Cape Henlopen Triathlon - Duathlon

The swim was cancelled due to high waves caused by the Nor'Easter. The water and air temperature were at 66°F http://www.wunderground.com/MAR/buoy/2013/10/13/OCIM2.html?MR=1

Instead the Tri was converted to a Duathlon which started with a 1.5 mile run. This was a fun duathlon because I was able to race against my age group. We started in our swim waves at 7:40am of Men 45 and Over and Clydesdales. This was great because I could see who I was competing against. We started fast and accelerated to about a 5:30 min/mile pace and then separated from the pack. Blair Sanders took an early lead (45-49 age group) and I lost track of him, but there were 2 other competitors that I knew where about the same age as me that were ahead of me! (Robert Hartman and John Gillis). I passed Robert Hartman and set my focus on the back of John Gillis to catch him before the end run. I was surprised at how quickly the turn around came up and it gave a good opportunity to see where everyone was. As we were ending the first run, I caught John.


Well executed. I didn't use any extra energy by going too fast for too long at the beginning. Ran negative splits at 6:37 and 6:22 min/mile. This pace was close to my most recent 5K race at 19:33 and 6:17 min/mile.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390010013
This was a very short bike course, because of water on the roads and high winds.
I caught John Gillis near the beginning of the ride and then Robert Hartman passed me at a very fast pace. I was at 27 mph so he must have been above 30. At the turn around Robert told me that he couldn't stop and I was able to get ahead of him for a short period and then he passed me again. After the turn around the winds were brutal and my average speed dropped to about 15 mph on the straight section.

This ride was too short to do anything other than go as hard as you could go.

Put the running shoes back on!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/390010109
Again the race continued with Robert Hartman ahead of me and John Gillis slightly behind me. I started with a short stride high cadence to manage the cycle to run transition. John Gillis quickly caught me at about 0.5 mile. I could see Robert Hartman a good distance ahead of me. I then picked up the pace to start catching Robert Hartman. I believed that I could catch him since we did so in the first run. John dropped off the pace and I kept focusing on runners ahead of me to help pull me to Robert Hartman. The plan worked and at about 2 miles I approached Robert. I decided to run strongly by him to get some separation, because I was worried that he might have a strong kick based on his high speeds on the bicycle. This worked and I reached the muddy final section (3miles) and I finally looked back to see if I needed to sprint, but I was clear. Robert Hartman must have sprinted at the end because he was only 8 seconds behind me at the finish.

Ran negative splits again on this 5K and was pleased with that. I could have gone harder in the 2nd and 3rd mile, because I didn't get that 5K "I am going to die if I keep running at this pace" feeling. So I should have pushed harder and I should have made a larger effort at the end when Robert Hartman must have been gaining on me.

I did some walking to warm down.


Lack of running training. I only did 6 runs since the Atlantic City Triathlon on 15 September. The runs that I did were 2 miles and the last mile was 7:20 to 6:55 min/mile average. The bicycling and swimming helped keep my fitness level high. It was strange that most of my training was not running and the race was nearly all running!


This was a great race despite the cancelled swim and shortened bike course. Last year the weather was excellent and the swim and bike were included.

It was great to have the triathlon (duathlon) start in the age category wave. It felt like a high school cross country race where I could see exactly who I was competing against!