Scotty Tris: Race Report: Heritage Park Duathlon

Background and Goals
This race wasn't on my calendar originally. One of my friends, coworker, and race buddy Kristen signed-up for our company's Duathlon for Kansas City Corporate Challenge. She had never completed a multi-sport race before. We were given the opportunity to participate in the Heritage Park Duathlon with a nice discount through the Corporate Challenge and our company. This was a good opportunity for Kristen to practice racing a duathlon before she had to do it in front of many of her co-workers. After some begging from Kristen (wasn't a lot), I agreed to race it as well.

I didn't think much about my goals for this race since it wasn't "part of the plan". So on Saturday I decided to go with:

2 Mile Run: 7:30 pace.
11.5 Mile Ride: 38 Minutes -- 17 mph
3 Mile Run: 7:30 pace.
Transitions: 3 Minutes

7:30 pace for the runs because I knew I could manage that from my previous two races. I figured I would be saving up for the bike ride and slow coming off the bike. As for the bike, I just threw a number in there. I haven't been spending very much time on the bike since I've focused on running, but I did throw down 62 miles during the week.

So I'm looking at 1:18 minutes.

Pre-Race
I'm pretty predictable. Banana followed by peanut butter on a toasted bagel. TKB has been having a problem with a sore ankle since Saturday morning and she elected not to make the trip. So I got into the truck and took off for the 40 minute drive down to Olathe. I arrived around 6:30 and found Kristen. She had already setup her transition and got marked up with numbers and letters. Nice!

The transition area had pre-assigned racks. Once I figured that out, I re-racked in position 509. Kristen and I took off for a warm-up run and a trip to the bathroom. Besides the bathroom at the dock, they had 7 port-a-pots. We staked out the transitions entrance and exits then off to the start line. It was odd not being at the beach at the start but knowing I didn't have a complicated first transition was nice.

Run #1 - 2 Miles
I hit a groove pretty quickly. The first mile was on the road around the lake and pretty flat. It then turns up an incline, but it's manageable. I noticed my pace was around 7:00 minute and just kept cruising because it felt "good". The second mile was a nice decline on the trail system and so I tried to take advantage without wearing out my legs. I knew I'd be running up this hill during the second run. Before I knew it we were in the transition area.

Time: 13:31 / 6:45 Pace

I was pretty pleased with this pace. In the back of my mind I really wanted to see it around 7 minutes and went past that.

Not sure why but the official results include T1 in the first run time, so this is my Garmin's time.

Bike - 11.5 Miles

This starts in the park and then hits Pflumm and turns south for a mile and a half. There are some nice rolling hills that are quite manageable if you have done your hill work. I had not. The course turns back into the park for some more rolling hills but you could really get some speed going on the downs. The last part of the course is on the same road that started the duathlon, near the lake.

The roads were in decent shape and I didn't have too much problem with overcrowding. There was one participant who seemed hell bent on passing people on the right. He was in a tri-suit and riding a tri bike, so I don't think it was his first rodeo. I will say it seemed dangerous as he'd fly by when you are not expecting him, utilizing the two feet of road to my right. I eventually got in front of him on the hills (he didn't work on hills much either, apparently) and got over so he had to pass me on the left just to see how much he really wanted to disobey the rules of the road (and USAT). Didn't see him again.

I took it a little easy on the first lap due to unfamiliarity of the course, I pushed it on the second lap, and pushed harder on the third except for the last mile. I tried to stretch out the legs a bit in preparation for the run and kept the RPMs up.

My mounts/dismounts were old school. I didn't try any flying dismounts/mounts so they were rather awkward.

Time: 34:51 /19.8 mph

19mph average? I'll take it. I definitely tried to take advantage of the downs. I guess it worked.

Run #2 - 3 Miles
Same as the first run. I got into a comfortable groove that I thought I could take for 3 miles, considering the impending hill. The first mile clicked off at 7:15. The hill really wasn't that bad, but it was a pretty constant incline and my second mile turned in at 7:30. Fortunately, I knew there was a nice downhill ahead of me and I tried to take advantage of it.

I had noticed during the run that I hadn't seen a lot of people in my age group. Many of the people I was passing (or being passed by) were doing the triathlon.

Once we hit the road by the lake (which was the opposite direction of the start), I tried to push it. I didn't want to leave anything on the course, naturally. 7:02 pace.

Outside of my splits, I hadn't looked at my watch at all. I saw the finish line clock ticking at 1:11. Nice! I knew I had smashed my run expectations but wasn't sure on the bike.

Time: 21:11 / 7:04 pace!!
Note: This is the time from the results and my splits above are from my watch. They don't quite average out correctly.

Post-Race
I picked up my finisher medal and had my photo taken. It was off to take in the post-race food (yogurt, chocolate milk, oranges, bananas, water, PowerAde, Pop were the options). I then waited for Kristen to finish who came flying in at 1 hour, 28 minutes! Great job Kristen!!!

We meandered around waiting for Jeff (Kristen's husband) to get back from his bike ride. He took off for a bike trail to ride while we were racing. Since the roads were closed for the bike, he couldn't come back until after 9am.

In the mean time I saw that they posted some of the results so I walked over and, to my amazement, I got SECOND in my age group! I have never made the podium in any race, small or large!

Kristen in the background. She always has to get in the photos somehow.

Time: 1:11:42
Overall: 15 / 60
Age Group: 3 / 6 (the guy who got first in my age group received 2nd overall, so he wasn't eligible for the age group award, that's why I got bumped up to second).

Proof