Last weekend we took a road trip up from Austin to Oklahoma City for the USAT Long Course Du national championship race. I mostly did this race as part of training, since it was something close enough to get to without flying (easier to transport the bike). Plus, I'd never done a long duathlon, and this one (10K run, 43 mile bike, 10K run) fit the bill.
Leading up to the race things were a bit stressful. I took my front race wheel in to Jack & Adam's because the valve had been cranky and was hard to get a seal when filling with air. They had to remove the tire and re-glue it, to put on a new valve stem. No big deal, I thought, I'd do a test ride Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning I checked the wheel, and it was flat! Back to the bike shop, to get a completely new tube glued on. Now I wouldn't have a chance to ride the wheel before the race, unless we got out to the course Friday afternoon after the 6+ hour trip from Austin.
The drive up from Austin was interesting- rain showers after noon all the way from Dallas to OKC, alternately pouring down and then skies bright and sunny. Things cleared up by the time we got to OKC, so we hoped it'd stay clear long enough to do a quick test ride. After picking up my packet we headed out to Draper Lake, the race site. Despite some ominous clouds in the distance, I had enough time to get a quick 10 minute ride in, and everything looked good.
The race course started from a parking lot by the lake, with the run climbing up the first half mile, going along a flat road for another mile, then coming back the same way. We'd do the 3.1 mile course twice, each run. No shade or trees at all, so it was going to be a hot one! The bike course was a 13 mile loop all the way around the lake, with a couple climbs and several rolling hills. Three loops of the bike course would get us through that part of the race.
Race morning was here before we knew it, and by 6:30 we were out at the lake setting up. The rain stayed away, but it was literally 100% humidity. Visibility was about 100 yards, we could barely see the road as we drove in, just a fog/mist of water hanging in the air. I don't think I've ever seen humidity like that. Add that to the 72 degrees, and it was already pretty warm.
The race was relatively small, only 100-110 people and about 30 women. But there was some serious competition. Since this was the national championships, and spots on Team USA for the 2011 World Duathlon Championship were on the line, there were people from 22 states. I hoped to just put in a good effort, "enjoy" the race, and try not to end up in the medical tent.
Deciding how to pace the first run was tricky, since I'd never run this distance. I decided to fall back to my old duathon strategy, which is to aim for even splits on the first & second run, and pick a pace I could sustain if I was running for the entire race time. Since I figured it'd be somewhere between 3:30 and 4 hours for the whole race, that meant treating it like a marathon. 7:45/mile was the pace I was aiming for.
Suellen wished me good luck, and everyone headed to the start line. After just a brief set of instructions, they fired off a shotgun to start us. I guess this was Oklahoma after all!
At first the humidity didn't seem to bother me, with the temperature still in the low 70's. And I felt good up the first hill, although I noticed at least a dozen women take off at a much faster pace right away. I knew I had to be patient. If they could run 7 minute miles the first 10K and still do that after the bike, I wasn't going to catch them anyway.
I wasn't quite as successful holding back as I hoped, hitting the first 5K loop at a 7:30 average. It was really hard not trying to stay up with the women I could see continuing to pull away. The second loop was a little faster, 7:23, but I didn't feel like I'd pushed too hard. I just had to hope it wouldn't come back to bite me later!
I ran into transition and waved at Suellen, then momentarily got confused, as I'd miscounted how many racks I had to run past. Suellen yelled "you're one rack over" just about the time I realized I was in the wrong spot, and I ducked under a row of bikes (thank goodness there was an opening, so I didn't have to run all the way around). Got my helmet & shoes on, and ran out with my bike. 52 seconds for the transition, only a little slow for missing my rack.
The first loop of the bike course I wanted to ride fairly easy. It would help to know where any bad spots came up, and 40+ miles is long enough I couldn't just hammer away. The roads were in good shape, and with the breeze from riding it didn't feel too warm. After a few miles we came to the first climb, and as I approached I saw the road littered with water bottles and other bits of gear that had been flung off the previous bikes. Sure enough, there was a pretty good bump in the road. I didn't lose anything, and made a mental note - next time you see lots of stuff on the road ahead, it probably means something bad is coming up!
As I climbed I passed a couple other riders, but it was really fairly spread out the whole race. A few times I couldn't see anyone ahead or behind me. The lead women had such a big lead on me off the first run, I figured I wouldn't see them at all on the bike.
Towards the end of the first loop, they had a water bottle handup. I knew it was coming, so I refilled my aerobottle and pitched my empty bottle. As the handup got closer, I was dismayed to see the water bottles weren't normal bike bottles- they were just bottled water like you buy at the store. Slick to hold onto, and probably too slim to fit in my bottle cage. I grabbed for one, couldn't hold on and dropped it. I knew it was going to get hotter, and I'd need all the hydration I could get, so I stopped, and a volunteer ran up to hand me another bottle. When I looked at it, I realized it had no lid. So even if it fit in the bottle cage, half of it would splash out before I even drank any! I gave up and threw it away, it wasn't going to do me any good. Nothing to do but soldier on.
