Duathlon Nationals 2016 Race Report

Background

This year has unintentional become a duathlon (run-bike-run) year for me as far as training and racing goes. I raced a duathlon in April and the wildflower triathlon in May which has basically a duathlon with a swim. Having completed basically two duathlons already this year, when the duathlon National Championship came to my backyard in Bend, Oregon I couldn't pass it up!

The Race

5k run: It is still strange to me not swimming to kick off a race. The start was fast but everyone settled into their own pace about 1k in. I held a pretty good pace for me (6:20ish min/mile) for the first 3k, but on the last 2k I started to slow down while pushing at the same effort. I remember looking at my pace and thinking "what the heck is going on?!".

20k Bike: I dropped to back of the race pack in the first run so knew I had some making up to do. Fortunately, I knew this bike course very well. I had been biking on it twice a week for about six weeks leading up to this event. Knowing that the course was a long steady six mile climb with a turnaround to a fast downhill, I smiled as saw my fellow competitors attacking on the bike pretty early. With my home turf advantage in mind, I paced the bike well and passed well over a dozen people going up, and a few more coming back down.

2.5 run: The second run was slightly slower than I anticipated. The good news was it seemed to be for everyone. I was able to pass a few more people which kept me motivated to keep pushing my pace. Seeing the finish I was grateful this was a short race. The sun was out and there was no shade. As I said on my Facebook this race was short, hot, and fast (just like my wife).

Overall thoughts

I knew I had a decent race and past everyone I could find in my age group, but I was a little surprised when the results showed me winning my age group, thus making me a National Champion! The awards ceremony, "National Champion" jersey, and 1st place medal all contributed in making this race truly special.