Du Nationals Recap

This weekend Claire and I headed down to the deep south along with our personal race assistant(my dad) for Elite Du Nationals. The race was held in conjunction with Powerman Alabama's multi-sport weekend on the same course as the Powerman Duathlon. Right off the bat I have to say that the Powerman course was hands down the best course I have ever raced on. The course has EVERYTHING: beautiful scenery, smooth roads, challenging hills, off-road running, world class race organizers and phenomenal volunteers. If you're looking for a “destination” race Birmingham might not excite you. But if you're looking for one of the most fun, challenging races you'll ever do then sign up for Powerman immediately. And I do mean challenging, two days after the race I'm still having trouble walking up and down stairs because my quads are so sore.

Leading into the race I maintained confidence that I would do well. I had a very tough run at Clermont a few weeks ago, but had felt strong on the bike. After the last 10 years of racing I know how important it is to have confidence in yourself leading into a race. No matter how fit you are, you're going to get to a point where that voice in your head tells you that you can't keep it up, and if you have doubts about yourself you can fall apart mentally. Having said that, it is still only March, and the only run workout I've done this year was a couple of hill repeats, and I only did that once.

After getting some advice from my unofficial mentor Kevin O'Connor, I decided to go out with the leaders and have a great race or blow up catastrophically. No reason to travel all the way to Alabama to play it safe and put out a so-so race.

The men's field was fairly small and the first 10k immediately split up the group. Josh Merrick, Ryan Giuliano and I went out hard and came into T1 with a nice lead. I found out after the race that Giuliano hasn't been able to keep any food down for a week because of a stomach virus, which make his 5^th place finish A-mazing. The run was great. The course was always up and down steep hills and included a winding off-road section of just under a mile. I love trail running and felt right at home on the course.

After jumping on the bike in the lead I kept the hammer down to try and preserve a lead heading into the second run. After the race I was surprised to see that I had the 3^rd fastest bike split. Nothing beats a Gear West bike fit and I think I have a relative aero advantage because of my narrow shoulders. I only posted a 1:01:02 bike split but averaged 283 watts for the ride. 283 watts isn't a lot for an elite, but I only weigh 151 pounds, so it's just over 4watts/kg. My best race watts last year was Lifetime where I averaged 279, and I was 4 or 5 pounds heavier then. I'm really looking forward to posting some good bike splits this season.

After coming off the bike in 1^st I gritted my teeth and ran the last 5k as hard as I could, managing a 2^nd best 17:12 5k. There's no training like racing hard! Crossing the line in first was really big for me. After quitting my “real” job at Target and moving back in with my dad sometimes I wonder if I'm wasting my time. But, Gear West is a better job anyways and the hard work is paying off. This weekend was encouraging. Now it's time to start putting in some real mileage to get ready for the rest of the season! 

 Wish me luck! Next race is St. Anthony's Tri on April 29^th.

Results:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/Hedgecock_Arthur_win_Du_Nationals_2660.html

http://www.usatriathlon.org/news/articles/2012/3/032512-elite-duathlon.aspx

The Most Fun I've Had in a Race

  This weekend I raced the age group draft legal race at the Clermont Challenge. It was a short trip down to Florida and back. I arrived in Orlando at 2:45 on Friday afternoon and flew back out at 6:30 the next day. Even with the quick turnaround I had a great time.

  The race on Saturday was unlike anything I've ever done. I lined up with 75 other people, much more than the 20-30 that I'm used to. The swim was very physical. Most of the guys were at least decent swimmers because of the draft legal style of racing, and I swam over a few people, a few people swam over me, I choked down a lot of water and got kicked in the face. I came out of the water 42^nd, still a lot of work to do there.

  The bike was the highlight of the race. The wind was up very strong, and the field split into a lot of smaller groups of 5-10 guys. There were 3 laps to the bike, each one an out and back, so I could see exactly where I was plenty of times. I started hammering and was lucky enough to get a paceline going with 4 or 5 other pretty strong riders and we made up most of the time I'd lost in the swim. Kevin threw himself into the bike and we finished right on the tail end of the main leaders. Racing in a pace-line is more fun than any racing I've ever done. The difference in effort between pulling and drafting is shocking at race speed and it was a blast every time I got to tuck in behind somebody and soft pedal at 25mph. We were encouraging each other the entire time to keep catching people and our "train" rolled up almost the entire field.

  The run was hot. Incredibly hot. The heat index was in the mid- 90's and it was a shock after Minnesota, but I loved it. People started to drop out left and right by the end of the run. I found out in transition that I had a 15 second penalty (I jumped onto my bike a step early and got a mount line penalty) that I had to serve... during the race. So after lap 1 of the run I stopped in the penalty box, awkwardly waited for 15 seconds and then took off. It was a pain, but I don't think I'll ever jump on my bike early ever again.

  Overall I got my butt kicked, and ended up 5^th in 1:03.18 to the winner's 1:02.14. I don't mind though. There were a surprising number of fast guys there and working out up here in the snow hasn't even been on my mind. I feel good about pre-season fitness and feel ready to start serious training for the season. Up next: Elite Duathlon Nationals at Powerman Alabama on my 25^th birthday, March 24^th.