Triathlon - Now that didn’t go as planned

Yesterday, was my second duathlon ever. The first (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=288055), two years ago, went well and I decided to do another sometime. I was planning on holding off until next year when I move up into the 60-69 age group (you can do the math to figure out that I’m an old f_rt), but I noticed that in last year’s event the 60 year olds did a lot better than my age group. So, if I want to podium, it’s now or never.

The Granite Bay Duathlon (http://www.tbfracing.com/events/granitebaydu.html) is located 20 miles NE of Sacramento, CA and is a four mile run, a fourteen mile ride, and then the same four mile run. The ride is fairly easy; mostly flat with some undulations. The run, on the other hand, is pretty tough. The first mile is flat, but after that it’s filled with 50-100 foot steep hills. How steep you ask? Well, most people were walking up and down them. Very easy to slip.

My training went well. I mainly concentrated on running, since I’ve gotten a lot of cycling miles in so far this year. I felt confident that I could meet my modest goal of doing as well as the first time.

I woke up early yesterday to have breakfast (cereal, a banana and some OJ) and off we went for the hour and a half drive to the race. I had managed to bribe my son’s girlfriend along by paying for her entry fee. Although she's sort of new to cycling, I knew that she wouldn’t have any problems with the run since she’s done a couple of marathons. We dragged my wife and my son along, but they weren’t too thrilled with getting up at 5:30 am (I guess that love does conquer all).

The weather yesterday was beautiful, around 70F, sunny with no wind. We started off at a nice pace and when we got to the hills, I managed to run up all of them. The ride was going OK, too, since I didn’t push it because I remembered how the second run was really hard two years ago. Near the end of the ride yesterday was went things started to spiral downward. I started to cramp in my right calf when I was going up this hill standing. My thoughts were “uh oh, this isn’t good”. I was really bummed since I had taken liquids at every aid station and I had downed a bottle of Gatorade on the bike. But I managed to make it back to the transition area.

At the very start of the second run leg, it became immediately apparent that there was a limit on how fast I could run; any faster and one or both calves would cramp up. I stopped and stretched, but that didn’t do any good, so I immediately lowered my goal to “just finish”. So, I puttered along for three miles at an ultra slow pace, even running up the hills because it felt good to stretch the back of my legs.

A mile from the finish, things hit bottom – I couldn’t run without cramping. I’d walk for awhile and then try it out, but the calves would cramp up immediately. It was so darn frustrating since, from an aerobic point of view, I wasn’t even tired. I was so POed walking across the finish line.

I still podiumed (third out of four in my age group. I think that the fourth place guy is still out on the course), but that’s it for me and duathlons. There are very few of them in this area and this one is obviously too hard.

I’ve got my first century ride in a couple of weeks. If I don’t finish that one, it’s Couch Potato Land for Cliffie.

On the positive side, at least now I can partake in the output from my wife’s excellent baking skills.

Thanks for reading. Here are some pics.

Cliff



Katherine and I before the misery
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0015.jpg

Start of the first run
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0020.jpg

Still feeling good at the end of the first leg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0022.jpg

Katherine finishing first leg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0024.jpg

On the bikes
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0031.jpg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0027.jpg

Limping out for the second run leg
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0038.jpg

Humiliation
http://i515.photobucket.com/albums/t353/CliffLowe/DSC_0045.jpg

Well, you looked liked you were having a lot of fun, which is the main thing!

Maybe prior to your next duathlon you should include a few more ´bricks´in your training routine - i.e. hard bike ride, then straight off the bike into a hard run, and vice versa.

Alternatively, just bask in the glory of your podium, and take the next one a bit steadier. Nice photos BTW, and the Cervelo looks like a lovely bike.

You look very fit so I suspect you were simply deficient on Salt and/or Potassium. The race wasn't really long enough for this to happen during it so perhaps you were already there by the time you toed the line. I'm a fan of Thermolytes...but if you happen to leave them on your bike like I did at Oceanside, you can hope for bananas and pretzels at one of the aid stations.

Congrats on the podium!!!

Cliff, I did the super sprint before you. 8am start time, and I left home at about 7am :D (First ever du for me)
My course took out the huge hill, but there were still some hills on the way back to transition. The bike was pretty fast. A 13 year old was fastest at 45 minutes (1:30 pace for the sprint).

The du's they do over the summer are at Ranco Secto park outside of Galt which is much, much flatter.

Throw a swim in there, and you are all set for triathlons... They do plenty of those at/around Granite Bay, including an XTERRA MTB triathlon. Lots of fun, and usually a bigger crowd, of all ages and skill levels.

Good job despite the cramping, by the way!

I did the ICE Breaker on Sunday. The run course is pretty crazy. Good job though.

haha!! Great write-up


"humiliation"

I love it!!