At the end of the first loop I'd averaged about 20.5 mph. I started picking up the effort for the second loop, made it safely past the sea of bottles on the road at the first climb, and curved back around the other side of the lake. The hills were starting to feel a little less rolling, and more "climby". Not a good sign only halfway through the bike!
Then the clouds that had been so thick all morning opened up, and the sun came out. OH @#!$. It was hot. Hot and sticky. That's great if you are eating a cinnamon roll, not so much with 20 miles of biking and a 6 mile run to go. Humidity was still around 80%, and the sun was just beating down on us.
I knew I had to get a bottle this time through the hand up, so I slowed down even more, was able to grab some water, and just planned to pour it straight into my aerobottle. And wouldn't you know, this time the bottle had a lid on it! So when I turned it over to squeeze it out, all the water just sprayed everywhere as it hit the lid. After a bit of wrangling, I finally got most of the water into my aerobottle.
Starting the third loop I felt my legs getting a little tired. I'd averaged 21mph after the first two loops, but just couldn't hold it. I decided I had to take it a little easy on the downhills, so I had something left for the run. I drank as much as I could, took some more nutrition and extra electrolytes, and kept pedaling.
With about two miles to go, I came up on another girl from Austin I'd seen at other races. She was a crazy fast runner, but not as fast on the bike. It was good to know I'd caught someone in the lead pack, but unless she was having a really bad day I expected to see her on the run in a little while.
Safely back into transition, I was glad to be off the bike. I'd averaged about 20.7 mph, not quite what I'd hoped, but in the ballpark. I grabbed my hand held water bottle (I knew it was going to be hot for the second run), and started up the hill.
I was surprised that my legs actually felt pretty good to start the run. It was hot, but I kept drinking and pouring water on my head. About a mile in, the girl from Austin I'd passed at the end of the bike came racing by. I told her it was no fair she could run so fast, with a laugh :)
At the 1.5 mile mark, the water stop had both ice and water, and I gratefully grabbed a cup of each, and filled up my bottle. I'd end up refilling the 20oz bottle every 1.5 miles the rest of the way, using that much water between drinking and splashing on myself to try to keep cool.
With the downhill at the end of the first loop helping, I ended up averaging about 7:45 on the first 5K. I think seeing Suellen gave me a boost too. But heading back up the half mile climb to start the second loop I could feel things slipping away. I had no energy, it was just so freaking hot. I had to just ignore pace and go by effort- if my heart rate skyrocketed I'd be walking before I knew it. I passed one really fit local guy who was walking up the hill, who I later saw on the side of the road with two medics, screaming from some really bad calf cramps. Ouch :(
None of the other runners looked good, everyone was just putting one foot in front of the other. I hit 4.5 miles, and was down to about an 8:15 pace. I told myself, get to the last half mile, it's all downhill, and you can pick it up from there and finish strong.
I slogged along, trying to just not push the pace until the last minute. Coming up to the top of the last hill before heading back down to the lake seemed to take forever. There was one patch of shade on the whole run, about 10 yards worth. I wanted so much to just sit down there under the tree. But I kept going.
With half a mile to go, I was looking down the hill to the finish. I told myself it was time to drop the hammer, but when I looked in my toolbag there was no hammer to be found. This was going to be "try to see if you can just hold even pace to the end" kind of race, and not pass out. Even doing that, with the downhill, by the last 200 yards I was getting kind of dizzy. I crossed the finish line, and staggered around, until I saw a tent with some shade. I collapsed on an ice chest, and poured water on my head. It was a couple minutes before I could even think straight.
Eventually I was able to catch my breath, cool down a little, and find Suellen. The heat index was up to 100, with the temperature at 90 by the end of the race. No wonder it felt a little warm :)
I'd finished in 3 hours, 41 minutes and 56 seconds. The second run was around an 8:00 average pace, which actually was pretty decent. Several of the other woman were more than a minute a mile slower on their second run.
After they posted results I found out I placed 7th woman overall and 3rd in my age group. It was amazing to see how the masters women did- 5 of the 7 top finishers were over 40, and the top 2 were over 45!
I earned my spot on Team USA for the 2011 Long Course Du Worlds, although we still don't know when/where it will be held. And I got to do a long course duathlon for the first time. Not sure I want to do another very soon, especially in that kind of heat! But it was "fun" in a crazy kind of way.
Fantastic!!!
Posted by: Rachel | July 16, 2010 at 08:38 PM