Race Result

Racer:	Steve Smith
Race:	Point Lookout Duathlon
Date:	Sunday, April 27, 2003
Location:	Pt. Lookout State Park, MD
Race Type:	Duathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Male 30 - 34
Time:	1:14:34
Overall Place:	1
Comment:	Won my second race of the weekend :) by 4:30

Race Report:

How is it that I cannot write a race report for a sprint (or two) shorter than most IM race reports? Oh well, consider yourself warned.

The astute reader may remember a post from a few months ago about an interesting potential "double" ... that is, two races back-to-back. The double is an interesting thing, and comes in many flavors.

This particular double was a duathlon double, one Saturday and one Sunday. Both events were sprints at 3mi-15mi-3mi, run-bike-run. The first race was the inaugural Pound, Pedal, and Pant duathlon down in Stafford, Va, not far from the Colonial Beach triathlon and organized by some of the same folks. Once I heard the name, I wanted to do the race. As it was hosted by friend, coach (of others, not me), and all-around swell person Debi Bernardes, I wanted to support it the best way I knew how: race it. The second race was the Point Lookout Duathlon, across the river from Stafford, and a bit further south, hosted by the gang at Triathlantic. This race covers the same ground as the former To The Point Half IM race (downgraded this year to an Olympic event).

Why the double? Because it's there. Also, I thought of the weekend as some interesting research for the Triple-T Team triathlon stage race coming up at the end of May. The Triple-T is a four-race event held over three days, the total distance of which equal an Ironman. Lastly, the races were only a two-hour drive from one another, and it seemed rude to do one and not the other. I guess it's similar to that situation when you travel and find yourself in the hometown of two good friends; it's just natural to gather everyone for one big event, be it pizza and beer or severe lactic acid accumulation.

Point Lookout Duathlon
======================
I stopped in Fredericksburg for some coffee and general lounging before taking the backroads (good biking roads!) to the 301 bridge across the river to Maryland. After about two hours of driving I found myself at Point Lookout State Park, in a nice little campground. After setting up the tent I grabbed my VERY NECESSARY wetsuit and went for a swim. A legal swim even! Man, that is some seriously cold water. There's a reason this race is a duathlon!

We got some rain Saturday night, but Sunday morning was gorgeous and warm. I packed my transition back and biked the 2-miles from the park to the start area. For this race I was a less sure of my podium chances. Scanning recent results, there were some 15ish 3-mile runs for the first leg. Almost 160 people showed up to race on this beautiful morning. Brad's races usually attract a few hard-core racer folks like myself in addition to a lot of first-time racers. Of the two events, this was the one where I expected a good, hard race.

Um, well ... while there is a Naval Air Station up the road, I missed the Marines. I won by more than four minutes. Unlike the PPP, the course was FLAT. However, it was Kansas windy (in fact, it a year ago today that La Plata, just 20 miles north, experienced some deadly tornados). And the wind was a direct headwind for the out portions of the runs and bike.

Like the PPP, I decided to push the race to my 10k race pace after sitting to gauge the field for the first 1/2-mile. And again, one person tagged along for the ride. However, given the wind I didn't want any company running, so I added a couple of bursts of speed to get away from the other runner. That seemed to do the trick. I should add I wanted to drop the guy not so much because I was worried about any drafting benefit, but because mentally dealing with the wind was difficult enough, I didn't want to have to mentally deal with another runner as well.

Ahhh, turn-around!!!! By now I had a comfortable lead, and it grew once I had the tail wind. You know, I don't notice the wind on the bike so much. Not unless I look at the speedometer. When I'm racing on a bike, there's a terminal velocity defined by wind resistance. Whether that's wind I'm creating or wind from Ma Nature, it's all the same. But holy cow did I notice it on the run!

The bike was pretty uneventful. Much like the PPP, I faded, but earlier, just after the turn-around. And again, just like PPP, the course worked to my favor, as the tail wind favored strong aerodynamics. On the way out glances at my speedometer read 20 and 23 mph. On the way back they read 30 and 33 mph. Zooom, that was fun. I ran a disc wheel in both races and I never noticed any bad crosswinds during the Lookout race. There was one little hiccup on Sunday, when I passed through some farmland into a stretch of road guarded by the trees. The sudden "off" switch to the wind caught me a bit off guard, but not terribly.

The second run was pretty hard. I felt like I was running terribly slow as I pushed against the head wind. In retrospect, I wasn't moving THAT slow (my time would have been only 7-seconds off the 2nd fastest split of the FIRST 3 miles), but the head wind combined with 3 hard 5Ks in the last 24 hours was taking it's toll. Feeling sorta wiped, I didn't push the last mile much at all. I'll tell you this tho' ... that FREEZING cold water felt awfully good on my legs after the race :)

Conclusions
===========
I have new respect for running in the wind. I love free pizza. Racing back-to-back isn't as daunting as it sounds. In fact, last summer I did back-to-back speed workouts on the theory that it's 48-hours (not 24-hours) in which muscle soreness really settles in (and that this leaves you more fresh for the weekends). The Pound Pedal & Pant duathlon is a great addition to the race calendar for local athletes. Point Lookout is a fun race if you like flat races, and could be wicked fast on a calm day. Point Lookout State Park would make a great location for a training weekend with some open-water swimming (mosquitoes could be an issue). Oh yeah, remember the club t-shirt when racing! Doh! Thanks for the reminder Steve G.