Greenville Duathlon Race Report

My stoke level increased by a factor of at least 10 this past weekend, as the 2012 race season is officially here!  I’ve been following the early season pro race reports on Slowtwich.com for a couple of weeks, but the upcoming triathlon season became much more tangible for me on Saturday when I hopped in the FS Series Greenville Duathlon.  The different races put on by the FS Series crew are ALWAYS well thought out events.  I was excited to be there, and I’ve been ready to mix it up with local competition to see just where my fitness stands.

The weather in central North Carolina on Saturday morning looked to be a little more than questionable, but we lucked out on race morning.  The duathlon was largely unaffected by the storm clouds that hung thick and dark just above our heads.  The first leg of the race was a two loop, three mile off road run covering the high school cross country course at Boyd Lee Park.  Dirt path, soccer field, cinder trail, and even a few feet of sidewalk; we covered it all as rain threatened overhead. 

With the relatively short nature of the race, my plan was get out with the lead pack, and press on hard without much concern for pacing.  Off the gun I got out front quickly with two other dudes I wasn’t familiar with.  It wasn’t  long at all before one of these two put :15 seconds into me and Dude #2, and he ran comfortably up ahead while Dude 2 and I pressed on behind.  Dude 2 turned out to be Richard Bailey, a Triangle Multisport-Inside Out Sports Triangle Tri Team member I hadn’t met yet.  I immediately learned that Richard is a) FIT, and b) a competitor.  We jockeyed hard and banged elbows for position on the trail for two miles before RB made a move and pulled away in the last 1k.

When I hit T1 Dude 1 was already through, but with a quick transition I still had contact with Richard as we got out on the bike course.  I tend to be a ‘second half’ rider, usually getting a little stronger the longer the bike leg lasts, as it takes me a few miles to find a rhythm.  This is certainly not something I consider a strength, and working on bike strength will continue to be a priority.  I wasn’t particularly concerned with RB pulling slowly away from me early in the bike leg- although it turns out I definitely should have been!  I’ve always thought the FS Series guys put a lot into course design, and the Greenville Du was no exception.  The 14 mile bike course was on smooth country roads, and was set up to be fast.  I pressed on pretty hard, feeling good about my bike legs that morning.  I rolled into T2 having averaged just a touch under 24 mph for the 14 mile bike split, but RB and Dude 1 had each put 2 minutes into me- which was not at all insignificant in a short course race.

I blasted out of T2 with another pretty good transition (usually not a strong area for me) and resigned myself to running at absolutely max effort for the 1.5 mile run leg to see if I could get back in the mix with the two ahead of me.  I was pleased with my run, I felt strong and poised from a full winter’s worth of interval running that Coach Dave and Triangle Multisport have pushed me through.  In the end, it wasn’t in the cards, and I never had contact with 1^st or 2^nd place, who were much stronger on the day.  I crossed the line in 3^rd with a time of 1:03:07, a full three minutes behind Glen Thompson and Richard Bailey.

I headed back to Carrboro Saturday afternoon pretty happy with the experience- great event, great competition, and a great race pace effort banked for future battles.  Congratulations to all finishers, and a big thanks to FS Series, the race volunteers, Triangle Multisport, and Inside-Out Sports for sponsoring the event.  Race results can be found here.