Race Recap: PhilDuaSeries Leg1 2015

The good:

1. Good race route
2. Sufficient hydration stations
3. Good number of race marshals
4. Great turnout of over 800 duathletes!

For improvement:

1. Started an hour late (7am) due to only 1 laptop processing the reg/bike check-in. 
2. Inaccurate distance based on my Garmin: 
• Run1 was 4.17km instead of 4km
• Bike was 27.6km instead of 25km
• Run2 was 4.77km instead of 4km

Race plan:

Trainingpeaks TSS was at 6+, which meant that the 1 week cram for taper may somehow work. I was able to put in a tempo and speedwork session 2 weeks prior to race day so hopefully that will carry me here. Plan was to pace Run1 at 6:30/km, Bike at 27-28kmh, and Run2 at 6:00/km. Gels must be taken every 30mins as prescribed. My standing PR for a 4-25-4 duathlon is 1:47 (2014). I am not aiming for that (yet), but finishing somewhere in that vicinity, at my current shape, would be a good boost for the season.

Race performance:

The delay in gun start proved one thing was for sure: by the time I start Run2, it'll be very hot. Thus, I went to the water station near the starting area and gulped as much as I can.

By 7am, we were off running.

That's me in the Smart tri top

Run1 was supposed to be 6:30/km but my Garmin (and my adrenalin) had other plans: 6:00/km. I was feeling somewhere between ok and great so I kept it at that pace, thinking that it's only 4km anyway and that I will just hydrate and recover as much as I can on the bike. Run1 finished at 25:20 with 6:06/km average pace. Took a gel after km1.

The bike was next and I was all too familiar with the Nuvali loop already, probably being my 3rd or 4th time here. I managed to do well, IMO, as I pushed the long low-grade climbs and short high-grade ones on the way to a 26.0kph average for the 27.6km ride. Slacked off probably on the downhill mainly to recover for Run2. Maybe I should've pedaled more then. Took a gel 20mins into the ride and another one just before reaching T2.

Run2 will show how much I am prepared (or not) for this race. My last duathlon, the one in Porac, saw me bonking and walking Run2. It showed that I wasn't able to pace myself during Run1 and the Bike that I had nothing left for Run2. An unforgettable experience for me.

This time, I was able to pace myself well, running the 4.7km course in 6:09/km pace. I was running constantly and fully concentrated on the effort. I doused myself with water in the hydration stops so that helped, even if I think that the weather then was sunny but not that hot. I wasn't even mindful of the exceeded distance (0.77km) as I was running smoothly, IMO. 

What worried me in Run2 was that average HR was at 161, with peak HR at 176. Run1 ave HR was only at 151. I may need to find out how to improve on this for the next race. Probably more bike-run brick workouts next time?

I finished the race in 2:04. Because of the added distance, if I calculate the average paces I raced with the 4-25-4 distance plus estimations on the T1 and T2 time, I may have finished at 1:55. That's pretty acceptable for me. 

Definitely with a big room for improvement.

Oh well, there's always the next race to look forward to. :)