Lake Macbride Duathlon – Jonathan dominates, Erich bonks
Due to a minor scheduling conflict, I wasn’t able to race Oakdale on Saturday morning. And upon reviewing the race results, maybe that wasn’t all bad! A 26.2 MPH bike split? That’s sick! Either way, I was in Iowa for the weekend for family events, putting me within 15 minutes of the Lake Macbride duathlon! Kate had found this – I never even thought to look for it. It worked out to fit it in just perfectly – albeit a quick race and leave strategy – to get to my niece’s dedication.
Going in, I didn’t know much or really anything about the course. The only thing I knew was that last year’s winner and runner-up, Steve Davis and Mederic Hall, would be racing. To the outsider, it looked like I was foregoing the tougher, more competitive Oakdale race and cherry picking a smaller, less contested venue. As it would turn out, while the venue was indeed smaller, I’m not sure I’d call it a lot less competitive!
The day prior to the race, I popped up to check out the bike course. I’d been told it was a relatively easy route, which I confirmed. I couldn’t really tell where the run courses were given the maps provided, but could tell it was at least partial trail. Admittedly, trail racing is not my strength. But I figured, “what the heck, let’s see how it goes.”
My work week prior had been spent down in Jacksonville and Waycross, and thus I was somewhat tired and worn down from the travel. I also knew my diet during the week had been suspect, at best. What I didn’t plan and account for – was a wee bit of hydration. Upon returning from Jacksonville late on Friday, we were immediately back on the road to Iowa Saturday morning en route to Bettendorf. And of course, when traveling, it is typical to not take in enough fluids. After all, who wants to stop at a rest stop every 30 minutes?!
Either way, I went into Sunday with no expectations, other than the hope I could just stay on last year’s winner’s heals, grind out a slight lead on the bike and cross my fingers during R2. I didn’t really pay much attention to the rest of the registration list, which was an error. “Sneaking” into the race was Jonathan Estabrook, who I’d met the weekend prior at Cinco. This “super stud,” who literally rides duathlons on a road bike with aero bars just recently installed, was someone I should have known would be there. Jonathan is a past ISU runner and man, can this guy move. He’s one of those diamonds in the rough who doesn’t really understand how awesome he is. I think he figured it out this day. J
After an early rise, light breakfast (with not enough liquids!) and the normal morning routine, I nervously ventured up to Lake Macbride State Park. Pulling in, you could tell it was indeed a small venue. What a pretty place though! I always feel that if you’re going to suffer for an hour or so, you’d may as well have nice scenery. The other person I hadn’t noticed on the race list was Kevin Hansen, an old high school friend of mine from many moons ago. Upon walking up to rack my bike, a familiar face greeted me and said, “Hey, Erich!” It took me just a minute to figure out who this was – sort of that awkward 5 seconds where you try and go back to where you know a person. It was great to see Kevin after so many years and I enjoyed chatting with him prior to race start.
Right away when getting ready, I thought I’d probably spotted the previous year’s winner. It was relatively obvious with the triathlon bike racked next to me and the dude just looked fast….sometimes you can tell. This stranger greeted me politely and even chimed in my and Kevin’s discussion. “Well, at least he’s a nice guy,” I thought. I never feel bad coming in slower than a guy who is nice. J
After getting ready, I headed to the car to drop my gear. Kate was sitting there relaxing and I mentioned I’d found my main competition. “Did you tell him about yourself,” she asked, basically asking if I’d told him I was a decent competitor. “No, I’ll just let him figured it out,” was my reply, smiling. She smiled back, “That’s terrible.” Upon my return, Mederic and Joanna Hall had arrived. I think it took Mederic a second to recognize me, but eventually he did, and immediately asked me about breaking his course record at Cinco. Ah, word had spread. Joanna wasn’t racing this day, but had brought her two furry, four legged friends with. Well, at least Kate would have someone to talk to and a couple dogs to keep her attention!
