OC Duathlon: Wake up Legs!!

Last Thursday I made the decision that I was feeling healthy enough to line up at the OC Duathlon on Saturday. My IT band still isn't right, but at least its feeling a little bit better and I'm running with less discomfort. The problem is, with all the exercises I've been doing at PT to strengthen the stabilizer muscles in my knees and hips, I've had some extra muscle fatigue the last few weeks. Still, since this is probably my last multi-event race for a while, I decided to give it a go.

The race was 5k run/38 k bike/5k run. Gun time was 7 a.m. so I had to get up extra-early for my pre-race routine (4:45 a.m.). Heather (ran the 5k) and I got there extra early around 5:45 so I'd have time to get a good transition spot and get a good warm-up in. After a 2 mile warm-up, I ended up waiting in the bathroom line until 6:55 and had to rush to put on my racing flats and Alcatraz tri-shirt. Run #1 went out way too quick. The first 1.5 miles rolls down hill and some kid decided to take it out a little too fast. Since I haven't done anything quick in a while, I had no sense of pace and went with him. We came through the first two miles at 4:44 and 9:41, then I decided that was too quick and I should slow down, unfortunately a mile too late. I cruised home the third mile in 5:50 and ran the first 5k in about 16:10. If this was an even-paced 5k, that would have been fine, but the first two miles completely drained my legs.

My transition on to the bike was excellent (about 40 seconds), and I made up some ground on the first three miles out towards Santiago Canyon Road. About four miles out at the top of the hill I started rolling downhill at what I thought were good speeds of 30-39 m.p.h. To my surprise, over the next 5 miles, six guys blew by me like I was standing still, probably doing about 45 during the downhill stretches. I was in top gear and my legs just weren't firing like they normally do (nothing close to Alcatraz). I also paid $20 to demo a pair of Zipp 404's from Surf City Cyclery that probably worked great, except my legs were dead, so who really knows. My quads and hamstrings also starting tightening up a bit and I think subconsciously I didn't want to push through that soreness and set back my recovery any more. The one positive on the bike is I was able to eat and digest an orange GU (energy drink) without any side effects on my stomach, something I may try and do for the marathon. I struggled home on the bike in 61 minutes and in 10th place (note: 3 years ago I did this same ride in 58 minutes). I had another good transition on to the run and tried to go pass as many people as I could on the 2nd run.

I had a mediocre 2nd 5k, passing two guys in 16:39. It went by really quick and again I really didn't go into overdrive because I didn't have many guys within passing range, and I didn't want to do any further damage to my IT band. The final result wasn't terrible, 1:35.44 (2nd M25-29), but I finished this event 2 minutes faster in 2007. Heather and I hung around long enough to pick up my age group award (plus a nice pair of sun glasses), then took off and passed out for the rest of the day.

I dragged Rachel out for a 4 mile recovery run today, then cashed in my 2nd massage that I won at the Spirit Run in March. Back to rehab tomorrow and no more racing until mid-June. 33 miles for the week, hopefully back above 40 next week.