This is the race I have been unknowingly training for since this past December. My Goal for this year was to qualify for the USA World Duathlon Team. I went to the first qualifier of the year at Powerman Alabama. It was my first real race, and I was not physical ready for what it demanded. I learned a hard lesson, but one that has brought me a long way. Over the past few months I have been "racing", but in reality it has been training for Duathlon Nationals. I had to learn to respond to my body, and know what it is capable of. My training for Nat's has been a serious one, even my diet had to change in preparation for my only chance to qualify for the World Team. My mileage increased to 125 miles a week on the bike, 25 miles a week running plus I had to maintain my swim at a minimum of 3000yds a week. For most serious athletes this probably wouldn't sound like alot. However, I work 50 hours a week at two jobs, Printing-X-Press, plus I am a student at the University of Houston. The school provided the Cycling/Triathlon Teams with money that purchased our new bike and wheel case.
During my last few weeks before the Duathlon Nationals I competed in the Texas State Time Trial Championships, for two reasons. Mainly I wanted to work out all the quirks on the bike, I needed to feel a full effort on the bike, and I also need to know what I was capable of. I came away from the State Championships with a State Title. I really didn't expect anything, I just figured I would go up and race. I raced better than I ever had, winning the Espoir Title. Amazed with my time and with only a week to go to Nat's my final taper began. I immediately came home and went to Catherine Elder (713-397-6885) for a great massage to help me recover and prepare me for California. Running only a few times, and not even biking until I arrived in Carlsbad was all I had left before the race. My homework was done, all that was left was to take the test. In this sport you can not "cram" the night before, either you have done the work necessary or you haven't. I left Houston knowing that I had done everything I could have done to prepare myself, but even then I wondered if it would be enough. I traveled to Carlsbad with my coach Tad Molloy. He too was competing to get a slot on the Duathlon Short Course Team. He had already qualified for the Long Course Duathlon to be held in Weyer, Austria. We arrived in San Diego Friday night, and drove up to Carlsbad. The twenty-minute trip seemed to be endless as I starred at the consisted rolling hills. We knew we would have to climb some, but we never execpted what was to come. As a competitive athlete, I always do my homework on who and where I will be competing. I had looked at last years times and I was aware that the bike portion was difficult.
Saturday morning I awoke and went down to breakfast in the hotel. As I walked down to the hotel I ran into the previous two years US Duathlon National Champion, Greg Watson. He was walking with Andrea Ratkovic. I greeted them and they asked me how I was doing. We all sat down to breakfast and talked, well I really just listened hoping to pickup any hints I could as to how to handle the difficult task that lied ahead. Following breakfast I put the bikes together and then traveled to the race sight. It was about 5 mins away, and the weather was great. We picked up our packets and looked at the transition area. It was huge! 650 people! WOW!
We took the bike course map and drove the course once. The loop was 20Km. We would have to do it twice for the race. Once we drove it, we hopped on our bikes and headed off on our merry way. The first few miles were great, all downhill. Then we hit the bridge, we took it easy going up at about 10 miles an hour. Around Lego Land and then back down the bridge, hitting 48 mph before slamming on the breaks and taking a hard 90 degree right turn. It was back up hill for the next few miles till we made a swinging left turn and then a great down hill again close to 40 mph. At the bottom of the downhill was a treacherous right-hand turn at close to 100 degrees that was followed by an immediate up hill. A mile of climbing was then followed by a couple miles of flat land. The last mile and a half of the loop was uphill at about 15 percent grade. It was very slow going, often I dropped below 10 mph. That was one loop, it was to be done twice. And that same tuff last mile was also the last mile of our first 10K before the bike even started. We checked out the 10K run, pretty up and down with the tuff climb at the end, but the last 5K was very flat and quick.
We meet up with some other Texans from Austin, Jack Murray (13th in A/G), Missy Ruthven (4th o/a amateur) and Shellon McCallie (9th in A/G). We all went to the Pre-Race meeting and then to lunch and all agreed that the bike course was going to be difficult. I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I went down to Encintas and went to Nytro, one of the largest Triathlon Dealers in the United States, it was ok, I must say the Austin Tri-Cyclist is far superior with its knowledgeable staff and wide variety of products. I went to the beach and just relaxed.
Sunday morning we got up around 5 AM and headed out not to long afterwards. I set up my bike in the transition area and got all my stuff laid out for fast transitions. I warmed up with Jack, he was in my starting group, 29 and under. Jack is quite a bit faster than I am running, but I can hang on to him on the bike. We made took our bathroom breaks and talked to Greg again before the race started and wished him luck. At Powerman Desiree Flicker, the Womens pro winner also went to the bathroom in front of me. Would Greg also benefit from my bathroom luck and take the Mens title for a third time?? We headed to the chute to start the race and with a few sprints we were ready to go.
The first part of the 10k was pretty flat with a few downhill sections. The last mile was straight up hill. The transition zone was set up well, by age groups. I got onto my bike well and was off to chase down some of the guys. The bike course was pretty technical, long windy down hills, tough up hills and two down hills (45+ mph) with 90 degree turns back up hill. It was a two-loop bike course, so it was pretty congested my second loop with just about all 600 bikers on 12 miles of road. The road was completely closed to cars so we had plenty of room in the tight turns for my quick ATC setup Litespeed with a wicked Corima Disc. It was back into transition and out to the two loop 5k run. My first loop felt good and as I started my second loop I caught up to Missy, you can't miss those bright ATC jerseys. I passed one guy in my age group and then sprinted to the finish. Jack was sitting there cooling down, so we waited till Missy finished.
