2002 - 7:23/0:58/54:24/1:10/36:34 - 1:40:26 (8/37 AG)
2000 - 7:20/1:04/51:43/1:24/34:40 - 1:36:09 (16/64 AG)

Splits:

7:23 - 18/37 AG 3:42/km
54:24 - 6/37 AG 33.1 kph
36:34 - 13/37 AG 4:35/km

Too long, boring, self-indulgent race report:

It was a beautiful day to compete in a duathlon. Although very windy, the wind was warm and it was all sunshine. The Milton Tri/Du is set up such that all heats of the triathlon are sent off before the Du starts. This is great for the triathletes, bad for the duathletes who are strong cyclists as we have to pass through lots of slower AG triathletes during the bike leg.

My strategy was fairly simple. As this was a "C" race, I thought:

(a) R1 - Steady. Fast, but no burn out allowed.
(b) B - Steady for the first half, hard 2nd half.
(c) R2 - No repeat of the Brick Du. Steady to start building to hopefully 4:30/km or better then hold.

I believe I executed my game plan to a tee.

R1 - The "2km" course is really a joke. It's probably closer to 1.7-1.8km. I would assume I ran around 4:15/km pace through a run in a park. The run is up and down with no flat stretches and I was happy coming into transition in 7:23 with about half the field in front of me, and half behind me. I was only 3 seconds slower than 2 years ago when I remember going full out on that section.

T1 - Very brisk. Not a wasted second. Can't do it much faster getting from A to B. Cut 6 seconds off my time from 2 years ago. Transitioned much faster than those around me.

B1 - Solid north wind really hurt the field for the first half of the race which was directly into the wind. I hit my lap button at the halfway point (15km) and it registered 31:01 for a 29kph average. After the turnaround and with the wind now at my back, I flew through the rest of the course doing the 2nd half in 23:23 (for a 38.5 kph avg on the way back)! The topography of the course also helped as it was rolling uphill to the turnaround, and rolling downhill (of course!) on the way back. On the biggest downhill I hit 79kph ... a new record for me. With some breathers on the way back, I mentally focussed on not having a letdown in T2 and getting up to speed asap on R2.

T2 - Razor sharp again. Took a few extra seconds to get a pop of gel for the run. Lopped 14 seconds off my time from 2 years ago.

R2 - Much like the bike course, the run course is also uphill to start until the turnaround, then back downhill to the finish. The first km is through the park with lots of rollers. As such, it was hard getting the legs moving but I managed to get down to 5 min/km pace pretty easily. kms 2 and 3 were mentally tough as it involved some uphill trail running. But after that I got into the groove and was able to get my pace up to around 4:30/km. My splits were:

4:51.6
4:56.3
5:13.6 (some brutal trail running)
4:52.1
4:40.6
4:28.8
4:32.1
2:58.3 (obviously short - was told around 750m or so)

Overall - Great workout. I stayed focused the entire day, and stuck to my game plan and didn't try to drag race the bike leg even when my adrenalin really wanted me to. I was very pleased with my 2nd run. I kept my head in the game and brought the splits down to where I want my Muskoka run splits to average. Good day.

Addedum - Comparison with 2000

I've included my 2000 times for this race just for fun. It's interesting that with another 2 years of excellent triathlon training my overall time was more than 4 minutes slower.

I think I can attribute this to a number of factors:

(1) 2 years ago I had just come off a deep base of running training for the Marine Corps Marathon. Hence, my foot speed was a little better than it is now trying to train 3 sports + weights.

(2) I tapered for this race in 2000. I believe I had the Friday off and an easy 30 min bike Saturday. This year I did a 1.5 hour bike in the AM then a 1.5 hour swim in the afternoon.

(3) There was not a wind in 2000 like there was this year. Sure, it was beautiful after the turnaround, but you never seem to make up lost time heading back after starting into the wind.

(4) I had 20% more of my right lung 2 years ago :).

All the best,

Clive

<<Back to Race Reports Home