Runner 131: The Down and Dirty Duathlon

Today, I have ran and biked my very first multi-sport event, with the Down and Dirty Duathlon, a run/bike/run event in on the trails and hills of Lynn Woods! Yeay! I think that makes me a Duathlete now? It can't be all that tough, now can it? Well.... if you happened to have spent the previous night at the Harpoon Octoberfest with a bunch of friends, and just happened to drink about 6 pints of bear, ate about a foot worth of free sausage, and had a nice greasy fried egg and bacon sandwhich at 11pm, before catching the 12:10 train home... and woke up with a hangover, then yeah, it can be a bit tough. :P Both events, the night before, and even the race with a hang-over, were totally worth it. :)

The race day at Lynn Woods, much like the Rowley race day, started off feeling way too cold, with temps at 43 when I woke up, but fortunately warmed up to a perfect temperature for running and biking. It was one of those days where you needed a hoodie, a windbreaker, and constant movement to stay warm. It was an absolutely perfect day for running the race; Perfect temperature, bright and sunny, and almost zero wind. You can't get much better than that.

The run was a fairly easy run out, on a nice wide dirt road, although there were lots of little rocks to watch for lest you end up twisting your ankle and falling. Hills weren't all that bad with a sort of large rolling up and down, with not too bad of a grade. At the turn around point, we had to cut off the wide road, and immediately up these horrendous "steps", made from logs used to keep the steps from eroding out, that were covered in gravel, loose rocks, roots, and those dangerous rocks rooted in the ground that like to eat ankles for breakfast. Just at the top, when all looked clear, the girl I was following, who had been setting a very nice and consistent pace, twisted her ankle pretty bad, but was able to keep going. :( I felt bad since there wasn't really anything I could do to help out.

Back in the parking lot area, I made a fairly slow transition to bike, and watched a few people I had been in front of head on out on their bikes as I was strapping my gear on. The bike route, followed the same route as the run but kept on going past the turn around to go on a wider, longer route. So we had the same rolling hills, except these suck more when I'm on a bike. :P This is where I got to see a bunch of guys on cyclocross bikes zoom right past me. Note to self: Work on hills. Hills, hills, hills.

The second half of the bike ride was where the rolling hills suddenly became longer, steeper, ruttier, more pitted, and completely covered in more of those dangerous ankle rocks and loose stones. Did I mention I need to work on those hills? I hated every single climb up. :P And then, on the worst hill, the biker in front of me took a fall and I had to dismount and walk the way up. Fortunately for the rider, he wasn't hurt, and fortunately for me, walking was actually helpful because my calves decided that'd be a great time to start cramping up on me. Not fun at all.

Just before T2 is one of the places I lost some places, when we were entering the parking lot area on bike, course volunteers were telling us to ease off the bike speed as runners were coming in against the bike traffic. Being the kind of guy I am, I of course slowed on down as I headed for the line, and watched in bewilderment as 3 guys zoomed by at full on sprint speed on their bikes! WTF?

T2 is the other spot I lost a few places, as i performed an amazingly slow exit out of my Velcro strapped bike shoes, and an even slower entry into my running shoes. I had sat down, and my body starts shaking and tells me "Joe. This is good. Sit a little longer. You don't need to go out for the run, you just did one a bit ago before you depleted me during the biking." The shakes were not very fun here. Fortunately for me, one of my good friends came along to help me out and got me some Powerade, which I had forgotten to put in the Transition area.

The second run phase followed the same course as the first run stage, so I knew exactly what to look forward to. Thankfully, I didn't lose any places on the second run which I was utterly amazed at, considering how the only thing I could think of was "Wow! Talk about moving at an old man shuffle! Come on Joe! Step it out! Just stretch that stride a little longer!" And then my knee with the ITB problem decided "Yeah... This is awesome, but ITB is is being a whiny little punk". I am thoroughly thankful, that it was only a minor pain, and not something that forced me to stop and walk.

And the finish. I finally, after almost the entire 2.5 miles of running, managed to catch the guy in front of me and pass him up in my usual "Joe as a gazelle sprint bounding to the finish" style. Overall, I think I can use a lot of work on the biking up hills portion, and the endurance bit as well. There was a guy I kept passing on the down and level parts, but would get passed by him on the uphill parts. Over all, I finished behind a few people who I out ran on both the first and second run, but lost the advantage during my slow biking phase. And lastly, multi-sport is completely awesome!

Especially when bacon is served afterwords!

My results:
Overall Placing: 23rd
Overall Time: 1:09:57
9th Place for my age group (30-39)
Fastest individual from Salem, again!

Phase 1, Run:
Placing: 16th
Time: 17:22 (6:57 mile average)

Phase 2, Bike:
Time: 31:06 (:16 mile average)

Phase 3, Run:
Time: 21:29 (8:36 mile average)

Down and Dirty Duathlon results for 2008