Once everybody was done, I headed back to the hotel to shower and pack my stuff up. My flight left at 2 PM, so I had just enough time to head to the awards ceremony. It was then announced that a fellow competitor had passed during the final run. The results were finally posted, and I had done it! I finished 5th in my age group, so I was automatically qualified for the 2002 World Duathlon Championships. I also glanced at the bike splits and noticed that mine was just over a minute faster than Jacks', but he says he chain did come off, so we will have to wait till Georgia to see if his shiny new bike can make up the difference??
During my last few weeks before the Duathlon Nationals I competed in the Texas State Time Trial Championships, for two reasons. Mainly I wanted to work out all the quirks on the bike, I needed to feel a full effort on the bike, and I also need to know what I was capable of. I came away from the State Championships with a State Title. I really didn't expect anything, I just figured I would go up and race. I raced better than I ever had, winning the Espoir Title. Amazed with my time and with only a week to go to Nat's my final taper began. I immediately came home and went to Catherine Elder (713-397-6885) for a great massage to help me recover and prepare me for California. Running only a few times, and not even biking until I arrived in Carlsbad was all I had left before the race. My homework was done, all that was left was to take the test. In this sport you can not "cram" the night before, either you have done the work necessary or you haven't. I left Houston knowing that I had done everything I could have done to prepare myself, but even then I wondered if it would be enough. I traveled to Carlsbad with my coach Tad Molloy. He too was competing to get a slot on the Duathlon Short Course Team. He had already qualified for the Long Course Duathlon to be held in Weyer, Austria. We arrived in San Diego Friday night, and drove up to Carlsbad. The twenty-minute trip seemed to be endless as I starred at the consisted rolling hills. We knew we would have to climb some, but we never execpted what was to come. As a competitive athlete, I always do my homework on who and where I will be competing. I had looked at last years times and I was aware that the bike portion was difficult.
Saturday morning I awoke and went down to breakfast in the hotel. As I walked down to the hotel I ran into the previous two years US Duathlon National Champion, Greg Watson. He was walking with Andrea Ratkovic. I greeted them and they asked me how I was doing. We all sat down to breakfast and talked, well I really just listened hoping to pickup any hints I could as to how to handle the difficult task that lied ahead. Following breakfast I put the bikes together and then traveled to the race sight. It was about 5 mins away, and the weather was great. We picked up our packets and looked at the transition area. It was huge! 650 people! WOW!
We took the bike course map and drove the course once. The loop was 20Km. We would have to do it twice for the race. Once we drove it, we hopped on our bikes and headed off on our merry way. The first few miles were great, all downhill. Then we hit the bridge, we took it easy going up at about 10 miles an hour. Around Lego Land and then back down the bridge, hitting 48 mph before slamming on the breaks and taking a hard 90 degree right turn. It was back up hill for the next few miles till we made a swinging left turn and then a great down hill again close to 40 mph. At the bottom of the downhill was a treacherous right-hand turn at close to 100 degrees that was followed by an immediate up hill. A mile of climbing was then followed by a couple miles of flat land. The last mile and a half of the loop was uphill at about 15 percent grade. It was very slow going, often I dropped below 10 mph. That was one loop, it was to be done twice. And that same tuff last mile was also the last mile of our first 10K before the bike even started. We checked out the 10K run, pretty up and down with the tuff climb at the end, but the last 5K was very flat and quick.
We meet up with some other Texans from Austin, Jack Murray (13th in A/G), Missy Ruthven (4th o/a amateur) and Shellon McCallie (9th in A/G). We all went to the Pre-Race meeting and then to lunch and all agreed that the bike course was going to be difficult. I spent the rest of the day relaxing. I went down to Encintas and went to Nytro, one of the largest Triathlon Dealers in the United States, it was ok, I must say the Austin Tri-Cyclist is far superior with its knowledgeable staff and wide variety of products. I went to the beach and just relaxed.
Sunday morning we got up around 5 AM and headed out not to long afterwards. I set up my bike in the transition area and got all my stuff laid out for fast transitions. I warmed up with Jack, he was in my starting group, 29 and under. Jack is quite a bit faster than I am running, but I can hang on to him on the bike. We made took our bathroom breaks and talked to Greg again before the race started and wished him luck. At Powerman Desiree Flicker, the Womens pro winner also went to the bathroom in front of me. Would Greg also benefit from my bathroom luck and take the Mens title for a third time?? We headed to the chute to start the race and with a few sprints we were ready to go.
The first part of the 10k was pretty flat with a few downhill sections. The last mile was straight up hill. The transition zone was set up well, by age groups. I got onto my bike well and was off to chase down some of the guys. The bike course was pretty technical, long windy down hills, tough up hills and two down hills (45+ mph) with 90 degree turns back up hill. It was a two-loop bike course, so it was pretty congested my second loop with just about all 600 bikers on 12 miles of road. The road was completely closed to cars so we had plenty of room in the tight turns for my quick ATC setup Litespeed with a wicked Corima Disc. It was back into transition and out to the two loop 5k run. My first loop felt good and as I started my second loop I caught up to Missy, you can't miss those bright ATC jerseys. I passed one guy in my age group and then sprinted to the finish. Jack was sitting there cooling down, so we waited till Missy finished.
Once everybody was done, I headed back to the hotel to shower and pack my stuff up. My flight left at 2 PM, so I had just enough time to head to the awards ceremony. It was then announced that a fellow competitor had passed during the final run. The results were finally posted, and I had done it! I finished 5th in my age group, so I was automatically qualified for the 2002 World Duathlon Championships. I also glanced at the bike splits and noticed that mine was just over a minute faster than Jacks', but he says he chain did come off, so we will have to wait till Georgia to see if his shiny new bike can make up the difference??
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