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Tri-Umphs (Triathlons & Duathlons)
Midatlantic Multisport (July/August 2008)
By John ElliottJuly/August 2008
For the Washington Running Report
It's on.
Everyone has their favorite spring events featuring character- building opportunities of swimming in the warmth of Lake Anna, blasting Richmond's bridges and parkways, or hurdling the hills of Columbia.
This year the Carrboro Classic Endurance Sports Festival and Charlotte's Finest Duathlon served up great opportunities to go long early. Carrboro provided the added incentive of qualifying for the long course duathlon world championship in Geel, Belgium this August. And, many rode and ran through the rain to make Team USA and prepare for USAT's National Duathlon Championships in Richmond set for late April.
Watching Mother Nature's fireworks over the James River on Saturday night left no doubt that the National Duathlon Championships were going to be much different from the World Championships this past October. Actually, the weather was worse than it looked when John Lugbill's Richmond Sports Backers and Tim Yount's Team USAT raced out in the rainy, windy dark to reset a lot of stuff in the transition area. But, they got it done well before duathletes showed up early in the chilly dark eager to get started.
This was Richmond's duathlete festival starting with the national off-road duathlon championship on its famous XTERRA course on Saturday in terrific weather with the next day's road duathlon in weather described above. Then the elites had their opportunity to demonstrate just how good they really are.
The road championships provided a surprise winner in Matt Russell from Boulder, CO and our well known Anne Curi Presig, quite possibly the oldest winner of a national championship.
Big weather differences between the off-road race with dry conditions and then the Sunday race with lots of crashes and flats over much of the same terrain. Weather happens and blame gets heaped on Mother Nature. That's not completely fair or even always accurate.
Flats can happen anytime even to the newest of tires. It is always best to use your best tires at proper air pressure. And, bike handling becomes a prized skill on wet, twisty, slick surfaces. We get a huge aero advantage by using the bike handlebars to prop up our arms. But, they call them "handlebars" for a reason and I saw riders go down that might have ridden out skids and slides with better bike handling skills, or just better luck. Big difference when you watch the off-roaders gaining speed through the skids and powering through the slides.
I got some of this message last season while riding cyclocross and mountain bikes to work on keeping my shiny side up. For safety and added fun get out there and ride anything in the dirt without aero bars for seriously improving your bike handling. These skills translate quickly to the tri bike and can save your race as well as the stain of road rash.
Like several multisporters, the big question before the race was "to do, or not do." When you start injured, you most likely finish more injured. At least physically. True. But, I did it anyway. Who wants to wait around until next year for that national championship when one is on a starting line? Just do it sounded about right when we charged downhill to run across the footbridge to an island cross country course and repeat that for the 10K segment before the 40K bike of four loops over the Lee Bridge and around Riverside Park, and back for another island loop for a finishing 5K.
It was an absolutely beautiful course of championship quality that we are looking forward to racing again next year. And the injury? Definitely got worse, but worth it: not too bad on the 10K, slow on the bike, walking sideways into the 5K that became a trot, then a canter, with a bit of a gallop up the hill for a frantic finish. Hey, we are age groupers. It's recreation. Having fun is important. Where else can you cross the same river eight times and run three times around an island in the same race?
Injuries heal, fitness returns. But, not always fast enough as my experience at the Columbia Triathlon demonstrated. Like all of those present at the first Columbia Triathlons, I planned all year for the silver anniversary edition. Like some others, injuries were a factor and some surgery didn't help either. No worries, I went out to watch my first triathlon wondering what they looked like and how I could benefit. Hard to see much from the shore and you only get snapshots from a motorcycle chasing cyclists. I headed for the transition area (TA) before dawn.
Smart move. I learned a ton, met some world-class athletes, and enjoyed a day that could have been a downer. With the benefit of a press pass, I camped out over by the "triathlon tree," where I've racked my bike many times, to check out the pros.
