Yesterday I completed my first race of the year, the Queens Biathlon. The following is my race report:
Pre-Race
Coming into the race, I really did not know what to expect. I felt fairly good about my fitness (with the notable exception of a few extra pounds), but given the fact I had never really done a duathlon before, I was not sure how I would perform. Race morning I woke up at 4:20 A.M., was out of the door by 5:00, caught a 5:30 Path train to Manhattan, then a subway to Queens, and rode the final 5-6 miles to the race start. I arrived in plenty of time to check in, set up my transition area, warm up, meet a fellow Slowtwitcher in person that I had traded a few messages with (he actually ended up winning his age group--congrats!), and then it was time to race.
First Run (3 miles)
The race was fairly small, and thus we had a mass start. When the gun went off, I felt like everyone took off like bats out of hell! I just focused on keeping a nice steady pace and not killing myself. The run course consisted of an out and back through a mostly wooded area of Alley Park with rolling hills (aside from the hill back into the transition area, which was fairly long and steep). I ran pretty slowly on the uphills, and opened up my stride on the downhills. I also took the last hill pretty easy, figuring that I wanted to have nice fresh legs for the bike. My first run time was a bit slower than I had anticipated, but much more importantly, I did not feel terribly winded when I finished it.
Bike (18 miles)
After a relatively decent transition I was on my bike. The bike course consisted off two laps of an out and back along a major highway. On the way out the headwind was BRUTAL--I remember riding into some strong winds during past Chicago Triathlons, but this was much worse. I just concentrated on staying aero as much as possible, while shifting gears maniacally as the wind gusts ebbed and flowed. Needless to say, once I hit the turnaround point each time I was flying. I definitely got passed more often than I passed other people. I just focused on my own race and keeping something in the tank for the second run.
Second Run (3 miles)
My second transition was a bit clumsy (my bike actually fell off the rack, but fortunately a race volunteer righted it for me), but not terrible. Starting the second run, I was honestly surprised at how dead my legs felt! After the first half mile or so I started to feel better and my stride began to widen. I passed one person in the first quarter mile or so, but aside from that, everyone else was simply too far ahead of me. As I made the final turn towards the finish line, I saw there were literally about a half a dozen racers right on my heels, which was all the motivation I needed to really work the final hill. As I crossed the finish line, it felt good to have my first duathon under my belt.
Post-Race
I went into this race thinking that duathlons were perfect for me--no swimming (which is my weakest triathlon discipline) and more running (my strongest). What I failed to consider, however, is that people do duathlons because they are in the exact same position that I am! Thus, I did not place nearly as highly as I thought I would (the fact that I entered the race 5-10 pounds overweight did not help either -- particularly on the two runs). Will I ever do a duathlon again? Definitely--now that I know what to expect, I am certain that I can do better (plus there are so darn many of them in the area, and they are a lot less of a logistical undertaking than triathlons). Well, it is back to training for me--that, and figuring out what other races to do this year. Thanks for reading!
Run 1: 22:07 (7:22 pace)
Transition 1: 0:55
Bike: 54:11 (19.9 MPH--slow, but trust me, it was crazy windy!)
Run 2: 23:20 (7:47 pace)
Overall: 1:41:20 (27th overall, top 19%)
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