Race Recap: Desert Classic Duathlon

Cold and rain was not at all what I expected this past weekend at the Desert Classic Duathlon in Scottsdale, Arizona. With the temps in the 80s when I left Hobbs I imagined beautiful weather in Arizona, wrong. About an hour inside of Arizona the rain began to fall. It quickly turned to snow once Flagstaff was in sight. I might have turned back for Hobbs if I knew that most of my time in Arizona would either contain rain or snow. I finally arrived in Scottsdale after a few days of driving.  After a late lunch and a stroll by packet pick-up I began to head toward the race sight. Did I mention this is where I would be sleeping for the night?! I was thankfully able to store my bike inside of the warm and cozy Trisports.com trailer out of the brutal weather (Thanks Tom and Shari). I folded up inside of my single cab pickup and slept exceptionally well for the circumstances. The Trisports.com and Phoenix Tri Club crews were unbelievably gracious. Once I settled in for the night it was becoming more of a reality that I had a race the next morning.

   Photos taken by Claire Moty

After an oatmeal bar I grabbed my bike from the Trisports.com trailer and rolled into the transition area. It was still cold and still wet. I knew this race attracted a number of professionals, but was surprised when I saw Jordan Rapp setting up his transition. Knowing I wouldn’t be the center of attention this weekend, or even on anyone’s radar, I quietly found an empty spot and racked my bike. My first duathlon and first race of 2011 was about to get underway. I stood on the front of the start line ready to give my legs an early season go. The pace started fast as expected and the field began to string out about two miles into the first run. Heading back to transition I was in about 25^th position. I was ready to get on my bike and see what I had. 3 miles into the 21 mile bike course I found myself in a fast pack and moving to the front of the field. Once we hit the five mile mark I hit the gas, pulling away from two seasoned athletes who were pushing the pace. I made a large gap pretty quickly and thought I would actually have a chance to make up some time. Without thinking I continued to increase my pace and the gap on the majority of the field. Around mile 12 I began to fatigue and started to think my move was maybe a bad idea. I settled into a pace and made it back to transition with only a few guys in front of me. It was time for run number two. The trails beat my legs all morning and I had fairly slow run times. I was disappointed at first (16th AG overall), but realized that I haven’t been training for strength to run on trails; I’ve been training for speed. I was convinced if the runs were on the road I would have been at the front of the pack. With the first race of the season down I’m happy with where my fitness is and glad I was able to support a Trisports.com event. Next stop Tucson for the Team Trisports.com training camp.

Great photo album of the day:http://www.slowtwitch.com/News/A_Desert_Duathlon_gallery_1904.html