July 12th, 2009
8:25 am
Town Hall, Carleton Place, Ontario
Iron 113 Duathlon: 2km run, 90km bike, 21.1km run
Race goal: 5:00:00 or faster
Race strategy: Run the first 2k at a nice easy pace I could maintain all day if I needed to. Treat it as nothing more than a warmup for the bike. Ride 90k at a steady pace, sort of level 2-3 out of 5. Stay in the aerobars on the flats, hands up on the hoods going uphill to spare my back. For the 21.1km run, run the first 5k at the same pace I ran the first 2km. From 5km - 15km pick up the pace to moderately hard (open half marathon pace). Then for the final 6.1km let it rip, run as fast as I can, probably around open 10k pace.
This was an 'A' race for me, with hundreds of training hours leading up to the day. Because of this I am obligated to take my race day prep all little bit more seriously. I arrive in Carleton Place at around 6:30am. The town is still asleep and I'm one of the first athletes to arrive. I set up all my gear, check-in, do my safety checks, do a walk-through of my transitions. Once everything is sorted out, my support crew disappears to grab much needed hot beverages and breakfast. This allows me 15-20 minutes to sit still, relax and reflect on what I'm about to do. The body performs at its best when stress levels are low and the mind is focused.
Support crew returns, we take the cliche pre-race photos and then it's time to warm up and get in the zone. 10 minutes of easy running with 4 x 30" strides followed by 10 minutes of dynamic stretching.
The town of Carleton Place is awake now and the transition zone is full of the usual pre-race nervous energy. I look around, realizing how much I love small-town races like this. I've only done a few "big" races - 2 Ottawa Marathons and 2 Peterborough triathlons - and they have their appeal, but nothing compares the pure, non-commercialized, grassroots feel of small-town races.
10 minutes before race start, I take a gel with some water. I walk up the starting line and am disappointed to discover there are only 7 other people crazy enough to do this race with me. This will mean not a lot of competition and some lonely riding out on those country roads.
The race official starts us and all 8 of us being our big day of racing. Right off the bat, one guy takes off at a really fast pace, a pace that seemed almost too fast. I stick to my plan running nice and easy, finishing the first 2k in 9:07. I was tied for 2nd place at this point.
I switch shoes, hop on the bike and off I go for a 90k adventure acrossing rolling Carleton Place hills.
I pre-rode the course three weeks before the race, so I knew what to expect: lots of rolling hills, two big climbs, significant cross winds & rough rough asphalt. This is not a bike course for the faint at heart! I've noticed some people out on the course start to feel very sorry for themselves, especially the one year I did the [Bracebridge Half Iron]. But as far as I'm concerned, more windy, hilly and hot a bike course is, the better! We do these races to challenge and grow ourselves, not to be comfortable.
The actual ride itself was GREAT. I rode based on feel, just like in my race strategy. But for some reason even though I was riding steady, my actual speed was much faster than I had expected. Most of my long rides averaged out to be 25-26 km/h. At the start of the year, I had a pipe dream of riding the 90k bike in 3 hrs, or 30 km/h. What was my average speed at the half way turnaround? 30 km/h! Couldn't believe what I was seeing!
On the way back into town, there is a VERY steep climb going through Middleville. I'm grinding it out up this climb, head down, I look up for a sec and what do a see? A freakin' horse and carriage about to cross the road from the right hand side! I have two choices:
1) slow down to a stop, dismount my bike right in the middle of a very steep climb, losing all my momentum
OR
2) hammer up the hill as fast as I can, evade the oncoming horse and carriage if necessary.
We're in a race here so I obviously opt for option #2. The man driving the horse and carriage yells, joking "you better hurry up! this guy doesn't slow down for no one!".
I manage to get around the course and continue climbing the hill but my lungs are feeling like they're going to explode.
Only in Carleton Place...
After the horse & carriage incident, I managed to settle myself down and get back into a groove. I'm still in disbelief that I'm averaging > 30 km/h. Heading back into Carleton Place now, I feel something small hit me on my right hip. It stuck to me for a brief second and sounded like a bug or something. I instinctively swat it away, look down, see that I just swatted a wasp and them BAM...the pain kicks in. I got stung by a freakin' wasp while riding a bike at 30+ km/h! How is that even possible? The pain went away after a few minutes and didn't even up affecting my race at all, but I was starting to get that "ok...what other weird stuff is going to happen during this race?" sort of feel.
