Run #1 consisted of two 5k loops, mostly along a closed highway. I started out comfortably as lots of guys headed off into the distance. For much of the first mile I was running just behind James Cracknell, a double Olympic champion in rowing from the UK who has become notable for his extreme endurance feats. It felt good to be running and then getting ahead of sporting nobility - though once we got to the bike leg he blew right past me. Mile 1 passed in 6:01, with mostly a headwind. Wow, that wasn't supposed to feel that easy. Mile 2 was just 6:00, including a brief drink break. I felt just great, though my HR monitor said that I was working hard. Perhaps the cool/dry temps and last week's taper were actually having an effect. And there were simply loads of guys ahead of me, I was probably running towards the BOP at that point. I thought perhaps my splits were misleading, but based on the fact that I could hear the Garmins of everybody around me beep for a mile marker at almost exactly the same point, I figured it was accurate. Finishing the first loop I saw Andrea and Zoe out watching for me ("Go Daddy!"), and I didn't have to work to put on a smile. This was fun. I was merely a little worried that I was going to pay for this pace later on. On the second lap I deliberately tried to hold back a little more, but for the most part I was catching other guys, and I wasn't slowing by much at all. My 10k split was around 38:12, way faster than I would have expected, and although I knew I'd been running a high HR, so it certainly hadn't been a walk in the park, it felt surprisingly comfortable. (My Run #1 split was 39:43, but the course was long, and post-race reports suggested that everybody was getting very similar measurements, and on a wide open route where Garmins tend to be quite accurate.) I was 17th in my AG after Run #1.

Nothing. This was better than I could have expected.

Relatively quick in-and-out, at least by my poor standards, and I was heading off with my bike. Just over a minute. I was losing only 10-20s on the fast guys, which is good for me.

I did not particularly enjoy the bike leg. I didn't have enough training in my legs. Although I had done some hard TT bike rides on the trainer, I hadn't ridden outside, and perhaps I needed more of that for a flatter TT. The tight new tri suit was feeling uncomfortable, creating some painful chafing in the crotch, and although the course was pretty easy, I wasn't enjoying the constant cracks in the road and needing to steer around potholes. Anyway, for whatever reasons, I did not have it on this bike leg, and lots of others did have it. It felt like I was being passed by lots of people, including guys from the next (younger) wave, who had started 10 minutes after us. I did manage to commit a little more on the second 20k loop, increasing my average speed a little, but I mostly just wanted this part to be over. My 40k split of 68:32 was 25th in the AG, and it lost me a number of places.


Train more, get more comfortable with race efforts outside on the TT bike, commit more.

Coming into T2 I realized that I wasn't exactly sure which row my bike was in -- I had practiced approaching it from the run-in end of the transition zone, but not from the other end. And the numbers were gone from the ends of the rows of bikes. I made a guess, and started looking. I was confused when I did find the area where my spot should have been, but did not find an open rack. Some sucker had gone and taken my spot. So I lost a little while moving his bike along and squeezing my bike in, before doing all the regular stuff and heading out for the run. I lost a little more time on this one, but it was no fault of my own.


Nothing. It wasn't my fault that somebody else took my rack. I guess it was my fault that the racks were so darn full by the time that I got there.

I find that my legs always feel worse at the start of the final leg of a duathlon than they do in a tri. The first run really does make a difference. I felt a bit heavy-legged at the start of the concluding 5k, but not as bad as I had feared. Perhaps because I didn't go hard enough on the bike. The pre-race instructions had suggested that there would be two short 2.5k loops, so I was looking out for a quick turn around. Which did not come. I eventually figured out that they had instead decided to send us on a single 5k loop again. I was passed by a couple of guys from the younger 18-34 wave, but otherwise I was gradually picking off people throughout the run. The loop was largely out and back, so I had ample opportunity to see the guys ahead of me who had gained so much time on the bike. I was gaining on most of them, but not enough to make a difference. I felt slow, so I was surprised at the 6:0x mile splits. My quads felt like they were threatening to cramp, but I've got used to that as a standard duathlon feeling, so I didn't pay much attention to it. In the last half mile I did not have a whole lot left in the tank, but I was able to pass another couple of guys and hold it together to the finish. My 5k time was around 19:06, exactly the same pace as I had on Run #1, and good enough for 7th in the AG (again, total distance was a bit over 5k - everybody was getting similar measurements). That could indicate perfect pacing, or that I just didn't try hard enough on the bike. Final position 19th in the AG, which put me in the upper 50% by the narrowest margin.


I thought that I might have left a little more out there on the run, but I was genuinely pleased with the pace. Run #2 is my strongest part of a du, but I don't think I could have hoped for any faster than this one, given my current shape.

Oh, oops. I forgot about the warm-down. After standing around in a daze for a little while, then hung around chatting with some other competitors for a few, before heading off to enjoy the rest of the stay in Ottawa with the family. In the evening I met up with an old high school friend who I had not seen since the last day of high school 27 years ago, in the UK. Really great reunion, and quite fortuitous. And good beers, burger, and wings to boot. Then went with the family to see Mosaika, a really neat free light show that runs nightly during the summer: a history of Canada and its peoples, using the Canadian National Parliament building as a projection screen.


Bike training, bike commitment, bike comfort.

Overall, though, it was the running that I had been working on, and I was quite happy with how that went. I'm accustomed to being at or near the top of the pile for du runs, especially run #2, so the placings weren't what I'm used to. But the standard of competition here was quite unlike others that I've done. Unsurprisingly, I guess.


There were lots of things happening around the race, spread over 3 days, but I didn't participate in anything other than the race itself. It would have been fun to do the extra stuff if I had been traveling alone, but since I was with family, it was more fun to enjoy the city with them. Ottawa in August was a great venue for this event.