Though the title may sound more like a Chinese meal than a race, it’s still official: in addition to being a triathlete, I’m now a cross-country runner too. Saturday’s MattoonMan Duathlon brought with it spectacular weather and also the bombshell of the run course being changed from pavement to GRASS. I must’ve been smokin’ some to think I could blaze these trails in the same fashion as the road.
Steve and I had gotten up bright ‘n’ early Saturday morning at 4:00am to make the 2 ½ hour drive to Mattoon, IL where the last multisport race of this season was to take place at 9:00am sharp.
The race distances were admirable, even a bit sneaky -- as in play it wrong and I could end up a hurtin’ puppy – a 4 mile run, a 40 mile bike, followed by another 4 mile run.
We arrived with time to spare and on the way I had fueled aplenty with my traditional meal of coffee, water, oatmeal and yogurt. Packet pickup was straightforward and uncomplicated, and I even received a USAT windbreaker in my goodie bag – nice!
I setup my transition area and went off for a warmup.
Pavement, sweeeet…grass, gahh!!! It was an act of step-bobble-rebalance-step-bobble, repeat as necessary.
Well this was going to be fun. I could hardly wait to get onto my bike. At least that portion of the race was on paved roads.
I warmed up for about 25 minutes and headed back to my transition stall for one last check. Shortly thereafter we all gathered for some last minute race details; then the gun fired and we were off.
It was hard from the beginning. I was thinking am I just tired from racing all season or is this NOTICEABLY harder? I looked down at my heart rate monitor – 178 after one mile – eeek! I was planning on running the first segment conservatively – more like 170-ish – just on the edge of being uncomfortable. I was already in the zone reserved for the later half of the second run.
Nevertheless I made it through the first run with worthy mile splits, grabbed my helmet, ran my bike up the hill out of transition (with one hand on the saddle, mind you, a trick I’ve mastered this season that allows me to keep running w/o being hobbled by holding onto my aerobars…besides it looks way cool too, ha ha), and nearly threw myself onto the saddle to get going and get busy.
The road was pristine – smooth with beautiful rolling hills. Absent was the corn harvest dust from last year’s Ironman that had me sneezing and blowing snot rockets every five minutes.
Absent also was the WIND, no small miracle in the cornfields of Illinois. I had warmed up on the bike course so I knew what was coming in terms of grade and terrain.
I was cruising at over 20mph and I was in heaven. The sun, the warmth, the lack of wind, and the smooth roads all made for one sweet ride and it was a joy to reap the benefits of late-season race fitness. My heart rate stayed nicely in Zone 3 and it felt like I could go all day.
The bike course was 2 loops of 20 miles each and Steve practically leapt out of the car when I showed up nearly 15 minutes ahead of my estimated time on the first loop to make the turnaround. We grinned stupidly at each other, the way a couple of 18 yr olds might on a first date, dontcha know :).
I was determined to hold the pace and finish the 2nd bike loop in either the same time or a bit faster if the wind didn’t show up.
As the sun rose higher and the temps warmed, some headwinds did appear but they weren’t bad and I could hold a decent speed.
Around Mile 25 my hamstrings began to tighten up and hurt, right below my butt, and it occurred to me that I had not really stood up to pedal for most of the race. Standing up helped me stretch out and felt much better; I had been down in the aero position for a long time.
I finished the second loop just a couple minutes off from the first, happy as a clam, and then dreaded racking my bike for the second run. It was only 4 miles, but man, on grass 4 miles felt like another 40 :).
In addition, the temps were now in the low 80s, and it was hot. I slogged through 4 miles and sprinted to the Finish where Tony the Race Director said “I think you got one more [loop] to do…”
“BITE ME”, I said, and we all had a good laugh.
Then Steve said Look they have pizza, and it was all I could do to NOT hurl :). I left it all out on the course, determined to surrender everything. Last race of the season, I had nothing to lose.
Oh, and by the way, I won my Age Group too :).
Steve and I had gotten up bright ‘n’ early Saturday morning at 4:00am to make the 2 ½ hour drive to Mattoon, IL where the last multisport race of this season was to take place at 9:00am sharp.
The race distances were admirable, even a bit sneaky -- as in play it wrong and I could end up a hurtin’ puppy – a 4 mile run, a 40 mile bike, followed by another 4 mile run.
We arrived with time to spare and on the way I had fueled aplenty with my traditional meal of coffee, water, oatmeal and yogurt. Packet pickup was straightforward and uncomplicated, and I even received a USAT windbreaker in my goodie bag – nice!
I setup my transition area and went off for a warmup.
Pavement, sweeeet…grass, gahh!!! It was an act of step-bobble-rebalance-step-bobble, repeat as necessary.
Well this was going to be fun. I could hardly wait to get onto my bike. At least that portion of the race was on paved roads.
I warmed up for about 25 minutes and headed back to my transition stall for one last check. Shortly thereafter we all gathered for some last minute race details; then the gun fired and we were off.
It was hard from the beginning. I was thinking am I just tired from racing all season or is this NOTICEABLY harder? I looked down at my heart rate monitor – 178 after one mile – eeek! I was planning on running the first segment conservatively – more like 170-ish – just on the edge of being uncomfortable. I was already in the zone reserved for the later half of the second run.
Nevertheless I made it through the first run with worthy mile splits, grabbed my helmet, ran my bike up the hill out of transition (with one hand on the saddle, mind you, a trick I’ve mastered this season that allows me to keep running w/o being hobbled by holding onto my aerobars…besides it looks way cool too, ha ha), and nearly threw myself onto the saddle to get going and get busy.
The road was pristine – smooth with beautiful rolling hills. Absent was the corn harvest dust from last year’s Ironman that had me sneezing and blowing snot rockets every five minutes.
Absent also was the WIND, no small miracle in the cornfields of Illinois. I had warmed up on the bike course so I knew what was coming in terms of grade and terrain.
I was cruising at over 20mph and I was in heaven. The sun, the warmth, the lack of wind, and the smooth roads all made for one sweet ride and it was a joy to reap the benefits of late-season race fitness. My heart rate stayed nicely in Zone 3 and it felt like I could go all day.
The bike course was 2 loops of 20 miles each and Steve practically leapt out of the car when I showed up nearly 15 minutes ahead of my estimated time on the first loop to make the turnaround. We grinned stupidly at each other, the way a couple of 18 yr olds might on a first date, dontcha know :).
I was determined to hold the pace and finish the 2nd bike loop in either the same time or a bit faster if the wind didn’t show up.
As the sun rose higher and the temps warmed, some headwinds did appear but they weren’t bad and I could hold a decent speed.
Around Mile 25 my hamstrings began to tighten up and hurt, right below my butt, and it occurred to me that I had not really stood up to pedal for most of the race. Standing up helped me stretch out and felt much better; I had been down in the aero position for a long time.
I finished the second loop just a couple minutes off from the first, happy as a clam, and then dreaded racking my bike for the second run. It was only 4 miles, but man, on grass 4 miles felt like another 40 :).
In addition, the temps were now in the low 80s, and it was hot. I slogged through 4 miles and sprinted to the Finish where Tony the Race Director said “I think you got one more [loop] to do…”
“BITE ME”, I said, and we all had a good laugh.
Then Steve said Look they have pizza, and it was all I could do to NOT hurl :). I left it all out on the course, determined to surrender everything. Last race of the season, I had nothing to lose.
Oh, and by the way, I won my Age Group too :).
