I had an awesome time down in Richmond this weekend -- first, on Saturday when my son ran his first race ever, and then on Sunday when I notched a 5k PR, rode like hell and managed to keep it together on the 2nd run despite massive quad cramps.
(A duathlon is a run/bike/run race. Biathlon is skiing and shooting, very different.)
The weather threatened to storm on both days, but ultimately the skies were kind to us -- a good thing too, because the course could perhaps best be described as "not flat." 12 trips over the James river, a FUN rolling section, and lots of sharp turns and cloverleafs to get on/off the highways.
My coach's insistence that I work on my technical biking skills paid off big time, as I was able to stay aero and pedal through descents and turns that had many people -- and would have, a year ago -- had me up in the saddle riding the brakes. Thanks B!
The first run started off with a bomb down 5th street towards the river -- huge huge downhill, and with the wet ground that was plenty scary. Then off on a curvy but flat run through the old canals of richmond, and finally up hill back to the transition. I missed the first mile marker, and when I got to mile 2 and looked at my watch (fully expecting to see something along the lines of ~14 minutes) and saw "12:55" I thought, DAMN -- I don't think I've ever ran 3 miles anywhere near 6:30, and mindful of the fact that it was going to be a long day, I backed off just a touch, finishing the 5K in 20:45 -- average speed, 6:41 per mile. The only other 5k I can find a record of is at the end of a sprint tri last year, when I ran 23:26 -- 7:33 a mile. So, Woot! 90 seconds is a lot of time in a 5k.
Keep in mind, though, that my time was good enough for 308th out of 934 -- fully 1/3 of the entrants ran faster. Tough field!
As I mentioned above, I felt really, really good about my bike ride. I had just set up my power tap computer the week before, and on Saturday I discovered that the batteries in the wheel were dead. So, I just raced on feel, pushing the biggest gear I could while keeping the cadence in the 90s. 1 hour 6 minutes for 25 miles = 21.4 MPH, which is good -- last week in Bumpass, I was a full 1.5 mph slower than that, and this course was way, as I said, less flat. riding the course pre-race was a huge help, as I was able to corner aggressively and be in the right gear to climb/descend from the get go.
Bikeplace - 166 out of 934. Now THAT is a lot more respectable.
The second run was . . . not as easy. I didn't have gatorade in my waterbottle on the bike, and I think that was a factor inasmuch as I had fairly serious quad cramps within a couple of minutes of starting the second run. I pushed through, walking the first two aid stations to pound some gatorade and try to get some electrolytes to my muscles, then just gutting it out. I think two guys in my Age Group passed me on the run -- I tried to hang with the first one, and managed for maybe a kilometer, but he just ground away from me. The second guy went past me in the last mile and he was tearing it up -- I couldn't to anything but watch him vanish around a corner. The final push to the finish line was back up that hill we started down (thank goodness we didn't have to climb the whole thing), fairly brutal, and put a dent in my final kick. But I think, at the end of the day, a pretty good second run. 22:42, 7:19 per mile -- which would have been fast enough for a PR anyway, so no complaints! :P
The top 18 finishers in the Age Group qualify to go to worlds in Scotland -- I felt pretty darn good about my day, but I hadn't passed too many people on the bike, and so I didn't have my hopes too high when I went to see my results --overall time, 1:51:06 213th overall (of 934), 194th of 616 men, and 36th out of 106 men 40 -44. (25th place was 1:45:09, and 18th 1:41:47.)
Here's my takeaway from the weekend, though. My son finished last in his division -- but was thrilled to have been there, enthusiastic about doing more races, and pleased with his performance. I wish I could be more like him that way.
Age: 41 Gender: M
Distance Intermediate
Clock Time 1:51:16
Overall Place 213 / 934
Gender Place 194 / 616
Division Place 36 / 106
Divtotal 106
Sextotal 616
Run1Time 20:45
Run1Pace 6:41
Run1Place 308
Tran1 0:44
Biketime 1:06:21
Bikemph 21.4
Bikeplace 166
Tran2 0:46
Run2Time 22:42
Run2Pace 7:19
Run2Place 359
Penalty
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