I finished the ride in an official 3:02:16 but that doesn't include transition time, so that brings me pretty darn close to an average speed of 30 km/h for the whole 90k. That's just awesome.
I switch back to running shoes and head out for the 21.1 km half marathon.
The temperature was climbing and the sun was out in full force at this point, but you can't let the weather mess with you, can't let the weather get you down. Everyone races under the same weather conditions and no one can control them. You can control how you REACT to the weather however. Hydrating, getting electrolytes, realistic pacing and taking advantage of shade on the course were all things I focused on.
The course was 4 loops, which made it easy to work with my run pace strategy. During the first loop I took it very easy, a pace I could have maintained all day if I wanted to. I was getting passed a fair bit but each time I would say to myself "I'll be seeing you again 10 kilometers from now".
After the first loop it was time to kick it up a notch for the 2nd and 3rd loops. This is when the fatigue ok the race really started to kick in. It took a lot of extra effort to increase my pace. After increasing my pace for a few kilometers my new focus was to maintain this faster pace and not slow down. During the 3rd loop I moved from 4th to 3rd place overall. I saw the guy in 2nd place and started to get excited because he was within striking distance. But after finishing what I thought was his 3rd lap, he turned towards the finish line, meaning he was a full lap ahead of me. "Haha yeah right Brent maybe next year" I think to myself.
For the fourth lap I try to kick it up another notch but there is no notch to kick. I'm going as fast as I can and can actually start to feel myself fading a little bit. After 4.5 hours of racing, there really isn't much else to think about. Just keep moving & the faster you run, the faster you'll be done. The 4th lap was pretty ugly but I finished the run strong in 1:40:57.
I was very pleased with my half marathon split because it was actually the fastest out of the entire race, which says a lot about my strong ability to pace, but also leaves me wondering "I wonder if I could have pushed a little harder on the bike?"
Results
4:52:19 3/8 overall 3/5 men 1/1 in age group men 25-29.
8:25 am
Town Hall, Carleton Place, Ontario
Iron 113 Duathlon: 2km run, 90km bike, 21.1km run
Race goal: 5:00:00 or faster
Race strategy: Run the first 2k at a nice easy pace I could maintain all day if I needed to. Treat it as nothing more than a warmup for the bike. Ride 90k at a steady pace, sort of level 2-3 out of 5. Stay in the aerobars on the flats, hands up on the hoods going uphill to spare my back. For the 21.1km run, run the first 5k at the same pace I ran the first 2km. From 5km - 15km pick up the pace to moderately hard (open half marathon pace). Then for the final 6.1km let it rip, run as fast as I can, probably around open 10k pace.
This was an 'A' race for me, with hundreds of training hours leading up to the day. Because of this I am obligated to take my race day prep all little bit more seriously. I arrive in Carleton Place at around 6:30am. The town is still asleep and I'm one of the first athletes to arrive. I set up all my gear, check-in, do my safety checks, do a walk-through of my transitions. Once everything is sorted out, my support crew disappears to grab much needed hot beverages and breakfast. This allows me 15-20 minutes to sit still, relax and reflect on what I'm about to do. The body performs at its best when stress levels are low and the mind is focused.
Support crew returns, we take the cliche pre-race photos and then it's time to warm up and get in the zone. 10 minutes of easy running with 4 x 30" strides followed by 10 minutes of dynamic stretching.
The town of Carleton Place is awake now and the transition zone is full of the usual pre-race nervous energy. I look around, realizing how much I love small-town races like this. I've only done a few "big" races - 2 Ottawa Marathons and 2 Peterborough triathlons - and they have their appeal, but nothing compares the pure, non-commercialized, grassroots feel of small-town races.
10 minutes before race start, I take a gel with some water. I walk up the starting line and am disappointed to discover there are only 7 other people crazy enough to do this race with me. This will mean not a lot of competition and some lonely riding out on those country roads.
The race official starts us and all 8 of us being our big day of racing. Right off the bat, one guy takes off at a really fast pace, a pace that seemed almost too fast. I stick to my plan running nice and easy, finishing the first 2k in 9:07. I was tied for 2nd place at this point.
