Big Sky Duathlon 2006

www.racingunderground.com This was my 1st race since ! jacked up my foot on 5.6.6. The foot has been taped up and !’ve been eating calcium tablets all that time. Calcium helps with cramping like sodium and potassium. ! had been cramping some on training runs and perhaps it was partially due to insufficient calcium. So, after 33 days (4 on crutches) ! took a test run Friday night. ! went 1 mile wearing the trail runners and a lot of tape on the foot. ! was thinking that most of the discomfort ! was having was from the tape restricting movement, but ! really didn’t know if that was correct or just wishful thinking. A month should be enough to fix a minor chip or it could be “just about there” and running on it could snap it. One mile took me 8:31. It felt odd at first then got to be less odd. ! hit 1 mile and walked the last 2 blocks home. The calves were cramping. ! got on the couch and put my foot up. It seems to be ok. Just lack of training. ! loaded the monster truck and set the alarm so ! could be out in Bennett about 7am. My DNF (Did Not Finish) was packed and ready to go. Any disturbing pain etc. and Tommy and Emma get another race T. It’s a long drive out there and ! wasn’t quite in the race mood. If ! snapped it, another month of rehab would cost me 5430 Sprint, Loveland Lake-to-Lake and USAT Nationals not to mention any chance at a halfway decent finish in two ½ Ims this year. It’s a big risk. Most of the people ! knew were racing the Elite class. One led the men into T1 and 2 of the women led into T1 @ Barkin’ Dog. Elites went off first then 30 seconds ‘til the 2nd wave. ! was in the 3rd wave that started 9:30 later and then wave D, 12 minutes behind me. ! was unsure if ! could even run 2.5 miles w/out cramping up. ! started and felt ok. No warm-up. Not far into the run we hit the dirt path section. It’s about 2 blocks long and non-technical. Still it was worrisome since turning an ankle could be worse than normal. ! stayed on the smoothest part both laps. It was tough. Steve Lynn managed to get past me about 1k in. He didn’t open a gap very fast until my pace started slowing. High 9 minute pace. ! crossed the line into T1 and walked/limped to my bike. ! could see Steve already out on the main road and nearly up to full speed. Other than the walking, transition went fairly well. Once across the bike mount line ! struggled to clip in. ! just couldn’t find my pedals. In the midst of that a girl called me by name to encourage me. ! glanced up just enough to see some pink T-Mobile kit, but was too focused on getting clipped in to recognize her. ! had no idea who would be out there not racing who would know me. ! got in and started the ride. It felt like a tail wind and ! was only managing about 20 mph. !’ve detrained a lot in the last month. 20 mph is fairly fast. ! managed 70th overall on the ride leg out of over 200. ! wasn’t far out when ! saw the lead motorcycle coming back. ! had hoped to be a little closer than that. The fastest ride averaged almost 30 mph. That’s part of the reason !’m not in the Elite group. ! started seeing the people ! knew. They are mostly runners and IronMen so the bike wouldn’t be their best leg. The miles just weren’t passing quickly enough. ! couldn’t seem to get power. Part of that was due to my attitude coming into the race. ! got to the turnaround and headed back. The tailwind had actually been a bit of a headwind so ! really managed to pick up the pace. Still, ! only managed to catch the slowpokes on hybrids and mountain bikes and not even all of them. Back into T2 and the legs were on the verge of cramping again. The foot was feeling not so good. Still ! put my shoes on and hit the course. 2 more laps. My pace was slower than before, but ! wanted to run the whole course. Coming onto the dirt section Al passed by. He started in my wave and was on his 2nd lap over a mile ahead of me. And he’s old. Sunny Gilbert was hanging out by the water table already done. She’s a coach for a team of beginners and was cheering for them. Second lap ! saw her doing a cool down run and then Jocelyn and her boyfriend. There was one guy 30 feet ahead of me as we turned off to the last 3 blocks to the finish. One block, ! wasn’t gaining. Two blocks, his gap was the same. One to go and it was on dirt with a sharp turn before the last straight. ! lengthened my strides and picked up the pace. He wasn’t going to beat me w/out a fight. He must hear my breathing. !’m gaining rapidly now. 150 yards to go, 5 yards to the loose corner. !’m past him. Will he answer? Will ! be able to hang on? Will ! make the turn w/out falling? No answer. It’s too close to the finish to slow down. If he attacked there would be no time to respond so ! kept up the charge. He never changed his pace. Must have thought ! was on of the fast guys from the wave behind him and he had no chance. Why do people just give up like that? He still had a shot. When ! accelerated the foot pain went away. One would expect it to have gotten worse w/ the increased pounding, but it didn’t. ! finished in the usual way. Gasping for breath. ! need to learn to push that intensity for the whole race instead of just the end. After a couple minutes ! could breathe again and Darin was posting results so far. 95th overall. That kind of sucked. ! have been getting used to top 20-30% and this wasn’t anywhere near that out of 200 racers. Wait, it gets worse. Remember wave D started 12 minutes after me. By the time ! saw the final results it seems that entire wave finished in the next 10 minutes. ! slipped to 113th overall. 1:28:23 was my worst time ever in this race. Four minutes slower than my 1st attempt back in y2k. 11:33 slower than my best time in 2004 about a month prior to breaking my leg. My best time would have gotten me 46th overall and 7th in my age group this year. Y2k 1:24:23. ‘2 1:23:10. ‘3 1:19:17. ‘4 1:16:50. ‘5 1:19:24. Pretty disappointing w/ all the running ! had been doing all winter and spring. Not @ all what ! had hoped to manage this year. Maybe next year !’ll put it all together finally.