First impression was how friendly they were to each other and to everyone else. I know a few from before they were pros, just local age groupers with elite potential. It was nice to see them from the front. They were sharing stuff, stories, racing tips, and were all smiling. All were skimpy with gear in the transition area and very tidy. Just the bike, helmet, and running shoes. No suitcases, bike boxes, wind trainers, oxygen bottles, etc. Just race essentials.
When they ran up from the swim finish, the pros didn't seem rushed and several walked quickly into the TA, sat down at their bike rack, slid their wet suits over their feet, and aimed their bike uphill. No wasted motions, no scurrying, no rushing; very deliberate, planned. And, very fast.
They came back on the bike hot, blasting into the TA like a 911 call. Chris Lieto racked his bike and tore off his helmet in a single motion. Pulled his racing flats on and was gone. Same with Andrew Yoder a few minutes back who also got out well. Surprisingly, Chris McCormack came minutes later, even hotter. The 2007 Ironman World Champion cut the tangent along the race fencing and momentarily got his bike caught on a bike rack while running. No worries, he put a good move on dislodging his bike and then hit his rack spot and was out chasing Lieto with Richie Cunningham behind him before his bike stopped wobbling in the rack.
The pro women went out and came back just behind the men with Rebeccah Wassner's transition at Superwoman speed. Same with Andrea Lovato, Desiree Ficker, Margie Shapiro, and the other pro women. Fast in and faster out.
The bike was finished and everyone was in hot pursuit of the leaders and no one was backing off. I went out to the rock pile along the dam about 300 meters from the finish. If we were going to have a finishing fight, it would have to start there considering the sprint speed of McCormack, Cunningham, Lovato, and Ficker.
We didn't get that finish. We got a lot more. Chris Lieto broke Matt Reed's very strong record set in 2006 with a 1:51:13 proving just how fast you can lead from the front. He was followed by 19-year-old Andrew Yoder's sensational 1:54:22. McCormack was third at 1:57:22 with the fastest 10K of the three. Yoder finished second, straight up, and set a new junior's record even though he's a new pro (so it won't count as a junior).
Rebeccah Wassner rode and ran away from the women and broke Susan Williams' 2005 record of 2:07:22 by posting a stupendous 2:04:49. That is almost three minutes up on Susan's record and put her at 14th overall, just behind Phillippe Kozub, one of our very best local male triathletes .
The women pros finished strong with Lovato second in 2:09:21 (with a faster bike split than Wassner) and Margie Shapiro still accelerating while crossing the finish in third at 2:12:23. Fifth place Desiree Ficker log rolled over the finish line wrapped in a Blazeman Banner which her mother handed her in the finishing straight to honor John Blaisman and his ALS foundation. She pulled this off while holding off Laurel Wassner who was 17 seconds behind.
So what happened out on the bike course? No surprise that Lieto was flying out front, but a misdirection sent McCormack and a tight chase pack off course. As McCormack said, when you go from about 30 seconds back to about five minutes it is tough to make that up. Not that he didn't give it a go with Richie Cunningham just behind him on the bike and run. Ever the sportsman, McCormack acknowledged that these things happen and heartily congratulated Lieto's win and the joy of a new course record. He compared the course to the nice country roads of England and is looking forward to racing Columbia again. Me too. I learned a lot from watching. Definitely worth doing.
You're reading this in the heat of summer and everyone has finished enough base racing to focus increasingly on speed and variety while thinking 70.3 and Ironman coming up this fall. Variety is a strong point for the region. Multiple multisport opportunities are available every weekend. You can do whatever, wherever, you wish: hilly, flat, rough water, whatever. So get out of your comfort zone to improve your experience and skill inventory. If you like long, hit some of the pool-based sprint triathlons. If you like sprint, double the distance with an Oly. If you lag on the tri run, do some duathlons for dealing with discomfort at race pace. If you really want something new, jump into a swim-run aquathlon. Or, go out on any combination of any of these. Summer is short. Try all of them.
I'll see you out there.