Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon 2015 - Déjà Vu.

Another "Way Past Due" post. Get with it girl!

Sportspectrum and Shreveport were once again hosts to the USAT South Midwest Duathlon Championship. The race was Sunday, February 4th in Downtown Shreveport. The forecast called for rain and so the race organizers moved the transition area under Festival Plaza!

I've never had a race set up under cover, and it was great! Fortunately the rain held off and we had a relatively dry race. But just as the awards finished and the crew started breaking down the bike racks the sky opened up and it poured! Bet they were very happy at this point to have moved transition so that they didn't have to get soaked loading up everything.

I wasn't expecting a stellar race, since I haven't been on the bike much. The run should be okay though.

Lots of teammates out for this race! The Sunrise Triathlon Club, The Cobb Mobb, and Team Cambridge all in attendance! I'll tell you what, I've never heard more "Go Ginger!" in my life, that was a lot of team support, it was very cool!

Held back as usual on the first 2 mile run, Garmin had it a tad over 2 miles and my pace was 7:16.  I'm pretty sure I was about 6th at the end of the first run.

ICEdot Band Sighting!!!! 

We had a south wind for the bike and it was a double out and back with each loop being 8+ miles, I averaged 19.8 - was trying to get it to 20 but I eased up a little just before coming into T2.

Here is the Déjà Vu part.....
I think I passed 3 girls on the bike, and headed out onto the run in 3rd or 4th, but then...... da da.... da da.... da da da da da da.... (jaws music insert) made the turn at the half way point and low and behold all three of the girls were right there.... can I hold them off? NO. Dang it. Passed by all three. Rats. Ended up finishing 6th overall female and won the Grand Masters. One of the girls who passed me was over 40 and took the Masters. Looked her up, big time Duathlete, Worlds and all that, very fast! (bet she can't swim.. heh, heh!).

Was really hoping to hang onto that 3rd place. Rachel and Denise were running 1st and 2nd and I thought it would be cool to have all 3 of us taking the top 3 spots. That thought exited my mind when the 3 women passed me. Dang it.

Have to say I'm pretty happy with my race, better times in all 3 segments than last year. I'll take that!

Rachel, Denise, and me!

Team Cambridge!!

The Cobb Mobb!

My Sunrise peeps brought me this!

And a fried of mine picked this up for me at the Regional Banquet
the night before the race! I finished 2nd in my AG in the region! 

Dustbuster Duathlon and Some Other Good News

Wow.. I've been super lazy/bad about blogging....

Partially because not a whole lot has been going on, but.... mostly laziness.

Sportspectrum's annual Dustbuster Duathlon was a week or so ago and true to form it was stinkin' cold out there! But what do you expect from a race that's held in early January, right? Last year a front blew in as we were waiting for the race to start, we had wind, and rain, and freezing temperatures. This year no rain (thank goodness) but it was in the low 40's and we had a north wind at about 18 mph. Last year's Race Report.

Warm Up Run

Long, long ago when I did a couple duathlons one season (back then they were still called biathlons - that tells you just how long ago it was), I was given some really good advice. "Don't take the first run out too hard!" If you do you will pay dearly on the second run. So that's what I did, held back and watched 4 girls run away from me. It's tough and you have to remain calm and "hope" that you'll catch them on the bike. Ran the first 1.5 miles at at 7:26 pace (last year 7:45 pace). Caught two girls in transition and then passed the third just after we got on the bike.

The bike course was two out and back loops of 4 miles each so half of our ride was directly into the north wind... ah... but that means that the other half was with an amazing tail wind!! Averaged 18.8 or so, but maxed at 28.5 mph, not bad considering that I haven't been on the bike hardly at all (last year my average was 17.3 - bleh horrible).

Run 2 was another out and back but into the wind for the first half. Some kids had fun the night before on the grass with their ATVs and made a mess out of a little section of the run, making the path muddy, and dirty, and slippery - had to watch your footing over that little part. Averaged 7:55 by my Garmin on the second run - 12:09, course is a tad long so online results show it a little slower (last year 12:28 - but had extremely frozen feet from them being wet). My goal was to have my two run splits about with no more than :30 seconds per mile pace difference. Came pretty close. Looking over the results I can see a lot of people who either took out the first run too hard, weren't prepared for the bike (lack of winter training?), or went too hard on the bike. Many of the run comparisons were over a minute difference in pace per mile.

1st and 2nd Overall Females
COBB MOBB and Sunrise Tri Club!

All in all had what I consider a pretty decent race, bettered times from last year and won female overall. The award for this race is kind of quirky-cool. A real Dustbuster! The age group winners got fleece blankets (I wanted a blanket, and Matt Brown from Sportspectrum was nice enough to let me have one the next day at the store! - Thank you Matt Brown!!!)

