Duathlon Nationals, Richmond, Va. 4.25.10 Race Recap
Saturday morning, I headed into toward Richmond for the Duathlon Nationals. Getting a chance to complete against the big boy is always nice because this gives me an opportunity to watch and learn from the best around.
I arrived in Richmond around one 1pm. I took in some of the off road Duathlon event, picked up my packet, set in the Duathlon Town hall meeting, and listen in on the course preview meeting. Then, it was time for a bike check-in.
All bikes had to be checked in and racked the night before the race so come 4:30 there were hundreds of people waiting in line to enter the transition area.
I found my rack spot and hung my bike. The weatherman was calling for heavy storms and rain in the Richmond so like everyone I was doing my best to cover my bike. In preparation, my tool kit included scissors, a box of trashes bags, and blaze orange duct tape.
I probably spent some 30 minutes taping and wrapping my bike with trashes bags and duct tape. But I wasn't alone; everyone else was doing the same thing.
Then, it was off to the hotel and to get some rest.
6:20 AM the next morning, I was entering the transition area again to clear off my bike and finish my final prep. I cut away the trash bags and wiped the bike down to clear away all of the wet spots.
Then, I attached my power gels and added my water bottle filled with Gatorade.
I positioned out my bike shoes, gloves, and helmet. In what I thought would be the best way. Looking around, gear layout appeared to be more about personal preference than anything else. In additional I left an extra set of shirts and a towel – just in case I needed something extra.
Next, I headed back to my car for change of shoes and some warm up miles.
Since I didn't preview the course beforehand, I used my run warm up to check out the 5k course.
There were 4 sections of these large cobble stones. These sections were very hard to run over. If you are trying to picture it, think about crossing a river and jumping from one stone to the next. That's basically how I got over these sections.
There were some definite hills on the 5k course and the finish was uphill on grass for the last ½ mile.
After my little course tour, it was back to the car and time to change into my racing flats.
I got to the starting line about 10 minutes before our age group headed off so I grabbed a few last minute strides. Also I checked out what everyone was wearing. Mainly, to see how much cold everyone expected to endure on the bike. Pretty much, I had dressed similarly to everyone else. If it turned out to be colder, then I would have to just tough it out.
8:10 arrived and the horn sounded.
About 8 guys jumped out quick.
I quickly dropped in behind them. Not knowing anyone, I had no idea who was fast and who wasn't.
After about ½ they all started slowing down. By mile, I was leading by maybe 5 seconds. I probably added another 10 to 20 seconds over the next 2 miles.
Heading in the transition area, I started looking for my bike. Fortunately, while I watch others to see what they do, I also try to improve on my own where I can. Remember the blaze orange duct that I used to wrap my bike. Well, I left some of it wrapped on the rack so I could spot my bike from across the transition area. Definitely, it makes getting to your bike much faster.
In my first Duathlon, I had fumbled around for 3+ minutes in the transition area. This time I was in and out in 69 seconds. Let's you know what I little practice will do.
In hindsight I wish that I had pre rode the bike course because I was way too tentative on it. A lot of it was due to the wet roads but riding the course clearly would have helped me.
My first lap was clearly my slowest and I was on the brakes a lot. The 2nd lap was better and faster. I used the brakes much less. By the 3rd lap, I was rarely on the brakes. So much so that I took one turn and thought I wasn't going to make it. It was really close.
One section of the bike course was on a little 2 lane road which really got congested. Sometime, you would have to just follow until it cleared. I think the judges looked the other way on the drafting rule during this section.
Coming back to the transition area, the course crews were telling everyone to slow down. But as far as I could tell, everyone was coming in hot.
Again, I had a decent transition time – 50 seconds.
Then, the 2nd 5k run started.
By now, I really didn't have any idea where I was running in my age group. So many people were on the bike course that is real easy to lose track of where you are in the race.
My only goal during run was to pass as many people as possible.
If you are wondering what it feels like to come off a bike and started running. To me, this is how it feels. Think about how you legs feel about 23 miles into a marathon. They will turn over but nowhere near as fast as you would like. But unlike a marathon where you legs stay the same way until the end, my legs started to come around by the time I hit the mile mark.
From there, it was just pass as many people as possible.
Coming up the final hill and hitting the grass again was tough, and I don't remember how many 45-49 guys that I passed. Definitely, there were several of them. I passed one final 45-49 year old guy at the 3 mile mark. If wondering about how I know when I pass someone in my age, well, it is all about body markings. Before the race everyone has their numbers marked in Sharpie on the arms and their age written on the back of their calf. I had never thought about this type of thing before, but I would like to see the same type of thing used in road race. Just image, when you are coming to the finish of race, you could easily tell if the guy that you are racing is in your age. But this is just a side note.
But little did I know that passing him would move me into qualifying position for the "Worlds" in September.
Picked up my finisher medal and a cool drink and then headed back to the car. I did an easy warm down, picked up my bike, and headed back to Charlotte.
Setting here now, the experience was well worth the effort.
But if I want to compete with these guys, I have still have a lot of work to do. Foremost, I need to get my bike times down and I need to do more Duathlons.
One other side note, before you try multiple sports think about it because it is a lot more work than just running. Basically with running, you just need shirt, shorts, shoes, and socks. Just adding the bike mean you now have a ton of other stuff: air pump, helmet, gloves, spare tubes, etc. And, then there is packing. The bike gear along takes up a lot space.
You can watch my virtual racehere
Here's the break down from race.
Distance Intermediate
Clock Time 1:49:08
Overall Place 177 / 934
Gender Place 169 / 616
Division Place 18 / 84
Divtotal 84
Sextotal 616
Run1Time 17:35
Run1Pace 5:40
Run1Place 58
Tran1 1:09
Biketime 1:11:07
Bikemph 19.9
Bikeplace 333
Tran2 0:50
Run2Time 18:30
Run2Pace 5:58
Run2Place 64
Penalty
Final Thoughts from the Cool Down Runner.
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