Delmar Duathlon 2014

On May 5, 2014 I toed the line at the 3rd Annual Delmar Duathlon in Delmar, NY with the hopes of remaining the only winner of the event so far.  Having scouted some of the competition before the race I knew I had my work cut out for me after seeing Chris Mulford and Tim Russell on the registered list. 

Starting in Wave 1 in this race is a huge advantage because the narrow run trails make passing difficult.  Fortunately, Chris Mulford was starting in Wave 2!  However, I still had to contend with Tim.  I shot off the starting line at a 5:00/mi pace because it is the only part on this course that can be run that fast, so why give up any time? 

Fast off the line

I wanted to create some distance and see who would come with me right at the start.  After half a mile there were 3 of us running a low 6 minute pace on some wet and muddy trails. Unfortunately, one of us was Tim Russell. We created a distant gap to 4th place so we settled in and kept the pace for the rest of the two miles.  Coming into T1 within seconds of each other I knew it was going to be a bike race from here on out.  Run #1 was 11:55 for an average pace of 5:55/mi.

A quick transition and I got out on the bike directly behind Tim and we were off on the roads.  I have always been confident in my biking ability and I assumed I would be able to put some time into Tim and hold him off on the run.  But before I could get my feet in my shoes, Tim had a 10 second gap on me and it never got any closer than that.

I was pushing 300 watts trying to catch him, but my legs were burning because of the big sessions I had put in the previous few days.  After a few miles, I knew I wasn't going to catch him unless he made a mistake for the rest of the race.  At this point, all I could do is push myself and race the clock to beat my time from last year.  I finished the bike in 23:22 for an average speed of 26.0mph, only 20s slower than last year, but because of the fast run I was still 16 seconds ahead of my 2013 time.

Coming into T2

Coming out of T2 my legs felt dead.  I tried to keep a high turnover and stay on my toes, but I was not firing on all cylinders today.  I pushed as hard as I could knowing that my primary focus, the American Zofingen Long Course Duathlon, was a few short weeks away and I didn't want to trash my legs today.  I settled into a comfortable fast pace and hoped it would bring me to the line under the 49:28 of 2013.

Ominous skies

Alas, my time was a mere 3 seconds slower than last year's race.  However, given the wind on the bike and trail conditions on the runs, I was pleasantly surprised with being so close to last year's time.   A huge congratulations to Tim Russell who earned the win with his blistering pace on the bike and to Shylah Weber who won for the 2nd year in a row!  Overall, I was pleased with the effort and it served as a good benchmark to my fitness from last year coming into the American Zofingen Duathlon.  

Overall Podium

Now, only 6 days away is the hardest race I have ever done.  5mi of hilly trail running, 84mi of hilly road biking, and then a grueling 15mi of more hilly trail running.  Time to rest up and prepare to hurt!