Cartersville Duathlon
2013 Cartersville Duathlon Race Report (5k/17mi/5k). Forgive me, I'm an engineer, not a writer so this won't be witty or anything
First some history
I haven't done any swimming this year even though the swim is my best of 3 so I've been hold off on the tri's but I decided to jump in this duathlon a few weeks ago for some fun. I haven't been doing any outseason structured program since October of last year. I had a good Half Marathon in November on a tough course and then wound it down because on 12/9 my lovely Mrs gave birth to our first child. A beautiful little girl named Ellie (picture to come later). I pick up some running in February and started back on the bike in March. I did use some of my EN knowledge and made sure to factor in some Threshold/hard intevals but the total mileage etc was relatively low. So going into this I didn't have a lot of expectations just wanted to have some fun and have a nice Z4 training day.
Obligatory Ellie Picture
On to race day
Woke up at 4:15 am after a restless nights sleep that I've come to expect. Got a cup of coffee and started to wake up. 5:00 am got myself 1.5 cups of Apple sauce and ate one of my wifes Special K cinnamon breaks bar thingys (100 cal) just to have something solid in the stomach. Made two bottles of Ironman perform, one for the bike and one to sip on the way. Got all my stuff together, usual pre-race stuff and hopped in the car for the 45 minute drive.
Arrived at the race site, set everything up, yawn, boring boring boring
First 5k
The main thing about my race today is that I looked at ZERO data. I just went by feel alone. I let numbers get in my head sometimes so I just wanted to see what the body felt like doing. I turned my 910xt on and turned it inside my wrist. Did my 2 mile warmup and then got ready to go. Gun fired at 7:33 and all the men were off and I watched a WHOLE lot of people run off in front of me. My first thought was I must be doing this right, or going really slow, maybe a touch of both. Trucked through the first mile and then found myself starting to pick off some of the guys in front of me. Pace felt the same and breathing was slow and easy. Carried on a conversation with some of the guys and joked about how fast the front guys were. Finished up nice and easy and then on to the bike
Final Run tally (according to my watch, didn't know this data until afterwards)
3.1 miles in 22:55
Mile 1: 7:22
Mile 2: 7:28
Mile 3: 7:19
This was a bit faster than I had planned in my head but not using a watch etc I was just going by feel and felt good. For reference the threshold pace I have been using is 7:42 for my vdot intervals. I swagged a 5k pace to get those numbers. I normally have a pretty good idea of what i can run.
Transition 1 1:23
Transition went fine, I'm normally pretty quick because I just put my helmet on and change shoes and I'm off.
Bike Leg 17 miles in 47:25 ~21 mph
Bike course was a nice rolling hills course with nice roads. I was about mid pack getting on the bike and quickly started to pick people off. I wasn't riding hard, just what I felt was comfortable and I kept some force on the pedals. I did pick it up a couple of times to pass groups of folks which was a theme, quite a few "packs" of riders but I don't let that stuff bother me, I'm not going to win anyways so I just do my thing and try to ride correcty. Passed quite a few folks throughout the course and never got out of breath. Just a good solid push
Based on a 230W FTP which is low I believe
TSS 72.3
NP 221
VI 1.07
IF .96
Transition 2
43 seconds, nothing exciting here, shoe swap, helmet off. I don't wear sunglasses typically so nothing to mess with
5k #2 23:00
Took off out of transition and the crowd was very light. As I exited the park I saw the race leading coming in to celebrate victory, nobody else was in sight behind him. At least I finished the bike before he finished the 2nd 5k. First mile out felt ok, had no idea of my pace just focused on high turnover and trying to stay light on my feet. Cruised up the little hill after mile one and recovered a bit and just kept trucking. Course is pretty flat and I had a target about 50 yards in front of me that I was pacing off of thinking I would try and close the gap as I got closer to the 3 mile mark. Miles 2 and 3 got harder and deep into the 3rd mile I knew there wasn't much left. I thought I was picking up the pace but still had some gas so why not use it all. Ended up catching my rabbit and held off a couple guys trying to do the same thing to me by kicking a little early to put some distance on them
Final Tally
Mile 1: 7:30
Mile 2: 7:14
Mile 3: 7:13
Final .1: 6:18 pace
Final Results Posted
3rd in AG on the bike and identical run splits
| Place | No | Code | Name | Sex | Run1 | Pace | T1 | Bike | Rate | T2 | Run2 | Pace | Penalty | Time |
| 8 | 46 | Gambrell, Jamie |
M | 22:57 | 7:25 | 1:07 | 47:45 | 21.4 | 0:41 | 22:57 | 7:25 | 1:35:35.20 |
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