Goals for Duathlon Nationals

On Saturday, I gave my "race course preview" for this weekend's "Duathlon Nationals" being held here in St. Paul. But I didn't give my personal thoughts on what I wanted to do at the race. Here they are:

FIRST RUN: Run hard. I have to let the fast runners go, and run my own race. I can't be wussy though.

BIKE: With the big climb just seconds into the ride, this could be tricky. "Bike hard, but don't die." (That's good advice, right?) I have no idea what sort of average I should hold because of that big Ohio Hill climb we have to do twice. In fact, I've *considered* racing without a Garmin so I race totally by feel and not to hit a certain number. I just don't think I could do it (or it would simply drive me crazy), so I'll still race with my Garmin and glance at my pace, but it should not affect me. I just need to go hard here.

In the end, I need to be finishing the bike feeling MORE HASHED THAN EVER BEFORE coming off the bike in a duathlon! I'm not just saying that because I want to push hard and perform well - it's also just basic math: I've never done a duathlon where the final run is THIS short (just 1.55 miles), so I SHOULD be more tired than I've ever been before as I get off the bike. There's so little left to run.

SECOND RUN: There's no "easing into" this run. I need to be off and running HARD ASAP. I should be able to keep every half-mile split under 3:00, but again like I said with the bike, I hope to just look at my pace but not change my effort. I'm just running on the verge of death here.

OVERALL: This is a long, long, long shot, but I'll be gunning for a podium spot in my age group. (Awards go 3-deep in the short course.) Think I'm being a sand-bagger or being coy about this? I'm not. When I looked at last year's results, 1st and 2nd overall were in my age group. "OK," I hear you saying, "but what were their splits - can you hang with them?" Short and complete answer: NO. I cannot. As I noted in this post from mid-April, I saw that 3rd place overall was Kevin O'Connor last year. Kevin is the owner of Gear West Bike and Tri out in Long Lake, and he was the 2009 USAT Duathlete of the Year. I can't keep up with him on the run, and he can out-bike me with 0 effort. Literally. He can not be trying, and he'll still bike faster than me. I canNOT hang with him. But I'll be giving it my all to see what I can pull out of my butt.

POST RACE: Cake. No really... CAKE. Ask my sister-in-law who's racing with me:

Facebook on Tuesday night.

Saturday is the big day! The long course race (with Annie's BF Matt) starts at 8:00 a.m., and Annie and I race in the short course race at noon. Keep an eye on my twitter account for updates. WISH US LUCK!!