Race Coverage

My Cool Guy vs. My Smart Guy...

Thursday, 31 May 2018 23:10

By Ted Treise

APPLE DUATHLON RACE REPORT - Finally, after 6 months of being on the trainer listening to Macklemore’s Album ‘The Heist’ hundreds of times, creating a new food group entitled ‘Peanut Butter N’ Things’, early mornings of jumping into the pool, and late nights on the foam roller, massaging out the latest and greatest ache; it’s racing season! I could not be more exited and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world other than right here in Minnesota with family and friends. There is something special about being able to race local. The whole crew can be a part of the adventure, travel is minimized, and the participants are usually those who you’ve seen and read about before many times (thanks to MTN). All these ingredients came together for the 2018 Apple Duathlon. It’s a race right in the back yard of Minneapolis creating the perfect start to any multisport season.

Last year was my first trip to the Apple Duathlon. The main takeaway was it is impossible for another race like this to exist showcasing polar opposites of the calm, good times only, atmosphere vs. the sheer speed and world class athletes Apple attracts. This year was no different. MN Tri news posted a race preview on the who’s who of the race stating many national and world titles listed for each of the heavy hitters. I think this goes to show what happens when you throw a $1,800 prize purse into a pack of hyenas...

Run 1:
I picked an inside gate spot on the front row planning to keep up with the top 5ish. I knew their pace was probably going to be faster than I’ve ever ran with the likes of Jesson Baumgartner, Jake Braam, and a few others on the starting list. Was this keep-up-at-all-costs a smart pacing plan? Nope, far from it. But I needed to stay with the pack for a prayer at a top finish. The gun went off and our pace was flying around 5 min/mile. Knowing that my fastest 5K ever was around 17:00 min. or 5:30 pace, things were going exactly as planned... Finally, the group settled down and I found myself about 45 seconds back from the leaders running with Mr. Spoth. I tried drafting off him for the last mile or so of the 5K like they did on Breaking Two. I think it worked. Thanks Kris!

Bike:

The cool guy in me wanted to leave my shoes in the pedals for a flying mount out of the first transition. All the fast guys were doing it but I had reasons not to, 1.) I’m not greatly confident in my non-collapsing-the-bike-shoe-heel abilities that come with new shoes, and 2.) There’s a hill right after the mount line. (Tip by Ms. Vsetecka).

In transition before the race, everyone was silently being the antagonist by pre clipping in for a flying mount. It was like a middle school non-smoking video, ‘Come on, do it. Everyone else is doing it, don’t you want to be cool???’ Meh… I see my skills at par value AND that hill out of transition makes for a heck of a time trying to slip a foot in.

The decision paid off for the 500 feet that was the hill. I pedaled efficiently going up as I was clipped in with no smashed heel. WOO! This had to make up, like, 10 seconds… at least! Let it be known I passed Mr. Parish(briefly), however he cruised off after a few miles despite my best efforts to hang on. For the rest of the bike, I couldn’t help but notice how sore my legs were. I guess that’s what comes with the territory of running the fastest 5K in my life … in the first leg of a duathlon…

Run 2:

I came into transition hearing my folks, Dani, Mitch, and Jerry all cheering. If you try and tell me there is a better way to start a run leg, stop talking, pause for a moment, put down The Earth is Flat Monthly, and realize you are wrong. After cheesing on the start of the run, my spirits hit some turbulence during the hill we talked about earlier. For the remainder of the course, I was just excited to be racing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m walking on sunshine out there. The occasional thoughts of ‘hey that grass could use a tired racer laying on it’, and the always circulating thought of ‘Yup, this is it, walls are closing in’. But it’s all a part of racing and what makes this sport like no other. Coming into the finish, it was like an oasis in the desert getting to see everyone again after a short 18ish minutes. High fives and cheesy smiles for all, I could not be luckier to have the people around me that I do.

In all, the race was nothing short of amazing. Kudos to the race director, volunteers, and everyone apart of the multisport community for racing in one of the nation’s best duathlons. I’m already revved up for next year. You best bet I’ll be coming for one of those apples!

ED. Ted didn't mention here that he placed 5th overall. This is what we said abut that in our coverage:

Also very notable in the men's competition was TED TREISE's 5th place finish. Not only did his 1:26:09 better his 2017 7th-place effort here by a full minute, the list of the elite men he managed to outperform read like a Who's Who.

We also recommend that you check out Ted's blog; venturetri.com