Before the start I noticed that the 2 people I thought would have been my closes competitors had not shown up. Had it been a Tri, I could have taken it a bit easier, but this is a Duathlon, Xterra ! so you can never be sure who will show up, last year it was the same, but then I thought I could control it pretty easy, you can guess the chock I got when somebody absolutely killed me on the running section. He was a very good running but luckily for me he was a pretty bad biker. So this time I did not get a big smile on my face even though 2 of my closes competitors had not shown up. You never know what can happen.
The race actually started on time, which is quite rare around here.
So we line up, the shot goes of, and I take of very fast. I have been doing indoor track workouts once a week for most of the winter, so I am use to starting fast. I go straight into the lead, flying down the road. After 200m there is a left hand turn, and I get a chance to see that I had pulled clear of the field, probably a good 15m. That made me try to slow down and get a good rhythm going, that was however easier said then done. My heart had now gotten the start chock and was beating like crazy, so all I kept thinking was control, control, control. After 500m I turned of the gravel road and went into the forest. This gave me another chance to check the progress of my pursuers. I was quite surprised when I saw who was in second. It was a guy I could/should easily beat. I only got a split second to process this information before I hit the big hill, it was not very long but step and the surface was very soft and to make it even harder there was a short section with snow/ice on it.
I got up the hill with out dying and continued. The Garmin beeped and I looked down to get the first k split.. 3:33 :o:o:o "Holy smoking running shoes Batman" ! that’s fast….....too fast ? Well nothing to do but continue through the forces on the small paths. Just before the end of the first lap I got another chance to check the situation behind me. My lead had opened up, but the guy in second was not the same. Now it was on of the good bikers, one that was better then me on the MTB. Damn he was not the guy I wanted to see, anybody else, just not him !!
First lap over I start down the gravel road for the last time, at the turn I got another chance to look behind me. Damn he was still in second, I thought I had increased my lead but it was not a lot. As I turned into the forest again I made a bad mistake, I ran up the hill to fast. The second I got up the hill I could feel my thigh muscles starting to complain, not good when you are about to start bike. The rest of the lap I tried to run as effortlessly as I could.


Don’t run so fast up the hill on the second lap

I quickly got my helmet on and took of. The first thing on the bike is a climb up a granny gear hill, and from experience I have learned that going up to fast will kill the legs for pretty much the rest of the bike ! So I “took it easy” being careful not to overdo it. Then onto what should have been a fast section, but 2 days before the race they had filled all the potholes in the road, so now there was just lose gravel everywhere. Normally there have always been 2 clear tracks from the cars, but not today, so instead of a fast smooth section, it was now a struggle to find some of the harder surface. I got through this section ok I think. The next section was more technical, but I absolute flew through it :) The last part of the lap is 2k straight with a lot of hills on it, all up :( I controlled myself and did not push to hard on the bigger hills, at this point I was also thinking, if I just can do one whole lap before I am court I should be ok, as I then should be able to run away from them. But at the end of the first lap they had still not court me, so I was able to mentally relax a bit. This probably helped me, as I later found out that I had losed ground to the pursuers on the first lap but had extended it on the second lap. On the second lap, while still going fast, I was taking the corners a bit easier making sure I would not get in trouble in the exit of the corners.
At the end of the bike I was feeling pretty good, and ready for the run.


Nothing

Coming in to T2 I jumped of the bike and took of running. Last time I did this race I had problems with cramps after the bike, so this time I did not try to push the pace, this was all about making sure my calf muscles would not cramp up. The run course starts in the directions where the bike finishes, so I got a good look at my competitors and as they where about 45 seconds behind, I could focus on not cramping up. On the beginning of the second lap I could see somebody starting there first lap. This gave me somebody to chase, which was actually nice. I eventually court the person on the small forest tracks, and had no problems going by him. I hit the finish line with a clear lead. I actually took another 20 seconds out of the pursuers on the run, even though I was running controlled :)

Nothing

Stood around talking to chase pack, then when I had cooled down a bit, I put on some dry clothes.



Not enough trail running, and only being on the MTB twice the whole winter/spring.