Race Reflections — 2023 Prospect Park Duathlon
Oh boy… what am I getting myself into… I’m not sure at what point I decided that I wanted to try duathlons/triathlons. the prior week, I did the Mountain Man Biathlon (actually a trail duathlon) and now I’m doing a race organized by NY Triathlon. It might be cause I have a coworker I cycle with who does Ironman races and being the Type II fun person that I am, I thought that it’d also be really cool to suffer through an Ironman 70.3 or something insane like that. That goal is still totally unrealistic, but I guess that’s how I ended up dipping my toes into duathlons/triathlons. And even though I cycle, I am a terrible runner and an even worse swimmer.
The Prospect Park Duathlon was a 2 mile run + 10 mile bike + 2 mile run format. Pretty short compared to Olympic distance and just a tiny fraction compared to an Ironman 70.3. The Mountain Man race the week before was trail runs and mountain biking. This race was all on road. So it seemed like a purer snapshot of current running and cycling ability. But with multiple knee injuries from playing Ultimate on turf fields, running on pavement is something I tended to avoid. When I went through my latest knee injury, my physical therapist’s gait assessment noted that I take very long strides when I run, resulting in hard heel strikes and thus more knee trauma. So, my plan was let’s just take an easy pace and aim for shorter strides, and see how things goes.
As I setup my gear at the transition zone at dawn, my pre-race nerves started acting up. Or maybe it was just cause it was really cold that morning. After a warm-up lap on the bike, the national anthem, and downing an energy gel, I anxiously shuffled to the starting line, sitting toward the back of the crowd. With the start of the race, I was instantly reminded of how much I disliked running.
I struggled my way through the first run and spent too much time fiddling with my devices during the transition, but happily hopped onto my bike for the second leg, which I knew would be my strength. I made up a lot of lost ground on the bike, but those gains were all wiped away by my strained running. I ended up finishing around the middle and though during the actual running I felt like I was going to die, my body felt perfectly fine a couple minutes after the race. So, even though I need to significantly improve my VO2 max, I also need to work on my baseline. Yeah… I need to work on everything…
I guess this was a test. Not for my fitness, but more for whether or not I am serious about getting into duathlons/triathlons. If so, I need to create a training plan for myself and actually train and make gains ahead of next season’s races. But first I need to figure out how serious I am about this.
