DESERT CLASSIC DUATHLON DUOVER

EARLY MORNING IN THE DESERT

The 2014 Desert Classic Duathlon was washed out, so TriSports out of Tucson automatically reentered everyone into the 2015 race held Sunday March 1.  Since I was reentered and the race is a mere 15 miles from my house in Scottsdale, why not?

The race is held in the McDowell Regional Park and consists of two 3.65 mile trail runs sandwiching either an on road bike or off road bike leg.  I chose the on road option of approximately 24 miles. The annual rainfall in the Phoenix metro area is about 7 inches/year, but when there is a hint of a storm the local media launch into overdrive.  In this case they were predicting that a major storm would start Saturday and rain through Monday with 100% probability.  They were wrong.  While the clouds threatened, the rain really didn't hit until Monday noon.

I had been slowly getting back into training but had worked back to only about 7 hours per week. Just enough to make such a race distance as the Desert Du feasible.  Most of those training hours were spent swimming, some biking, and a little running so I was appropriately apprehensive regarding the race, especially the run portions.  So I planned on "completing" the event not "racing" the event, something that is not natural for me.  I even chose to not wear a watch so that I would not get carried away.  I was wrong.

I started out on the run near the back and was holding my slow pace as planned until a guy with the number 68 on his calf went past me.  OK, why not try to stay in sight of him?  After a while I thought, OK why not pass him?  And that was the end of the "completing" versus "racing" strategy. Post race I found out that my split was 29:55, good enough for a 8:12 min/mile pace.  Not fast, but faster than my planned 9 min/mile pace.

FINISH LINE IN SIGHT

The on road bike leg exits the park and consists of two out and back legs with 1000 ft of elevation change.  The road is smooth and should be relatively fast.  I spent 9 minutes more than an hour on the bike, averaged 21 miles/hour, and expended an average of 191 watts doing so.  All numbers not exceptional.

Returning to the trail run my legs were ever so clumsy and with the reality setting in that I was indeed not "race" ready,  I chose to walk the rockier and steeper uphills.  My second run turned out to take 32:58, good enough to average a shade over 9 min/mile and stay ahead of the guy with 68 on his calf.

JUST THE TWO OF US

                                                                           
As an aside:  My total consumption during the race was 12 ounces of "Perform" sports drink. This is consistent with a cool and overcast day (60 degrees), and that the body muscles and blood naturally contain all the energy you need to compete for 2 hours.

Glad I did the race, knees are very sore.  Guess I have to put some more time into training as there is only 2 months until the St George Half.