Two Sundays ago I competed in my first race in over two years, the New York City Duathlon in Central Park. The following is my race report.
Pre-Race
Going into the race I felt cautiously optimistic. I had been training for months upon months and was really happy with my fitness level. I did have a nagging pain in my left knee, but nothing I was too worried about. Race morning I threw my stuff together, packed up the family, and headed down to the Path station. Once I arrived in New York City I jumped on my bike and headed up to Central Park, stopping at a Duane Reade drug store for pre-race granola bars and Gatorade (this was truly an urban race). I had plenty of time to set up my transition area, practice transitions a bit, hit the bathroom, warm up, stretch, and head to the starting line.
First Run (2 miles)
I seeded myself towards the front of the pack, as I felt pretty good about my run fitness. The course consisted of an out-and-back from 72nd Street to 96th Street. The run began on a fairly long and steep uphill, and I reminded myself to shorten my stride and just grind through it. I would then lengthen my stride on the downhills and try to maintain a steady pace on the rare flat sections. I was passed by a few people in the first half mile or so, but passed most of them and more the rest of the way. One last thing--there is NO DOUBT in my mind the run course was long. When I got back into transition and saw my time I was shocked--hills or no hills, given my perceived effort level, there is no way I ran that slow.
Bike (12 miles)
After a fairly efficient first transition I was on the bike course, which consisted of two loops around Central Park. I must say if there was one portion of my race I was not pleased with, it was the bike. I was passed by several racers, and in just about every case it was like I was standing still. Maybe I am just trying to justify my subpar performance, but I felt like I had brought a knife to a gun fight--just about everyone that raced by me had deep dish aero wheels and/or a rear disk. It may be time for me to seriously consider getting some aero wheels again to fight fire with fire. I also had a very difficult time getting into any sort of rhythm given the myriad hills throughout the park. After what seemed like it took longer than it should have, I was back in the transition area.
Second Run (2 miles)
After a lightning-quick second transition I was back on the run course. My legs definitely felt a bit dead on the initial uphill, but once I got through that I realized I still had a fair amount of gas in the tank. I started to pick up the pace and focus on reeling in some of the guys who smoked me on the bike. I passed one about a half a mile in, and another just past the turnaround point. At that point I could not even see the next runner in front of me, and just focused on "downshifting" my stride on the uphills and "upshifting" on the downhills. When I hit the last downhill I went into a full out sprint. I hit the finish line feeling really good about my race, knowing I had not left much out on the course.
Post-Race
So I decided to stick around with my family (my wife and son were out on the course and I got to see them six times, which was amazing!) for the awards ceremony, as based on the limited number of people in the transition area when I finished I thought I may have podiumed in my age group. Lo and behold I was correct! This is now the fourth straight race in which I have been on or near the podium. I attribute it to my "rate of decline" being much more gradual than other people my age, as I am certainly not getting any faster. More importantly, it was nice to be racing again. That said, it will feel great to take a couple of months off, relax a bit, start lifting weights regularly again, and get my knee right. Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Run 1: 15:11 (7:35 pace--there is NO WAY the run course was two miles)
Transition 1: 0:42
Bike: 38:08 (18.9 MPH--in a word, BRUTAL)
Transition 2: 0:25
Run 2: 15:48 (7:54 pace, allegedly)
Overall: 1:10:13 (25th overall, 3rd M40-44)
Going into the race I felt cautiously optimistic. I had been training for months upon months and was really happy with my fitness level. I did have a nagging pain in my left knee, but nothing I was too worried about. Race morning I threw my stuff together, packed up the family, and headed down to the Path station. Once I arrived in New York City I jumped on my bike and headed up to Central Park, stopping at a Duane Reade drug store for pre-race granola bars and Gatorade (this was truly an urban race). I had plenty of time to set up my transition area, practice transitions a bit, hit the bathroom, warm up, stretch, and head to the starting line.
First Run (2 miles)
I seeded myself towards the front of the pack, as I felt pretty good about my run fitness. The course consisted of an out-and-back from 72nd Street to 96th Street. The run began on a fairly long and steep uphill, and I reminded myself to shorten my stride and just grind through it. I would then lengthen my stride on the downhills and try to maintain a steady pace on the rare flat sections. I was passed by a few people in the first half mile or so, but passed most of them and more the rest of the way. One last thing--there is NO DOUBT in my mind the run course was long. When I got back into transition and saw my time I was shocked--hills or no hills, given my perceived effort level, there is no way I ran that slow.
Bike (12 miles)
After a fairly efficient first transition I was on the bike course, which consisted of two loops around Central Park. I must say if there was one portion of my race I was not pleased with, it was the bike. I was passed by several racers, and in just about every case it was like I was standing still. Maybe I am just trying to justify my subpar performance, but I felt like I had brought a knife to a gun fight--just about everyone that raced by me had deep dish aero wheels and/or a rear disk. It may be time for me to seriously consider getting some aero wheels again to fight fire with fire. I also had a very difficult time getting into any sort of rhythm given the myriad hills throughout the park. After what seemed like it took longer than it should have, I was back in the transition area.
Second Run (2 miles)
After a lightning-quick second transition I was back on the run course. My legs definitely felt a bit dead on the initial uphill, but once I got through that I realized I still had a fair amount of gas in the tank. I started to pick up the pace and focus on reeling in some of the guys who smoked me on the bike. I passed one about a half a mile in, and another just past the turnaround point. At that point I could not even see the next runner in front of me, and just focused on "downshifting" my stride on the uphills and "upshifting" on the downhills. When I hit the last downhill I went into a full out sprint. I hit the finish line feeling really good about my race, knowing I had not left much out on the course.
Post-Race
So I decided to stick around with my family (my wife and son were out on the course and I got to see them six times, which was amazing!) for the awards ceremony, as based on the limited number of people in the transition area when I finished I thought I may have podiumed in my age group. Lo and behold I was correct! This is now the fourth straight race in which I have been on or near the podium. I attribute it to my "rate of decline" being much more gradual than other people my age, as I am certainly not getting any faster. More importantly, it was nice to be racing again. That said, it will feel great to take a couple of months off, relax a bit, start lifting weights regularly again, and get my knee right. Thanks for reading!
Race Splits
Run 1: 15:11 (7:35 pace--there is NO WAY the run course was two miles)
Transition 1: 0:42
Bike: 38:08 (18.9 MPH--in a word, BRUTAL)
Transition 2: 0:25
Run 2: 15:48 (7:54 pace, allegedly)
Overall: 1:10:13 (25th overall, 3rd M40-44)