With the race not starting until 9:45am, I knew I would nto be able to pull off having just a piece of fruit & coffee for breakfast. But at the same time, I wanted to make sure that the breakfast I did eat was properly digested by the time the race started. To ensure this happened, I ate a normal sized breakfast of 500-600 calories, and finished eating it by 6:30. This allowed 3+ hrs for digestion. I topped up my fuel stores by eating a gel at 9:30 and then I was all set to race.

5k run

My plan was to run the first 5k in 20 minutes, which is a pace that is pretty fast for me but would still allow me bike & run well later on in the race. Just like at the Early Bird Du, when the gun went off, a pack of 4-5 guys started out at a ridiculously fast pace that I wouldn't be able to maintain & I quickly found myself in no man's land with the rest of the pack behind me. I went through the first km marker in 3:30...waaaaay too fast. It certainly did not feel that fast to me. It's amazing what even a 2-3 day mini-taper will do for your legs. I dialed back the pace for the rest of the 5k and ended up finishing it in a reasonable 20:31.

T1
Armed with my new elastic speed laces, I was able to slip off my shoes almost instantly. I decided before the race to not take any chances with mounting my bike with my shoes already attached to the pedals. I began the long run from T1 to the mount line, running in my bike shoes. I avoided gravel & ran on grass as much as possible. This worked well. I swing a leg over my bike & off I go.

44.4k bike
I zoom off down the recreational pathway to the Ottawa River Parkway where I did 4 loops of the course. During the first loop my legs felt AWFUL & I was worried that I was going to have a bad race. I was still going fast (30 km/h+) but just didn't feel good doing it. After the first lap my legs settled down & I got into a groove. For the last 3 laps I focussed on keeping myself locked into the aerobars, only breaking the aero position to eat or drink. I finished the bike in 1:27:33, including T1.

T2
Blazing fast, no messing around.

10k run
My legs felt surprisingly good considering the effort i put in on the bike. Settled into a 4:15 pace. Always difficult to decide how much risk to take with running pace. I am 95% sure I can maintain a 4:15 pace but am only 66% sure I can maintain a 4:00 pace. And if I attempt a 4:00 pace & blow up, that will set me back to 5:30 - 6:00 pace, I will have ruined my race and would have felt horrible crossing the finish line. Conversations like this are what racing is all about. There are scientific principles behind training & racing, but racing has a definite artistic element to it as well. I played it safe and maintained a 4:15 pace and I was passing a ton of people, including a couple in my age group. Because I was passing so many people, I didn't feel a need to up the pace to a risky 4:00 kilometer pace, finishing the run in 42:59.

Results
2:31:02 8/40 overall 7/28 men 1/4 in age group men 25-29
Splits: 5 km run - 9/40 overall - 20:31 - 4:07/km 40.4 km bike - 14/40 - 1:27:33 - 30.4 km/h 10 km run - 3/40 - 42:59 - 4:18/km

I won my age group!

Reflections on race pacing

• there is no straight forward answer to the question "how should I pace myself on the run?". If there was, we all be little race execution robots out there on the course, and how much fun would that be? Plus, I strongly doubt that world records or even personal records are broken by following a formulaic race plan to the "T".
  


• ideally, pacing should be tested and reflected upon in training, particularly key "race simulation" workouts. But there are some things you can only test in true race conditions.
  


• the way I see it, the amount of risk I am willing to take with my race pacing is inversely proportional to the priority/importance of the race to me. For example, if I am doing an early spring or late fall sprint tri or 5k as a "C" priority race, I am going to go full throttle, take enormous risks and not hold anything back. But if I have trained all year & tapered two weeks for a big half iron distance triathlon, I am going to take minimal risks to give myself the best chance of having an excellent race.

What i did well

• good pacing
  


• kept my head in the game/no daydreaming
  


• mental attitude: not just "hope" that i can run well, i now "know" that i can run well
  

What i need to improve

• run technique
  


• bike fit
  

Things I noticed that other athletes were doing wrong or could do better

• carrying way too much nutrition on the run: use the bike as an eating & drinking platform. when you dismount the bike you should be fairly well hydrated & carbs/electrolytes should be topped up. that way all you need to carry on the run is maybe a gel or two. get your fluids from the aid stations, don't carry them with you. this will save you from carrying an extra 1-2 pounds across the run course.
  


• clean & lube your bike chain the night before your race! i'll say it again. clean & lube your bike chain the night before your race! i heard the sound of so many squeaky & dirty chains out there. a queaky or dirty sounding chain is the sound of you giving away free speed for no reason. we spend so much time training for these races. what's another 15-20 minutes the night before the race to ensure your bike is operating at peak efficiency?
  


• resist the urge to "race" against others on the bike course: this is a duathlon/triathlon. it's not a race to see who gets to T2 first. in fact, who gets to T2 first means absolutely nothing. there is no such thing as "I had a great bike but I fell apart on the run". if one of your close competitors passes you on the bike, keep going at your intended pace. do not overdo it on the bike in an effor to catch up. if someone passes you, it means one of two things: 1. they are going too fast; or 2. they are better than you anyway. just let 'em go. something i say to myself if i see someone in my AG pass me on the bike me is "see you on the run course at the 4k mark".
  


• focus on things you can control, not things you can't control: i heard lot of negative chatter about two things on the riverkeeper course: 1. how long the run was from the transition area to the mount/dismount line & back; and 2. how hot it was on the olympic 10k run course. i will use these two issues as examples, addressing them individually. #1: the run to the mount/dismount line. there is nothing you can do about this & all competitors must run the same distance, so it doesn't really matter. how about focussing instead on how you are going to make that run as easy for yourself as possible. which hand will you use to hold your bike? will you hold your bike at the stem or the seat? are you gong to run in shoes or just socks? are you going to run on the grass or the path? #2 temperature on the run course. again, you cannot contorl the temperature. but you can control how you will respond to the heat. dress & hydrate appropriately. make good use of the aid stations. run in the shade whenever possible. plus, as a little extra motivation, just think...the sooner you get the run done, the cooler the average temperature will have been during your run ;)

If you are an athlete yourself, hopefully you can incorporate these tips into your racing strategy. There is a TON of information on the internet about how to train, but very little about how to race.

Thanks for reading.