On Saturday morning Bryan Parker (friend/training partner from Canton) picked me up at 6:30am for the Cumberland Duathlon in Ottawa, Canada. We had about an hour and 20 minute drive and made it to the race site. We picked up our race numbers and chips and brought our bikes into transition. The weather was a great racing temp . It was in the upper 50's at the start and i think it made it in the upper 60's at the end. There was a slight breeze but I couldn't complain. Bry and I only had about 8 strides for a warmup as we toed up to the line. There appeared to be a strong bunch of guys. There were at least a handful of Canadian guys with names on thier chest, one guy from Belgium and another guy from New Zealand. There were a few guys that had the ITU logo's on thier suit so I figured I might get pushed a little.
The gun went off and there were 2-3 guys right next to me as we pushed the pace. As we approached the transition area and ready to do a U-turn for lap #2, the few guys that were right next to me pealed off into T1. They were doing the short course du. 2.5k, 19.2k, 2.5k and I was doing the longer one; 5k, 38.4k, 5k. After those guys pealed off I was running solo. As I appoached T1 i looked down at my watch at it read 14:57. I thought to myself "Wow that 5k had to be short" It felt like I was running 5:10 pace because I didn't feel the greatest. The course was right about 3 miles according to Bry's Garmin watch.
Running into transition I quickly grabbed my new Suplicy Quantum and ran out. The transition was longer for Bry and I because we were way down at the end. The transition bike in/out and run in/out was at the same end so we had to cover a little more distance. The bike course was 4 laps. The roads were a little bumpy but there were some nice rolly hills with minimum traffic. I was very happy how my new suplicy performed. The carbon frame is aero and very stiff! I was certainly pushing the watts on the hills while standing up. There was no flex as I accelled up the hills. I had the fastest bike split on the course and I even had a faster average pace then anyone in the short bike course (two loops vs. four). I completed the bike course which ended up being 24 miles in 57:54. The bike time includes both transition times so my bike time would be closer to around 56:30ish is my guess.
Elevation profile of the bike course.
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On to the last run I felt pretty strong and ran solo to finish in a total time of 1:28:11 for 1st place. My last run was 15:21. Bryan had a stellar day and had smoking fast runs! 15:20 for the first and 15:50 for the last. Bry used a road bike as well because he isn't quite dialed into his new Felt Da yet. He finished 3rd overall.
On our drive back Bry and I stopped at my camp on the St. Lawrence River and iced our legs in the brisk 44 degree F water. It might be another few weeks or so before I start swimming in the river.
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