Hagerstown duathlon #2 - The season is over!

Yay! The season (for me anyway) is over!  It was long, it had some highs (first age group win), lows (complete debacle at my "A" race),  and some unexpected twists (training in Florida for 3 weeks).  But when all was said and done, I finished the season with 2 impressive performances and a huge amount of knowledge gained (more on that later).

Hagerstown duathlon #2 - Race report (1.9 mile run, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run)

Pre-race:

One of the things I really like about this race is it does not start until 9:30!  Despite that fact,  I still need to be at the race site by 8:15 or so to get registered, but at least I have ample time to wake up and warm up.  This is the fourth time I have done this race.  The race is run two times a year, once in April and then again in October.  This race is my first and last race of the year.  As such, it is a great way to gauge my progress from the time the season starts through the end of the year.  I spent the hour or so before the race chatting with other racers and testing out a new tool in my racing arsenal.  I recently started using Best Bike Split .  Best Bike Split will devise a Garmin workout based on your personal function threshold power (FTP) data, the course you are riding and your bike specs.  After entering the data, Best Bike Split will then generate the power numbers you need to hold based on the elevation profile and your FTP.  It will tell how much power to use and how long to maintain that output.  This was my first race using the workout generated for me, so I wanted to do a brief test run prior to the start of the race.   After seeing the numbers appear on my screen I felt ready try it out for real.  There was still a some time before the race started so I watched the kids duathlon that they run prior to our race.  It's great to see the future of the sport with their bikes with baskets, and watermelon helmets! As the kids were finishing their race I was getting ready to start mine.  I was definitely seeking the podium in this race so I made sure to position myself near the front at the start at keep an eye on the competition in my age group.  There were a few racers I knew would be tough competition so I made sure to keep an eye on them when the gun went off.

Run 1:

The first 5 minutes are always the worst.  Going from standing still to 7 minutes per mile is never pleasant. So I can only imagine how hard it must be for the guy in my age group who was lighting it up with 6 minute miles!  Oh well, maybe I'd catch him on the bike (I say this merely to console myself, I don't think I really believed that).   A number of racers went out really fast.  Despite this I stayed well within my planned pace and finished the first 1.9 miles in 13:35 (7:09 per miles).  As I entered transition I figured I was about 40th overall and maybe 4th in my age group.  But I was in contention!  With the exception of that 6 minute mile guy everyone else was within striking distance. So into transition I ran.....

T1:

I'm usually pretty quick in transition, but someone must have hit my bike and my helmet got all messed up.  It took me some time to get the whole strap thing straightened out and that jacked up my T1 time by about 20 seconds.   Still I got out of there in 51 seconds and onto the.....

Bike:

I guess you could say this is the portion of every event I ultimately live for.  I turned on my Best Bike Split workout and the numbers started pouring in.  So now I had a plan to follow as I turned the pedals.  One thing about the workout plan is that some of the power numbers are for very short periods of time. So you might be asked to maintain, say, 225 watts for 1 minute, but by the time you get dialed into said 225 watts, it may be time to dial in another wattage, and with wattage as chaotic as it is, dialing in the right amount can be quite challenging.  Needless to say I saw quite a few, "low wattage" and "high wattage" alerts.  Despite the challenge, I felt really strong on the bike and was reeling in cyclists left and right.  About 3 miles in a guy in my age group went by me like the TGV!  Dude was moving!  Despite that, I felt pretty good and no one else passed me.  OK that is not quite true, one other racer did pass me but I re-caught him later in the race.  With 1 mile to go I saw one other racer in my age group up ahead, I passed him briefly only to have him re-pass me on a steep hill.  I kept him within site, took my feet out of my shoes with 1/4 mile to go, and zip passed him in....

T2:

Perfect T2, 29 seconds, 8th fastest in the race.  Need I say more ?

Run 2:

This is the make or break part of every duathlon.  I knew I would need to run really fast to maintain what I thought was my current 3rd place (turned out I was wrong I was actually in 4th, but whose counting...).  My legs felt pretty good as I left T2, but I knew it would still be a few minutes until they loosened up completely.  I was running pretty well (7:43 pace) when M45-49 #4 raced past me.  I tried to stay with him and I managed to for about 1/10 of mile before I realized his pace was not going to relent but mine would need to.  Despite my desire, I had to let him go or risk spontaneously combusting.  I still believed I could catch him (delusional I was obviously).  Now I was determined not to let anyone else catch me.  A few young speedy guys did pass me around mile 2, but I didn't feel to bad about that.  With about 1/2 a mile to go I was strangely alone.  I could still see M45-49 #4 but he was too far ahead of me to think about trying to close on him.  I glanced behind me but no one was in site (the course is sort of curvy here so it hides any chasers pretty well).  At this point I just decided to make sure I got the PR I had planned (I was shooting for 1 hour 9 minutes and 30 seconds).  I ran hard to the finish and almost coughed up a lung upon crossing the finish line.  Not a great feeling, but not altogether unexpected either.  I gave up my timing chip and went over to check my splits.

Post race:

I finished 5th in my age group, but amazingly I was 24th overall!  This means that old guys between 45 and 49 made up an astounding 20% of the top 24.  Pretty impressive for us old guys!  I was right about that 6 minute per mile guy, I never did see him again, but I did out split him on the bike so it was a small victory.  I can also console myself with the fact that I had the 12th fastest bike split in the race.  I was very happy about that.  I also was happy with my overall time of 1 hour 8 minutes and 9 seconds.  This was better than 4 minutes faster than my previous best race in Hagerstown.  It's gonna be tough to PR next April, but I will cross that bridge when I get there.

Post race analysis also showed that my power output was somewhat lower than I am capable of. What does that tell me you ask?  Well a couple of things.  For one, I can do a faster bike split.  The Best Bike Split workout seemed like it had the right numbers (in fact, it predicted a faster bike split). It was, however, difficult to hit the correct number constantly due to the quick changes.  I intend to give this program another shot, perhaps on a longer course with fewer elevation changes, to see how accurate the program really can be. By and large Best Bike Split was still helpful for preventing me from going too hard and perhaps that accounted for my good second run off the bike.

Its now time to take a break for a few weeks and take in all that I have learned this season.  One thing that has become evident is that I seem to race better later in the year, so next year I will target all my major events later in the year.  Live, learn, enjoy and best of luck to all those still racing.

Peace

Rob