I went out quick on the bike, still unsure where the two run courses were. I figured I’d come back and either ask or just wing it and hope for the best. Eventually, I got a feel for where the run courses went and learned that R1 was closer to 2.5 miles rather than 2. Good to know!! At some point, Mederic and Steve must have talked because Steve said to me, “So, I hear you’re the guy to beat.” I sort of downplayed it, saying you just never know. Every day is different. As it would turn out, Steve and I would be competing only for second.
We all started gathering at the start line and listened to the pre-race announcements, nervously warming up and staying loose. I still hadn’t noticed Jonathan at the start and actually wouldn’t realize it was even him until after the finish. I had keyed in on my strategy for this race fairly early on and it was very simple: lock in with Steve/Mederic on R1 (or at least hope to keep them in sight), grind hard and try to pass/pull far enough ahead on the bike and pray/cross my fingers to hold them off in R2. Steve had also mentioned that the year prior people had really taken off as the beginning is a steep downhill. These same people had spent too much energy in having to come back up that same hill coming into transition and he’d caught them all. Also good info to know!
At the race start, everything unfolded just as Steve had said. There were a small group (about 4) of guys who just absolutely took off. Steve, Mederic and myself locked into a nice pace at 5, 6 and 7 respectively. I just simply locked into their strides and stayed put, very happy to be where I was. Mederic and Steve ran side by side as we entered the trail. We could see most of the guys out ahead of us, except for Jonathan, who had shot out ahead. Still not knowing who he was, I wasn’t too worried. I figured he’d tire eventually. We approached the turn and Mederic took a small lead. I kept pace with Steve and stayed there. We all eventually passed a younger looking guy who was wearing a team USA jersey. Interesting.
Upon hitting the steep/long hill going back into transition, the group started to bunch up more. The three of us entered T1 practically in stride, with Mederic holding a small lead. This was exactly where I wanted to be. We entered T1 and back out onto the bike, my transition time slightly slower than both of theirs. We took a right out of transition and looped around the park, then out. Even before we’d reached the edge of the park, I appeared to be gaining on Mederic and could see Steve a short bit ahead of him. At this point, I thought there were still at least two, maybe three guys out ahead of us. In actuality, it appeared we’d transitioned out quicker than a couple of guys and only Jonathan remained. I wouldn’t realize this until later.
Between miles 1 and 2, I passed Mederic and gave him the thumbs up as I went past. I could see Steve clearly in my vision and was ready to attack him next. He was a little more elusive to catch though and it took me another couple miles to finally get around. He cheered me on as I passed him. I felt good in catching him so far before the turn around. I appeared in great shape.
Uh oh! Right about the time I settled in and started to feel comfortable, there went Steve past me! That doesn’t happen too often – getting passed on the bike! He seemed pretty determined. I sat behind Steve awhile, a pattern becoming pretty familiar now, for a few miles until we looped through Solon. When the hills started to wind more again, I decided to make a move and go. I couldn’t tell if Steve slowed some or I surged, but I passed him. “Go get him!” Steve shouted as I went past. I hit the turn at the bottom of a fairly steep hill and saw the turnaround. Jonathan was coming at me, maybe a minute or so ahead. As he went by, he shouted something, but I couldn’t make it out. He seemed wound up about something, though I didn’t get the impression it had anything to do with me. Either way, I seemed to be closing on him at least a little.
I made the turn and could see how far the others were behind. Steve was further behind than I thought, but not as far as I’d hoped he’d be by now. A guy in all black had taken over 4th (he’d eventually take 5th overall) and Mederic was behind him in 5th. I had a pretty good gap on the guy in black and Mederic.
I turned back onto the main road, out in front of a truck (the volunteers weren’t helping at all with traffic) and got on the shoulder. The first bit of road was a pretty decent hill back up. It was about this time I started to notice some issues. I tried to downshift and spin out my legs a little but things were starting to feel a tad bit rough. For the next 5 miles or so, I’d alternate between feeling great (and surging) and feeling pretty rough (and slowing down). My legs felt like jello and I felt dehydrated. I don’t typically carry water with me on the bike unless it’s a longer race or it’s hot. By now, it was getting fairly warm out in the sun. The last ¼ of the bike course was really rough. I could see Jonathan out ahead and while I appeared to be gaining ground, I really couldn’t fully surge to T2 as I wanted. My calves would occasionally cramp, sometimes I’d have to stop pedaling completely, unclip and shake them out. It was pretty awful and I wondered how I was going to finish the second run!