Long, long ago I won overall female once before at a duathlon. It was the Strutters Duathlon 5K/30K/5K in San Angelo, TX. I dug around and found this online! 1991 - 23 years ago - I was 30!

Race Hints:
I put hand warmers under my toe covers to keep my feet warmer, this especially helps for the second run. Getting off the bike and having blocks of ice for feet makes for a very uncomfortable second run. I had a thought day before yesterday about my hands. I was in the car with  my husband and we were talking about the heated steering wheel on his Jeep. I mentioned how it would be neat to have heated handlebars. A friend of mine in North Carolina posted a picture on FB the other day of the 4 layers of clothing he used for a ride, it included 3 pair of gloves.

So... what about this idea - taping a couple hand warmers to the inside of your aerobars up toward the shifters?? I'm going to give it a try!! When I did the TriTyler triathlon last year I suffered some minor frostbite on a couple fingers of my left hand from the temperatures, this little hand-warmer trick may just work! I think it will also be good for winter rides. I put hand-warmers in my gloves but it's my fingers that really get uncomfortable.

The other good news:
Won the Sunrise Triathlon Club Female Athlete of the Year!
Picked up for a second year by the Cobb Mobb Triathlon Team, and chosen to be a Captain!
Made USAT All American again!
Serving as Director of Publicity and Public Relations for The Sunrise Triathlon Club!

2015 Sunrise Tri Club Officers

Next up - Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon! Last year's Race Report. 

Frost Yer Fanny Race Report!! USAT SMW Regional Duathlon Championships!

I'm a little late posting my report on this race but there has been a lot going on in my life, so please excuse my tardiness. I have a pass.

My last ride with Denise and Brinn before moving from Hattiesburg!

I was excited about this race! More so because my friends Denise and Brinn, from Hattiesburg were coming up to race and I was looking forward to seeing them!! I was also looking forward to seeing how these fast girls would do in a duathlon! All three of us are pretty good swimmers and with a run, bike, run format it kicks out one of our best sports.

We drove to the race site in the morning and I took them on a slightly longer route in order for them to see part of the bike course on the Clyde Fant Parkway. The entire parkway was closed to traffic for the race and it is concrete - pretty fast, although the separations were a little annoying... bump, bump, bump. I was able to ignore them after just a mile or so.

This race was the USAT South MidWest Regional Duathlon Championship race and the turnout was a little dissapointing. Sportspectrum bid for and hosted the race and Shreveport won it because we have the 2nd largest Tri Club, The Sunrise Triathlon Club, in the SMW Region. At the last minute Matt Brown even upped the anti by adding really cool jackets for our race packets.

Back of the Jacket!!!

Jeremy Brown, with Cobb Cycling and manager of the Cobb Mobb (like us on Facebook!) also went to bat getting the price of the banquet ($25) waved for Sunrise members, but we were still very disappointed in the number of entrants. Shreveport had been pretty darned cold in the days leading up to the race, but it IS called Frost Yer Fanny. It's always cold in February. No excuse. Thank you to the Sunrisers who did come out for the race!

Race start - ran over to say hi and goodluck to another CobbMobber!
William Ritter in black on right of shot - Overall Winner of the race!!

This race had a 3 mile run, 16 bike, 2 mile run. I've run 5 miles ONCE since I was sick...not really the best race prep. But then, hey... I don't usually race at all this early in the year and I've already done two multisport races. I've only done a whopping total of three duathlons in my entire life, like I said above, I'm a swimmer. I do know however to take the first run out a little bit conservatively and not blow up or you will pay dearly on the second run. My first 3 miles: 7:40 average (7:33, 7:49, 7:45) that's okay. It was tough watching a lot of ladies pull away from me in the beginning of the run, and I caught several of them before the end of the 3 miles.

Haha... that's my windproof shirt not my belly!!

I didn't get my cycling legs under me until about mile 11 and then finally saw some speeds over 21. Had some issues with my calves trying to cramp... first the right, then left, then right, and then left again... stupid calves. I really need to take better care of my legs. I've had calf cramping in the past, and I noticed it is when I toe down hard on the bike instead of keeping my feet flatter. Plus it's winter and my hydration is slacking in a big way. DRINK MORE WATER DAILY!! Passed two more girls on the bike but they both got me on the second run.

The second run.. noticed right away that the timing chip on my left ankle was biting into my leg..HARD! I thought I was going to be able to ignore it but it was really painful. I stopped and loosened it and here a week later it is still really sore to the touch. I think it is because the strap was over my tights and the seam on the outside was pressing really hard into my ankle. Had an 8:05 average (8:03,7:55) for the second run, nothing stellar about that one, not surprised by my lack of speed. But it's all good!

