We DU-it together This is a joint race report for Andy Fong (Andy) and Andrew Weston(Andrew) for the Muskoka Long Course Duathlon, June 15, 2003. This was the first long course race for both of us, so our goals were focused on learning and having a good time, as opposed to getting a certain time - this was a 'training race' for both of us, not a 'race race'. We met via email after Andy responded to a post Andrew put onto trirudy a couple of weeks ago. Andrew's offer of a shared-ride and accomodations convinced Andy to do the race, so bright and early Sat morning, Andrew arrived at Andy's front door, and after just a short time of spacial visual engineering, Andy's bike was installed in Andrew's car, and off we went. A short 4hr drive later (there are NO Tim Horton's between Renfrew and Huntsville, what's up with that?!?), we were in Huntsville, with time to check-in to our hotel, have lunch, and get to the race registration to get our kits. Then to where Lisa Bentley was signing autographs. What a class act she is!! Lisa very graciously signed our t-shirts, and posed for photos. Congrats to her for a successful defense of her title, and to her improved time over last year. We were thinking about sticking around to watch the Sprint Tri, but it was getting very hot, and we both wanted to prepare ourselves and our gear for tomorrow, so we fled back to the hotel after driving the Brunel Rd section of the bike course (we didn't drive the Hwy 10 section - bad mistake), and got ourselves physically and mentally ready for the race, and got to bed early. Up at 5am the next morning (did we sleep? - that sure was a long night), and down early to rack our bikes. It was just as well we got there early, as Andy needed time to fix a broken computer (thanks to the folks at Endursport). Finally, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, it was time to go. That 3km run to start was no way to 'get into race pace easily' - it was downhill, uphill, downhill, uphill, downhill, turn around, reverse back. Andrew, who was expecting to be dead last in this run (he likes to start slow) was thrilled to not be last into transition. Then onto the bike. The section on Hwy 10, that we hadn't scouted out on Sat sure was a nasty surprise - all those back-to-back-to-back hills! Andrew came off Hwy 10 back onto Brunel Rd psychologically battered, sore back, and tense all over. But knowing the rest of the bike course was easier? cheered him, and he was able to relax, and got rid of the sore back. At the turnaround bottle exchange, Andrew stopped to re-arrange his bottles, and the volunteer who assisted him was quite incredulous that we could still have a smile on our faces after cycling all that way! The rest of the bike went well - Andrew especially liked the 2mins that he was the focus of the CBC camera crew - back-of-the-packers aren't used to that much camera time! Andrew came into T2 feeling good, and thrilled with his time so far (already at this point 15min ahead of pre-race expectation splits). Andy, on the other hand, approached this long course duathlon quite differently, attacking the opening 3K run and 55K rolling hills as a sprint distance course duathlon and neglected to follow the fine art of balanced pacing, hydration and nutritional requirements that was prescribed for endurance events, nor had he done any hill training in the flat lands of Kanata, in preparation of the Muskoka terrain. Although, feeling strong and relaxed coming in the home stretch of the bike course, and entering the T2, he was on pace to completing a sub-3:20:00 finishing time. The 15km run off the bike was quite different for Andy and Andrew. Within a few minutes Andrew was feeling very good and comfortable at a faster-than-planned pace, and although the temp was hot and sunny, he didn't feel it at all. Andy, however, exiting the T2 onto the second run, was soon humbled by the Muskoka hills, as both his legs just seized up in the first 500 meters of the second run. After a few minutes of stretching and massaging out the legs, Andy gritted his teeth and determined to finish the race. At the run turnaround, Andrew was on-pace to finish about 25mins ahead of his pre-race expectations, but with 4.5km to go he caught up to Andy, who was reduced to full-time walking at this point, and decided to walk it in with him. We enjoyed the walk, discussed life, the universe, and everything, and how one's legs can freeze up (we decided that lack of hydration, not training on hills, and doing the bike section too hard were the things that had caused Andy's problems this day). We even tried to 'do a Bingham' (ie, duplicate what John Bingham wrote in the July 2003 issue of Runners World about eating pizza, burgers, and beer while walking a marathon), but since neither of us had any money on us, we had to give up on that idea. On the last hill, Andy decided to give running one more try, and after one false start, we sprinted down the hill to the finish, laughing and clapping all the way, to finish with the classic 'stop and jump' across the finish line onto the timing mats! We had fun, learned alot about what to do/what not to do, what works for each of us, and the experience of this long course race will help us in the future. Our hats off to Huntsville and all the volunteers, and to the other Trirudy people who also competed - we don't know too many of you yet, but we were introduced to a few more. And, after having met each other in person for the first time on Saturday morning, and then spending nearly the entire weekend together, Andy and Andrew are still friends. Andrew Weston Andy Fong