I switch shoes, hop on the bike and off I go for a 90k adventure acrossing rolling Carleton Place hills.
I pre-rode the course three weeks before the race, so I knew what to expect: lots of rolling hills, two big climbs, significant cross winds & rough rough asphalt. This is not a bike course for the faint at heart! I've noticed some people out on the course start to feel very sorry for themselves, especially the one year I did the [Bracebridge Half Iron]. But as far as I'm concerned, more windy, hilly and hot a bike course is, the better! We do these races to challenge and grow ourselves, not to be comfortable.
The actual ride itself was GREAT. I rode based on feel, just like in my race strategy. But for some reason even though I was riding steady, my actual speed was much faster than I had expected. Most of my long rides averaged out to be 25-26 km/h. At the start of the year, I had a pipe dream of riding the 90k bike in 3 hrs, or 30 km/h. What was my average speed at the half way turnaround? 30 km/h! Couldn't believe what I was seeing!
On the way back into town, there is a VERY steep climb going through Middleville. I'm grinding it out up this climb, head down, I look up for a sec and what do a see? A freakin' horse and carriage about to cross the road from the right hand side! I have two choices:
1) slow down to a stop, dismount my bike right in the middle of a very steep climb, losing all my momentum
OR
2) hammer up the hill as fast as I can, evade the oncoming horse and carriage if necessary.
We're in a race here so I obviously opt for option #2. The man driving the horse and carriage yells, joking "you better hurry up! this guy doesn't slow down for no one!".
I manage to get around the course and continue climbing the hill but my lungs are feeling like they're going to explode.
Only in Carleton Place...
After the horse & carriage incident, I managed to settle myself down and get back into a groove. I'm still in disbelief that I'm averaging > 30 km/h. Heading back into Carleton Place now, I feel something small hit me on my right hip. It stuck to me for a brief second and sounded like a bug or something. I instinctively swat it away, look down, see that I just swatted a wasp and them BAM...the pain kicks in. I got stung by a freakin' wasp while riding a bike at 30+ km/h! How is that even possible? The pain went away after a few minutes and didn't even up affecting my race at all, but I was starting to get that "ok...what other weird stuff is going to happen during this race?" sort of feel.
I finished the ride in an official 3:02:16 but that doesn't include transition time, so that brings me pretty darn close to an average speed of 30 km/h for the whole 90k. That's just awesome.
I switch back to running shoes and head out for the 21.1 km half marathon.
The temperature was climbing and the sun was out in full force at this point, but you can't let the weather mess with you, can't let the weather get you down. Everyone races under the same weather conditions and no one can control them. You can control how you REACT to the weather however. Hydrating, getting electrolytes, realistic pacing and taking advantage of shade on the course were all things I focused on.
The course was 4 loops, which made it easy to work with my run pace strategy. During the first loop I took it very easy, a pace I could have maintained all day if I wanted to. I was getting passed a fair bit but each time I would say to myself "I'll be seeing you again 10 kilometers from now".
After the first loop it was time to kick it up a notch for the 2nd and 3rd loops. This is when the fatigue ok the race really started to kick in. It took a lot of extra effort to increase my pace. After increasing my pace for a few kilometers my new focus was to maintain this faster pace and not slow down. During the 3rd loop I moved from 4th to 3rd place overall. I saw the guy in 2nd place and started to get excited because he was within striking distance. But after finishing what I thought was his 3rd lap, he turned towards the finish line, meaning he was a full lap ahead of me. "Haha yeah right Brent maybe next year" I think to myself.
For the fourth lap I try to kick it up another notch but there is no notch to kick. I'm going as fast as I can and can actually start to feel myself fading a little bit. After 4.5 hours of racing, there really isn't much else to think about. Just keep moving & the faster you run, the faster you'll be done. The 4th lap was pretty ugly but I finished the run strong in 1:40:57.
I was very pleased with my half marathon split because it was actually the fastest out of the entire race, which says a lot about my strong ability to pace, but also leaves me wondering "I wonder if I could have pushed a little harder on the bike?"
Results
4:52:19 3/8 overall 3/5 men 1/1 in age group men 25-29.
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