) - 40:14 (20.9 MPH)
T2 - 0:57
Run (3mi) - 23:46 (7:56min/mi)
Total - 1:20:28
Overall - 29/133
AG - 6/16
I am going to have a number of posts after this one that summarize different stats from throughout the year.
3 comments:
I would not have hesitated to report 'drafting guy'. I believe this was not a USAT race so hard to enforce but I would have felt better just venting to the race director. That was totally uncalled for and to be blunt about it to boot. I would have exchanged words with him during the bike....no doubt about it.
Nice season Chris!
I would have sat on his wheel just long enough to catch my breath--15 seconds or so--ideally just before a roller/false flat. Then DROPPED him! Its not just discouraged for drafting reasons, its discouraged for safety concerns as most people don't know how to draft and could end up bumping wheels. Leaching off someone is rude too--wonder if he thought of that?
Probably should have said something to the race director and/or the guy who was drafting, about the safety issue and the poor sportsmanship on his part, but I was done with the race and done for the year and I just did not feel like making a deal out of it. Thanks for the comments
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