Friday, March 1, 2013

The First Race of the Season....

....and it could get ugly.....    .....the Cary Duathlon (short course) is just around the corner on March 9th!   



It's very early in the season, but I'm kind of excited that "race time" is back with us again.   In no small part because of the water temperatures, the first local triathlons don't typically take place until later in April and early May, but there are a host of running and dualthlon (running and biking) races kicking into gear now that it's March.  (Gulp!   Can it really be March already???).

North Carolina early season open water swims could be worse I guess.......

I did the Cary Duathlon back in 2011 as a fun training session and I will be approaching it the same way this year.   I opted for the short course event, which comprises a 2.5 mile run, followed by 17.5 miles on the bike and another 2.5 mile run.  The race is part of the 3 City Duathlon Series sponsored by Inside Out Sports.

Back in 2011 this was only the third race I had done (after my first two - the Outer Banks Sprint Triathlon and Lake Logan Sprint the previous Fall).   I was still pretty slow and I remember being particularly slow on the second run leg!   My splits were:

Run 1.    20:47    (~8:15 pace)
T1.         00:38
Bike.      58:48    (~18.1 mph)
T2.         00:48
Run 2,    22:34    (~9:05 pace)

Total:   1:24:32.5

I think I finished 35th overall male and 6th in my age group.

As far as I can tell the rolling bike course is the same this year, but the run course is a bit different, so it will be difficult to make direct comparisons (of course the weather won't be the same either!) but I'm keen to see how I compare this time around. 

Rumor has it that Flipper Ass will be racing the long course and that Compass and Snort will be coming to cheer us on, complete with cow bells and bottles of liquor....    that scene could get ugly quickly!  The early morning hour is unlikely to slow those two professionals!......

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