A missed oppurtunity at the 2011 Holloman duathlon- a race report

Greg Southard,Patricia Miller, and I post race awards ceremony

This is a picture of my triathlon machine with more than enough room for my bike, 2 pair of race wheels, 3 bags of gear, a lunch box, & a bed for me to sleep in.

Today I raced in the 2011 Holloman duathlon. This was my 69th multisport race & my 16th duathlon. The Holloman duathlon is one of my favorite races because it's the fastest course I've ever raced! The RD's are usually pretty horrible, but I'll always compete in this race because of how fast & flat it is. There's not a single hill, incline or decline of any sort on this entire course. Flat flat flat!

The Holloman duathlon is usually a cherry picker race, but apparently no one got that memo. Out of the 53 athletes who showed up all but a couple were experienced and fast, including the 2010 national duathlon champion Jason Atkinson.

Before I blog about my race, I have to explain some of the things leading up to it to better explain what I didn't do on the course today.

I got sick a few days before the race. The worst of it hit the on Saturday, the day before the duathlon. I'm not sure if it was just from my illness, or in combination with something else, but I was having really bad asthma issues. Triathlon training has strengthened my lungs to the point where I rarely have issues with my asthma. I've only had a few asthma attacks in the 6 years I've been training. The night before my race my asthma was so bad I kept waking up wheezing & coughing.

On Saturday , the day before the race I had one of the worse days I'd had in a very long time. I'll spare you the details, just know I was physically & emotional drained. I slept in my van the night before the race approximately 2 miles from the race start. That was awesome. I got to sleep a little longer because I didn't have to load all my equipment from the hotel room to my car & drive a long way to race start. I woke up at 6 am, & was at the transition area by 6:10.

It was a 5k run/ 30k bike format. The wind is usually blowing really bad at this race. There was no wind at all today, & the temperature was perfect! It doesn't get any better weather for racing than what there was this morning!

Like I said before, the run is flat. At the half way point I realized 3 things. 1) my asthma wasn't bothering me at all.
2) the course was a little longer than the scheduled 5k.
3) I was having a REALLY fast run! Probably fast enough to set a run PR.

By the 3/4 mark of the run I started to make up ground on Val Ramirez who a super fast guy who's in my age group.

I finished the run, which ended up being a 3.28 mile run in 23 minutes 26 seconds. I PR'd the run! My best run before today was at the Chick-Fil-A triathlon last year. At the Chick-Fil-A triathlon I weighed 186 pounds & ran an average of a 7 minute 20 second mile for the 5k. Today I weighed in at 199 pounds & I still ran a 7 minute 6 second pace!!!!

On the bike I started out feeling great. My legs still felt fresh and my HED3/ disk combo was working like a dream! I was cutting through the course like a fat guy at a buffet line! By the 10k mark I just kind of gave up. I'm not the type of person who usually gives up. I was having a stellar race, but a bunch of negative thoughts & feelings started running through my head & they ended up getting the best of me. I ended up finishing the 18.74 mile bike in a time of 54 minutes 7 seconds. I kept a 20.8 mile bike average even though I had stopped pushing myself. I still ended up doing pretty well, but I know now that I messed up big time. If I would have continued pushing myself like I normally do I'd of had the single best race of my life! I pr'd the race by a minute and a half, finishing in a time of1 hour 17 minutes 33 seconds. I finished in 4th place in my AG. All three of the guys who beat me ran sub 7 minute miles & finished the bike 90 seconds faster than me, which means they biked for a 22+ mph average. FAST DUDES in my AG this year!

After the race I was pretty down on myself & Brooks, Rob, & John did everything within their power to raise my spirits. They did, & I'm so grateful. I love triathlon not just because of the sport, but because of the people I race with. God blessed me fully when he got me into the great sport of triathlon & allowed me to meet such great friends.