Finished in 1:30 and change - won my age group and got an awesome fleece blanket. This one is red and I love it!  They were also handing out Mardi Gras Beads as you crossed the finish line!! Two of the kids handing them out are my swimmers, so I got a lot of beads!

Denise won her Age Group in 1:22.08, was 5th Overall!! Brinn was 2nd in her Age Group with a 1:26.16 (she's in the same one as Denise) and placed 8th Overall!!  And I won my Age Group and was 12th Overall in 1:30.17.  Not too shabby for Tri Optimum Performance girls!!

Denise, Brinn, and Me!!

I don't know when I'll see my friends again, it may not be until River Cities in August but I hope to see them sooner. Miss these girls!! Congratulations on a good race friends!!

Dustbuster Du Race Report

Seven Spectators....that should tell you something about the Dustbuster Duathlon yesterday morning! And my poor husband was one of them! The entire time I was racing the thought, "this is so stupid" kept running through my mind.

Woke to a warm morning and heading over to the race the car temperature said it was 57...but all of that was soon to change because that arctic front that is all the talk of the nation this week was headed our way. It arrived with some really welcomed 18-20 mile an hour winds and rain just before the race was about to start. Nice.

Competitors ran for cover and the race crew scrambled as the finish line inflatables began to blow down. The temperature dropped 17 degrees. Hmmm... racing at 40 degrees with 20 mph winds and rain. Stupid!

I talked to my friend and fellow COSST coach Linda while setting up transition and she said that she didn't think she was going to race. She hadn't been on her bike in a year and a half and the roads were wet; she was worried about slipping. I said, "It's a really neat shirt". I got a look back that said, "??What are you talking about?" So I told her that she should at least do the first 1.5 mile run so she could wear the shirt. No race, no shirt.  Here we are lining up for the start! Yes, she raced and came in 2nd in her age group! I saw her at T2 and she said her fingers were so cold she couldn't get her helmet unbuckled.

Frozen toes. The first run wasn't bad at all, it rained on us a little. The trouble came when you had to get off the bike and get your socks soaked because of the puddles in the transition area. I had little "hot hands" under the toe covers on my cycling shoes but wet socks, even if they are Smartwool, combined with those temperatures means really, really cold feet.

Smiling at Bill!

The bike was a double out and back shaped like a "T". Of course it ran pretty much north and south...guess which way the wind was coming from? So a total of 8 miles, including the last leg, into the wind. I saw 14-15 mph on the headwind sections, tried to keep it over 15. I was almost blown off my bike by some side gusts, that was scary. But oh.. the downwind sections? 24-26 miles and hour!  Maxed at 28!

Frozen Feet!

I dawdled in the second transition. I didn't want to put my hat on the ground after the first run because it would have gotten soaked. (Should have worn a beanie). So I dropped it into my transition bag that was hanging from the bike rack. Normally I put my bag way off somewhere out of the transition area so it won't get in anyone's way, but a lot of people didn't show up for the race because of the weather so there was plenty of room.  So I first set my helmet on the ground... grabbed my hat, and then didn't like seeing my brand new helmet on the wet asphalt so I picked it up and put it in my transition bag. I know, I know.. but it was a low key race and I'm not in great shape so I wasn't that concerned about the extra time in transition. It was still only :45 seconds.

Still smiling "Hi Bill!"

Out onto the second run  .75 into the wind... my feet were like blocks of ice! Haven't felt that in a long time. Couldn't feel them at all, had no idea of what kind of pace I was running...felt like a turtle. At the turnaround I got some encouragement from another Sunrise Tri Club member, Eric, who said "ride the tailwind back in". What a difference! My feet finally loosened up and I finished strong - funny how a little encouragement at just the right time make such a difference!

Didn't hang around at all! I grabbed my stuff and Bill and I headed out immediately. Bill was frozen from standing around in the cold for 2.5 hours, what a trooper! He hung out in the freezing cold and took all the awesome photos!!! Thank you, Bill!

We headed to IHop for breakfast!! Yum! Multigrain pancakes!

Saw the results later in the day. Not great but all things considered an okay day!

My friend, Cheryl out there in the cold!
1st Place Age Group!

"What is the Dustbuster Du? This is your opportunity to see who is in the worst shape possible. Why else would anyone race in the midst of recovering from the holidays!! Oh yeah, it is a run, bike, run format event sanctioned by USAT!! So nobody cheats, Dustbuster will be Chip timed."