I got back to the park and T2 still in 2nd but assumed Steve had narrowed the gap. Indeed he had. As I got to T2, I got off the bike, barely able to catch myself from falling over as my feet hit the ground. I had absolutely no power left in my legs at all and could barely walk, much less run to the bike rack. As I entered transition, I heard someone yell Steve’s name, so I knew he was right on my tail. I pretty well walked to the rack and tried to regain my composure. By this point, I just wanted to finish, place no longer mattered.
Steve came in and was back out quick – I was taking my time in trying to determine if I could do much more than walk the 5k R2. I eventually got my shoes switched and made an effort at running out. I was only 10-20 yards behind Steve and assumed he’d probably take off. I was wrong. I locked in, once again, relatively close to him and just rode his coat tail. I’d be thrilled to just hold on to 3rd and keep him in sight.
We rounded the top of a hill and saw Joanna and Kate. They were cheering and taking pictures. I think the look on my face must have said it all – it was fairly obvious I was in agony. Soon we hit the trail and took a very steep downhill, then continued a slight downhill run to the turn around. Jonathan eventually criss crossed us, well out in the lead. Steve and I were racing for 2nd now, though he didn’t realize, he had it locked. I had no running legs left, much less any kind of closing speed or sprint finish capacity. I knew Steve could definitely hear me behind him and assumed he was probably worried I’d make a break at some point – today wasn’t the day. Steve would have to bonk himself to lose 2nd place.
We hit the turnaround only about 10 yards apart. We again greeted each other and as we kept going, met the others behind us. Mederic was in 4th and the guy in black in 5th. It’s interesting, one’s perception of how far behind people are from them is always distorted. I was sure Mederic would catch me based on how close he was. In reality, he was probably a couple minutes back.
We could hear a cow bell as we exited the trail/forest and I had no idea where we were. I knew we had just about a mile left and man did I wish I had the legs to pick it up! I couldn’t tell if Steve was in the same place as me (total utter agony) or if he was waiting for me to make a move and try to keep pace. He really made no strong effort to widen the gap, until a series of hills leading us to the finish. As we hit the first hill, he widened his lead a little, though still not enough where I couldn’t have caught him with any leg strength. The second hill he widened it further as he hit the top and saw the finish line. I could hear people cheering now, so I knew we were close. As we hit a corner, I looked back over my shoulder to see if Mederic was there. No. I hit the top of the hill myself and saw Steve finish in front of me. There was Joanna and Kate cheering. I must have looked over my shoulder again because I think Joanna yelled something about not looking back and closing it out hard. I had no “hard” left in me – I was thrilled to see the finish line.
So, I took 3rd place, over a minute ahead of Steve’s time from 2011. It was right then that Jonathan took off his sunglasses as we slapped hands and I went, “AH!!!” I finally realized who he was. Steve’s wife and little girl were there to greet him – that was neat. Steve didn’t want to hold her because he was soaking wet. Mederic came in soon thereafter and then the guy in black. I stuck around just for a couple of minutes to let my breath return and talk to the guys for a bit before I had to go grab my bike and get out of there, off to church. It was a really fun race and great to see a few guys again and meet new ones, despite the total body crash.
It’s been fairly obvious the past couple of days since the race that I was deeply dehydrated. Even today (Tuesday, 2 days later), my body is asking for more fluids and my head/neck/shoulders ache. My legs are still shot. I got in an hour spin class yesterday, which felt pretty good, but was probably a bit aggressive.
I have a few weeks off now with more travel and no interesting local tri’s/du’s slated. I was planning to do Pigman sprint in early June, but Kate mentioned it was sold out (I always forget you have to sign up early for triathlons!) Perhaps I’ll go up and do Apple Du – we shall see. Or else I’ll just take some time off and do some local run races or even Tour de Pepin in Lake City. Either way, I’m sure there are plenty of races forthcoming!
Until next time…race on!
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