I raced the Lake Erie 100 mile Duathlon this past weekend and finished as the overall winner.  My original plan was to race the triathlon, but with Lake Erie temps at 57 degrees, I did not feel safe to tackle the one mile swim.  I only have a farmer style wet suit, a full sleeve was what the RD highly suggested.  Scott Mazon of Team ER was kind enough to lend me his.  Never having raced or even attempted an open water swim in a full suit before, I followed the adage, “nothing new on race day,” and decided to switch to the duathlon

The format was a one mile opening swim for the tri, a one mile run for the du.  Then the two races joined together for an 84 mile, 3 loop bike, and a 15 mile out and back run.

The race was low key with a low turnout.  Given the time of year and distance, the race was loaded with long time endurance junkies up for a unique challenge

Being the first year, the RD may have set his sights a bit high.  The RD was a really nice guy but the bottom line is he was unable to deliver on the logistics of such a long race.  As you will read in my report, some of the logistical situations bordered on dangerous.

As is always the case on away races, I traveled with the family and we made a mini vacation out of the weekend spending Friday at the beach at Geneva on the Lake.  The kids brought their bikes to chase dad along the run course paths, and Lisa brought her running legs

At 730am on Saturday morning, the horn went off and I settled into a nice easy pace.  A few of the younger kids took off, I guess they forgot this opening run was only 1 of 100 miles.  I entered T1 in 3rd place, with an opening mile of 625 and felt perfect.

Less than a minute later I was out on the bike and soon caught the 2nd athlete and a little while later, the first athlete.  I was now in first place and it was a very lonely ride.  It was also getting hot and windy.

Without getting into too many details of an 84 mile ride, suffice to say I rode at a 80% FTP level and tried to keep each loop at the same time as the previous.  I was able to do this and finish the bike in 3:55, good for a 21.4mph average.  I was happy with this because included in my final time were the following

• poor on course directions with no volunteers at some of the intersections
• the turnaround cone on the out and back was in the ditch on the side of the road.  I went past the turnaround, only by luck did I notice the paint on the road marking the cone.  After riding past where the turnaround was for about a minute, I decided to turn around.  Thankfully they had the cone up at the right spot for the rest of the riders and for myself on loops 2 and 3
• train stop time of 1′ was not taken off my bike split
• bike aid stations had cups of HEED, only one station had bottles. I had to stop twice and physically pour three cups of HEED into my aero drink bottle
• there were four sets of tracks we had to cross, one was so bad I grendaded my two water bottles on it. This forced me to come to a complete stop at the aid station that had HEED in bottles and load up for loop 3
• the HEED was significantly dilluted
• did I mention it was HOT and WINDY and I was pretty much alone all day?

Entering T2 I had the entire transition area to myself.  I took time to take in an extra drink and gell, laced up my race flats, popped on my visor and headed out.  Turns out the extra nutrition in T2 was a blessing

The run was a 15 mile out and back, and being the first one on the course, it was again very lonely.  It was also understaffed and not well marked.  NO signage, only spray paint at certain points.  Thank goodness I listened well to the pre race briefing and remembered some of the landmarks the RD mentioned would be on the run course.  This kept me sane believing I was on course.

The real problem with the run course were the aid stations, or lack thereof.  The race was advertised as having aid stations every mile.  Well the mile one aid station only had warm water when I went through.  There was nobody at aid station two, only a table and a gallon jug of water.  I could not even find # 3 and #4.  So by the time I hit mile 5, aid station #5, I was thirsty and in need of some nutrition.  Did I mention it was HOT?  Did I mention this was a 100 mile race, not a 5k?  The volunteers at the 5 mile aid station were nice but again, luke warm water, some gells and some warm HEED.  I drank the HEED, pocketed a few gells and poured the warm water over my head and headed out.  The run through the town of Geneva on the Lake was miserably hot.  Lots of cars, lots of fried food stands, lots of traffic/exhaust/cigarette smoke and people.  No marshalls to direct traffic, I almost got hit twice by autos turning right.

Once out of town things got worse.  No cones on the road, no volunteers at the aid stations.  Just a table with “who knows what” on it.  I sampled what the tables had to offer and then would be on my way.  This constant stopping every mile was doing a number on my legs, not to mention my time.  Probably 30″ per mile added to my run time.   Normally on long course, I like to keep moving as I feel stopping speeds up the processes that leads to dead legs.  Unfortunately, it was pay now or pay later.  Blow through the aid tables without stopping and you were destined to blow up later on the run!

I hit the run turnaround and  written on the road in paint were the words, “watch out for traffic,” we were definitely on our own out there.  As I headed back to town I could sense that I was getting low on nutrition, thankfully when I train I do so with a minimalist approach vs setting up a buffet table.  This teaches the body to burn fat as a primary fuel source and it seemed to really help me out there on the course.

So as I neared mile 11 I saw a volunteer rushing up to the aid station with some supplies.  I clicked the lap button on my watch as I do so every mile, my split through 11 miles was 1:23:54.  In spite of the lack of on course nutrition, volunteers, marshalls, manned aid stations, traffic, poor course signage and having to stop at every aid station, I was still clipping off miles at an average pace of 7:38 through 11.  Not bad given the conditions, which were about to take a turn for the worse

The volunteer at the mile 11 aid station asked me what I wanted.  “HEED,” was my reply.  Did not have any mixed.  “How about water or a banana,” she asked……no thanks.  “Hey, I have some Coke.” SWEEEEEEEEEEEEET, I thought, “yes mam, load me up.”  And it was at THAT point where I should have run for the hills.  The Coke was not flat/left to sit for a day to de-fizz, she cracked open a brand spanking new 2 liter bottle.  I gulped down half a glass, then took off for the final four miles.  About 200 yards down the road it hit me like a pitchfork in my side.  The most severe side stitch I have ever had.  I actually had to heel over to get it to calm down, then I could walk ever so slowly.  Any attempt at running was useless.  SO, I walked.

In the final four miles I was able to belly breath, use long exhales and start to do more of a run / walk, but the stitch would always come back.  I went through miles 12, 13 and 14 avg close to 10 minute miles.  Mile 15 started right near the finish line, you did a half mile out, and then a half mile back to the finish.

My kids were there, Luke yelled that I was going to break 6 hours…poor kid didn’t realize I had one more mile to go.  Nonetheless, I gutted it out and ran the final mile w/o walking posting a 7:54 final mile.  I crossed the line with my two wonderful children and best fans ever. My #1 Lisa was there to get it on film

Final results:

6:06:08

First OA

Final Run Split of 2:01:28 – 8:06 pace  I gave back almost 30″ per mile for the entire 15 miles in the final 4 miles but I learned a valuable lesson.  “Never drink cola that has not been de-fizzed!!!!”

All in all it was a great training effort for long course racing.  Once in awhile it’s probably a good thing to toughen up with less than perfect conditions.  That being said, I would like to point out that the RD was a very nice young man and had only the best intentions for the athletes.  Sometimes you get in a little over your head, and I think he was caught off guard by the magnitude of such a long event

Train hard, race harder!!  Go TEAM ER

Mark Gorris