Sunday was day of the third day of suit testing… my third Duathlon of the season as well.
After saluting the judges once and coming 2nd to the Honky Tonk Man Matt Porta in race 2, the goal for this race was always going to be for the win. I missed last month’s race due to other commitments so it was comeback time… plus I knew there was no Honky Tonk. I didn’t really want to leave myself a mess on the floor at the end of the race, but nor did I not want to not win, so the plan as usual was to go nuts out on the first run, get a lead, then see what happens on the bike. If I extend the lead, then the 2nd run can be eased a touch… if it’s looking tight, then bugger me, I’d have to keep going!
Ok, so as per plan, I went for it on Run leg 1. Passing the first km the Garmin beeped… I looked down… 3:12… too fast. Good lead already, but not sustainable if I want to finish the race! The next to k’s passed at slightly slower speeds and the run was done in 10:30. I could go faster now I think back, but I had the lead so I subconsciously probably took the pedal off I think.
Transition was ok I guess… never been overly fast in my T’s but this one was fine… after all, what can go wrong in a Duathlon transition??? You change your shoes (if they aren’t already clipped on the bike) and put a helmet on and go. I chose the shoes not clipped in tactic and took those precious few seconds to put my shoes on and do the robotic run to the mounting area. Runner number 2, who was about 15-20 seconds behind, went for the clipped in version of T1 and breezed past me in the mount as I was clipping in. No harm done, it’s a tactic I chose knowing full well it might cost me the lead in T1… of course I hoped it wouldn’t… but not unexpected.
Up around the first 2 corners and it’s lap time… 5 laps of the fabled Summerland Point course. Basically an “L” like course that angles up to the top turn, then comes back down round a fast sweeping bend and a small flat straight before we turn around again. Considering the position I was in (very close to the lead) I decided attacking while the leader was putting his shoes on properly was the way to go… the fact he was having trouble doing said task only made it easier for me. The 30 or so metres gap was eliminated in seconds and I was gone. The first lap my lead was maintained… the remaining 4 laps I surged further ahead.
Going into T2 I knew my lead was enough to win comfortably so even though I remained efficient I made sure that I composed myself and didn’t panic. Shoes put on carefully with no fumbling, headsweat donned and sunnies reposition… a couple of steps walking then off I trotted.
Pretty uneventful run really.. I kept looking over my shoulder to see if I could see anyone, but nope… there’s a few too many corners on the course so if you get a decent lead on anyone it can seem as though your further ahead than you are… or conversely, if you’re chasing, it can make the gap to make up insurmountable at times.
Turning the corner at 1.5km I could see 2nd place coming along… so I timed it… when we passed it made the gap 40 seconds. On current pace, he’s gotta run 3:30’s to run me down… and if that started happening, I was only trotting and could easily have punched out a similar if not faster pace for the reminder of the run. Plenty in the gas tank my friends… my only real danger was the tree roots, which I am happy to say, did not get the best of me.
Race over, saluting of the judge for the second time this Duathlon season and suitably chuffed with myself in my last racing hitout before flying on LA and Vegas on Saturday. The win was comfortable while remaining testing, I didn’t hurt myself, I had plenty in the tank, I had good speed on the run, I’d played with my saddle positioning again and it was comfortable and as it’s a topic of choice at the moment, the EJ suit was perfect. On a winters morning, albeit not a cold one… the suit was fine on its own. I had arm warmers on, held on by electrical tape (due to my dwindling arms… from all the aerobic training)… but they came off prior to the race.
So the record is now 1 2 x 1… and looking forward to race number 5… the day after my brothers bucks party at the races… Good to see the results though. It shows progress has been made… a fair amount of it too, over the last 12 – 18 months.
Vegas here we come!
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