This morning the gang (my dad Todd, my girlfriend Claire, but not my mom Amy this time, and I) headed out to Square Lake Park for the Cinco Du Mayo Duathlon. We all live in Forest Lake, so it was a quick 20 minute drive out into Minnesota’s rolling countryside for my third duathlon ever. We pulled into the park and I set up my transition spot and just waited around and listened to the pre-race music being played over the PA system. At about 8:10 (50 minutes until my 9:00 start time) I went to change into my Team USA tri suit. But wait… The zipper to my bag was open and my tri suit was nowhere to be seen! Panicking, I retraced my steps from the car and checked my transition spot. Nothing. So we called my mom and of course it was laying on the steps at home… Nice. My dad drove home and back to get it and I was able to change into my suit about 5 minutes before my start. Thanks dad!
I lined up at the start for the “2 mile” – 10 mile – “2 mile” run. Why are these in quotes? I’ll explain later on. I was at the front of the line with a couple of other guys. The race director made a few comments and then “READY… GOOOO!” We took off and I got out to a quick lead. We went up the hill out of the park, and started on the “2 mile” out and back run that had a slight hill in the middle. The day before my dad and I drove the course, so I knew exactly where 1 mile from the start line was supposed to be. I got there… But no turn around was in sight. I looked back and had about a 50 yard lead so I just kept running. A minute or two later I got to the turn around, preceded to turn around, and ran back into the park.
T1 was ok but nothing spectacular. I ran into the park with a 30 second lead or so, put my shoes on, and did a flying mount at the line.
The bike is notoriously hilly out here but I didn’t think the ride was that bad. I kept a fast pace when I was on the flats, obviously I was slow on the big hills, and I got into my biggest gear and peddled hard on the downhills. The guy behind me was a strong rider and a good climber, but I kept the 30 second gap pretty consistently. In the middle of the race the course was very wooded and curvy, so I wasn’t able to look back and see where anyone else was. With about a mile left I got caught, but it was a different guy then the one who was 30 seconds behind me for a while. We went back and forth into the park, and he ended up crossing the dismount line about two feet in front of me.
I had a really fast T2 and put about 10 seconds between myself and the guy who caught me.
The second run was slower than the first, predictably, but I actually felt strong during it and I got into a good groove. I looked back a lot but the guy behind me wasn’t gaining any ground and it looked like he was losing some at points. I had to keep my self mentally positive with thoughts like “Claire is here, I cant just quit here”, “I want that win”, “I have a good kick if I need it”, and “I want that fiesta basket for winning”. Once I reached the turnaround I knew for the first time for sure that I was going to win. I ran hard and kicked it good into the park, and I crossed the line with the overall win for the short course!! That’s two wins in two races!
Now, here are just some finishing notes that I didn’t know how to work into my story:
- I got first overall in the short course, so I did get that fiesta basket at the awards ceremony.
- During the awards the race director said that the turnaround was .22 miles longer than it was advertised to be. So, each run was 2.44 miles, not 2, and that means that the whole course was .88 miles (on the run portion) longer than last year. This really makes me mad, because A) who cant measure a mile?? and B) why would they not tell people this before the race?? and C) they didn’t adjust for it in the overall results so my mile pace was like 7:40 in the results.
- My time was 59:08, but I’ll adjust my splits for the distance the race actually was…
- Run 1: 6:00/mile for 2.44 miles
- Bike: 21.5 mph for 10 miles, or 27:54.
- Run 2: 6:21/mile for 2.44 miles.
Overall I had a fun race, I won it wire-to-wire, and I was able to “comfortably push” the whole thing. I’m definitely ahead of where I was a year ago, and I have a few weeks of no racing and hard training until my next tri. Thanks for all the support from my family and girlfriend, and I hope I can keep improving throughout the year!
Mitchell Clayton Triathlon 