Wrentham Duathlon Race Report – Jason
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Quick report from the first multisport race of the year, the Wrentham Duathlon. It works out that this race is located one town away from my parents which meant I got to have some supporters at the race!
Weather was not ideal – 38 degrees and a steady light rain through the first run and the bike. This was my first ride using the aero helmet and race wheels. The race was an initial run of 3 miles followed by a 11 mile bike and another 2 mile run to conclude.
The race had 317 entrants, and I secured a nice end of rack spot for transition.
Here is a shot of the first run course:
Starting line:
Coming into T1. First run was a little slower than forecasted, averaged 9:10/mile and was shooting for 9:00/mile. As expected, poor showing in my age group with 25th out of 26th time. Overall 270 out of 317. Had some trouble settling into a consistent pace, as you can see from the Garmin data (blue line):
Transition was slowed as a I fumbled with deciding how much clothing to add on for the bike. I was worried about being cold with an air temp of 38. I had run with just an underarmour, short sleeve bike jersey, bike shorts, leg warmers and light gloves. Ultimately I decided to add only the vest for the bike. It ended up being comfortable enough, although my bike shoes were soaked by the end of the ride.
The bike course was by far my best part of the race, even with the relative lack of training so far this year. I passed 122 of the 270 people who beat me on the run – or 38% of the entire field. Literally no one passed me – although at one point one guy tried to, but I re-passed him in the final mile. Bike time was 15th out of 26 in my age group and 110 out of 317 overall. Average speed over 19mph on a rolling course with 2 short climbs – Jordan Road and the hill up Main Street in Norfolk (see brown area for elevation in the chart). Here are some shots in T2:
On to the final run, which was a shortened version of the first run. Here I just tried to keep a steady pace and bring it home as fast as possible in the final half mile. I was only re-passed by 9 people that I passed on the bike which I was happy with. I negative split both the first and second runs, as well as the first and second mile of the last run (see blue line on chart). The first mile I did in 9:03 and the second mile in 8:29, with the final quarter mile at 7:27 pace. This gave me a slight improvement compared to the first run, with my time good enough for 24 out of 26 in my age group and 217 out of 317 overall.
Was pretty happy with the race, as I beat my goal times in all phases. The final time was 24th out of 26th in my age group and 183rd out of 317 overall. I was also happy to have the parents be able to watch. Race photos were taken, but they had issues uploading. They will be on this site when available if you’re interested.
http://www.sportography.com/race/photos/
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