Sadly this year there aren`t very many duathlons, though there is a new one in Baddeck that might be interesting. So I did not want to miss the first, Navy Tridents at Shearwater.
I really like this event, with its traditionally fast run and bike course, but this year due to some logistics, the course had to have major changes. When I first heard of them I wasn`t too sure what to expect, but you have to sign up and go for it to find out.
Of course I am also fighting my Achilles issue still, though it is getting so much better. Coming into this race I had been running 5 days a week, though nothing very long (3-4 km runs each day). I knew I could still run fast, but had no idea what sort of pace I could hold. And my cycling had fallen away a bit as well. Sitting in a time trial position pulled my hamstrings which put pressure on the Achilles. So I had been on the bike, but in the last few weeks, most rides were on the easier side.
Race day came and I arrived at site to a full transition. Of course most of those bikes were for the triathlon that was happening at the same time. Our group was small, but there was some great competition among the guys.
So after a brief meeting to explain the new course we lined up to start the first run.
Not wanting to overstress my Achilles from the start, I took off at a comfortable pace. That immediately sent me to the lead. From that point on I decided to go by feel, comfortably hard and not crazy. The route was pretty twisty and hilly and was comprised of 2 loops. I led the first run from start to finish, and finished in a time of 16:35. Now I wish that really was a full 5 km with that time, but really the course was a few hundred meters short. Regardless I felt good and had a 43 second lead over second place.
Onto the bike and what was a twisty, tight and hilly course with 5 loops of just under 4km each. Wow, that was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. As expected Greg caught me by the end of the first loop. he is just too good of a cyclist. I was still holding my own though and hoped I had enough of a lead over Kevin. If I could stay ahead of him long enough, my second run would be too much for him.
I didn't see him until the end of loop three, where I caught him in the distance. Not knowing how fast he was going, I pushed hard and by the end of loop 5 Kevin finally caught up to me. As he passed with less than 500m to go, he just said "Too late now." I felt good and tucked in to a safe distance behind him, not worrying too much about him pulling a lead. By the dismount line we were still together.
I dismounted with an average speed of 31.8 km, which I was okay with. I know there was speed left on the table but that' was fine.
A quick change (after forcing my bike back into the rack due to a lack of space) and I was out on the run course. I just had to find enough oomph to stay ahead of Kevin as I knew Greg was too far ahead and the final run of 2.5 km was not going to be nearly enough.
By the time I saw Greg I had eaten a huge chunk of time back, but still it was never going to be enough. I stayed ahead of Kevin no problem and crossed the line in second place with a time of 1:04:56, 34 seconds off of Greg and a final run time of 10:38 (almost 1.5 minutes faster but again too short of a run).
Second overall with my lack of training and not pushing too hard to hurt my Achilles, and I am really happy with that. By the next day my Achilles felt fine as well. So I know it is healing up just fine.
Next up is the Ingonish Olympic Distance Triathlon. I can't wait.
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