My Change of Pace Race

Atop the podium for the third year in a row

Time for a no pressure fun race. Most of the races I do are pretty crazy by just about anyone’s standards: 200+ miles of gravel roads, 100 miles on a mountain bike with over 10,000 vertical feet of climbing, 12-hour endurance races; but each year I try to do one race that is a little different, a little less intense, but still a ton of fun. Enter the Bay City Driathlon.

Yes, you read that right; a Driathlon. Not a tri or a du. And it is a team event. The race starts with a 5k canoe, followed by a 20k bike and finishes with a 5k run. For the team aspect, you canoe with your teammate, then both of you bike and run and all of your times are added together for a total team time. 

For the canoe portion my teammate Ryan had a 36:51 while I had a 36:54 (he was in the front of the canoe and able to get out and head to transition before me-CHEATER). I am not able to think of anything else fun to write about canoeing; but on a positive note, we did not tip over and drown.

I was able to get out of transition just a pinch quicker than Ryan and was on my way to putting up the fastest bike split of the day at 23 mph with a time of 32:17. I am pretty happy with this time although last year I was a few seconds quicker. I can chalk that up to hitting significantly more bike traffic on my second lap this year. Last year we were in the very first wave and the waves were spread out a few minutes; this year there were two waves of kayaks before us and they started each wave as fast as they could fill roughly 30-40 canoes so more people were able to finish their canoe and start biking before I finished my bike.

I had another solid transition from bike to run and headed out for the 5k run along the Saginaw river. I stopped long enough to take a drink at the turn around aid station, roughly 3 seconds, before heading back towards the finish line. I finished my run at a 6:40/mile pace (20:39), this was also the fastest run split for all team racers. There were two relay teams and one kayaker who put up faster times, but not much. Not bad with how heavy my legs felt thanks to making the wise decision to do a 62 mile ride the day before.

For the third year in a row I was able to finish first overall. My individual time was 1:30:44. The closest team racer was over 7 minutes back, while the closest kayaker was nearly two minutes back. We also won the team race for the third year in a row with a time of 3:10:38; over 27 minutes ahead of the second place team in out division and 8 minutes ahead of the second fastest team of the day.

Other good news, my wife and her teammate Beth were able to win their team division for the third year in a row as well.

Double Three-Peat!

All in all, a solid performance considering I only get in a canoe once a year and run for some cross training in addition to my bike workouts.

Fuel for the day:

Pre-Race: Fully Charged and a serving of Hammer Gel

On the Bike: HEED

In transition before the run: Hammer Gel

Post-Race: Recoverite

Every time I finish this race it reminds me what it is like just to go out and have fun on course. It is not that I don’t have fun doing my other races, but with endurance races a big part of the fun for me is accomplishing somethings most others would not even dream of attempting (I will not try to kid myself, I enjoy the success I have in endurance races as well). Would I trade one type of fun for the other, no; but it is nice to get a taste of both.

My new shirt, Thanks Brett

Any resemblance is purely coincidental 

Up next is a slightly even more crazy than average adventure; yes, even for me. I will be intentionally vague with the details but I expect to be on my bike for roughly 20 hours straight (with the exception of a few short pit stops for fuel and bathroom breaks) and expect to fully hate everything for about 4 of those and be mad at the world for another 6. It should be fun.

Mileage update for those who may want to know. As of the morning of 9/21/18 I am at 7,971.96 miles for the year between biking and running. To be on track to hit 10,000 by year end I would need to be at 7,500 by the end of September so I am a bit ahead of schedule.