The DuceMan Commeth

This weekend is the Deuces Wild Triathlon Festival, one of the more popular events in the southwest. This is a full weekend of triathlon beginning on Saturday with the half-iron taking off at 6:30 and the Olympic taking off at 8:00 and Sunday is the X-terra, which kicks off at 7:00. Not only is there a full weekend of triathlon there is a huge raffle Saturday evening. The raffle is a massive hand out of over $17,000 worth of gear.

This year the DuceMan 70.3 is also one of the qualifying events for the USA Triathlon HalfMax National Championships and the USAT Long Course world Championships. As far as the HalfMax Championships they do have a Clydesdale and Athena Division and I would have to run a 5:40:00 in order to qualify for nationals. The other way to qualify would be to place in the top 25% of my age group. I don’t know if I can qualify for nationals in my age group but if allowed I would need to place in the top 25%.

So my goal for this race is to qualify for long course nationals. This can only mean one thing...my 70.3 PR will have to fall...by just over 15 minutes. I don’t know if I would actually commit to racing nationals if I qualify, I haven’t thought that far ahead, but I’d sure like to qualify.

So, what will I have to face to meet this goal you ask? Let me introduce you to the course.

The swim, they tell me, is flat…we’ll see. It is a 1.2 mile triangular swim in Fool Hollow Lake and the water temp is supposed to be 67 degrees, perfect!


The bike is not flat. The website describes it as a 56 mile ride that will take you through Ponderosa pines, the high desert and many small towns and communities. They also say the course is exceptionally fast with a few hills at about the 40 mile mark. I’m looking at the bike profile and can sort of see it but the course is a loop, whatever elevation you lose you also gain…whatever. I’m keeping it in mind that I’ll be on an “exceptionally fast” course and just go for it. I am also hoping that I’ll really get a chance to see how the new bike performs; I have yet to ride it in what could be construed as good conditions.

The run course is not flat either. It begins with a couple hundred feet or so of climbing but this takes place over 4 miles and then it is generally down hill with a couple little rollers thrown in. I don’t know how I’ll attack this yet, I want to see it first. I’ll probably try a moderate pace on the climb and then try and pick it up to my 5K pace for the last two miles. I think I can hang on to the end running like that, we’ll see.

The GEEKGRL will also be doing the haf with me. She was originally registered for the Oly but decided to jump to the half as a good fitness test in preparation for IM Louisville. There will also be a number of other Outlaws racing…it’s going to be a good time!