Monday, February 8, 2010

Race Report - Heartbreak Duathlon 2009

Production Company: Steel Sports
Date: 2/21/09
Location: Tyler State Park, TX

This short yet brutal race takes place in February in Tyler State Park, TX. It consists of 2.5 miles of trail running, 10 miles of mountain biking, and then another lap of the 2.5 miles of trails on foot again. The running and riding take place on hard-packed single track mountain bike trails, with loads of uphills, seemingly few downhills, some bridges and a fallen log or two. There were about 60 or 70 people competing, some with dual suspensions, but I didn't see any single speeds. The weather was cold and it rained until about 10 minutes before the race. I started in the middle of the pack, and passed an awful lot of people to find myself near the front of the pack. The running portion had us finish back at the start, where our bikes were waiting. Not having clipless pedals at this point, I saved a bit of time during the transition. The I hadn't been biking much prior to the race though, and was passed by just about everyone I had passed running. I pushed myself too hard and could feel the lactic acid building up in my thighs. I kept up a decent pace but the uphills seemed neverending. Finally I made it back to the transition area/start/finish and stuck my bike back in the rack, grabbed some energy gel and ran back to run the last leg. The lactic acid was getting bad, but I still managed to pass the same people. The final mile was tough for everyone, apparently, because even though I had slowed quite a bit, I was still passing folks. The last 1/4 or so was a very long switchback uphill, back and forth, back and forth maybe 4 times. I could feel spots in my thighs where the muscle had just given up and gone to sleep. I was breathing fire and sweating gatorade. But I was so close, and there was one guy barely jogging near the top of the last stretch. I made myself dig in and pump my arms with everything I had. I caught that dude right as we leveled out and returned to the street for the last 100meters or so. We were both committed to the cause, but I was a little younger and barely beat him. Came in 9th overall, and can't wait to do it again.

1 comment:

Chrissy said...

You forgot to mention that after you finished the race, you ran the last 2.5 miles a second time, with me!