Queens Biathlon Race Report

On May 15th, I headed down to NYC to race the Queens Biathlon.  This was one of my favorite races from the prior year as it gives me a chance not only to catch up with my brother who lives in Astoria – but also because the race is good preparation for Rev3.  The run is very hilly – featuring 2 sharp climbs per 5k run lap plus a long climb on each of the 2 bike laps on the Cross Island Parkway.  I had a good performance the prior year and was looking to improve my times in each discipline.

 

The day dawned with a lovely 50 degree rain and foggy conditions.  With my 2 person support crew we made the short drive to the race from my brothers’ place.  Luckily the worst of the rain stayed away from where the support crew was stationed.

 

Run #1 – 24:43, 7:57/mile (2010 – 26:40, 8:35/mile)

The run starts with a quick twisty downhill and I went out pretty fast.  I was averaging a sub 6 minute mile pace for the first 1/3 of a mile before I was able to get my pace under control. 

 

Here is a shot just after the start:

I had to really run pretty easy to get my pace down to my target speed.  With the tough course I knew I couldn’t be at my limit before I approached the first uphill.  The uphill was longer than I remembered, almost a full half mile but the first run up actually went well.  I was able to keep the heart rate under control and the pace below 8:30.  On the way back I was really trying to just cruise down the big hill and keep my feet under me.  On the shorter but steeper climb up to transition my pace dropped a bit, but I was still ahead of my target. 

 

Approaching T1:

I was pretty satisfied with the first run, as I had managed the hills well and was ready to put in a big effort on the bike.  I finished about midfield, 11/22 in my age group and 56/134 overall.

 

Run #1 splits:

 

T1 – 0:59 (2010 – 1:00)

T1 was not exceptional, another mid-pack effort.  I felt slow because I was putting my shoes in and out of a plastic bag to try to keep them dry from the rain we saw on the radar before the start.  I am amazed that with the fiddling around I was faster than last year.  Perhaps it was the placement of my bike in the racks.  It was a free for all, so I put my bike in the rack closest to bike in/out which meant I didn’t need to run the bike thru much of the transition area.

 

Bike – 51:28, 20.6 mph (2010 – 52:29, 20.1 mph)

Last year I had the fastest bike in my age group and I had no intention of going slower this year.  Although there was less consistent wind this year, it was much gustier and at the northern end of the course it was very wet.

 

Heading out of T1:

I went out pretty quickly and was holding a fast pace out to the first turnaround at the 4.5 mile mark.  After the turn around I was passed by a guy holding a pace just faster than I had been riding at.  I decided to try to use him to push my pace a little harder.  I kept him in sight and just focused on trying to keep as aero as possible.

 

Approaching the second turnaround at the 9 mile mark there is a 200 foot climb over a half mile which is a place I use to make up ground on the slower climbers. 

 

Heading up the hill with my pacer at the extreme left:

Rounding the flare and heading out for another lap:

Stalking my pacer right after the turnaround.  Notice the 2 different photo angles.  Both support crew members made the trek down to the turnaround from the transition area.

Lap 2 was much the same as Lap 1 although it was about 1:15 slower.  With Lap 2 completed it was time to take the Grand Central Parkway service road back to transition.  This is another steady uphill:

Brother snapping a few photos on the way by:

I nearly caught up to my pacer by the top of this hill.  I was just over a minute faster than last years time and managed to have the fastest split in my age group again, this time by more than 2:15 over second place.  I was also 12/134 overall.

 

T2  - 0:42 (2010 - 0:43)

My T2 time was much better relative to the field, with both overall and age group rankings around top 20%.

 

Run #2 – 25:51, 8:19/mile (2010 – 27:46, 8:46/mile)

As always, the overall result would be decided by my performance on the second run.  I tried to coast down the first steep downhill but was beset by cramps in my calf.  I was able to prevent a total lock-up with some ginger strides and it felt better once I got off the downhill.  I recovered a bit on the flat before the uphill and then tried to push on the climb to limit my losses.  I was working hard but my pace just wasn’t there and I was much slower up the climb.  Once on top I focused on regaining a quick cadence and getting back on target pace. 

 

Just before the turnaround some guy was pointing at everyone and telling them what place they were in.  He pointed at me and said 25.  I was surprised but it didn’t seem incorrect.  I saw a guy ahead running about the same pace so I tried to work up to him.  I reached him just before the downhill and moved by him.  At the same time a few racers came by me.  I was still holding on to top 30.

 

As I climbed the final hill to transition, I was passed one more time.  There was no body marking at this race, and at that point I couldn’t respond to the pass.  Once it leveled out I tried to accelerate but couldn’t quite reach this late passer.  This would prove unfortunate as this was actually 3rd place in my age group passing me with just 1/10 mile to go!

 

Approaching the finish chute:

It seems like the guy couldn’t count to 25 though, because I thought I finished 32nd, but in the end it was 29th.  This was a big improvement from 58th the prior year.  I was disappointed to miss out on the podium by such a narrow margin (7 seconds).  My second run was slightly more competitive, right around top 1/3 of the field in both my age group and overall.

 

Run splits

 

 

Final stats:

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				22		134
Run 1	24:43	3.1 miles	7:57/mile	11	50%	56	42%
T1	0:59			9	41%	46	34%
Bike	51:28	17.5 miles	20.6 mph	1	0%	12	9%
T2	0:42			5	23%	26	19%
Run 2	25:51	3.1 miles	8:19/mile	8	36%	45	34%
Total	1:43:44			4	11%	29	22%

 

2011 performance vs 2010 performance.  As you can see I was almost 2 minutes faster on each run and 1 min faster on the bike.  (Blue line is how much further behind I was then 2011’s time):

 

Here is the top 10 competitors cumulative times versus the winner.  I am the red line.  Notice how I went from 10th to 2nd after bike and then gave up 2 spots on run.  You can see the 3rd and 4th place lines crossing right at the finish, that was the age group guy pass.

 

Overall I was happy with the improvement from 2010 and felt like I got in a high quality training race that will serve me well in the upcoming weeks.  Thanks to my 2 member support crew for braving the miserable conditions.

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Sheriff Sprint Triathlon Race Report

May 1st I was originally planning on racing at the Greenwich Biathlon.  However, after the other 2 Tri Guys could not make it, the 7am start time way down South in Greenwich became a lot less appealing.  Instead I made the decision to try something new and head North to Ludlow, MA for a pool triathlon.  Since I registered the day of, the entire pack of pre-registered people went first since they had submitted swim time estimates with their registration.  The day of registration group went after.  While waiting, the 15 of us spoke to each other and got ourselves into order so we wouldn’t have to pass each other once underway.  We did a great job with the seeding and I actually probably had an easier, less congested swim by starting with this smaller group.

Getting underway, heading toward the first wall.

I forecasted a time of 5min flat for the 300 yard swim (1:40/100), as I had the intention of trying to put in a good bike and run split.  I could have swum faster but I wanted to stay nice and controlled, well under the red zone.

 

The best part of the pool swim is the opportunity for close-up swim pictures!

Exiting the pool, I was right on track with my estimated time – hitting 4:56 for the swim.  This was 33/135 (top 24%) overall and 4/9 (top 44%) in my age group. 

  

The race did not do time splits for transition, including T1 with the bike and T2 with the run so the following times are from my Garmin.  T1 was literally right outside the door of the pool.  Although nice and sunny the temperatures were only in the low 60’s so I took the time to dry off quickly and add some arm warmers before heading out on the bike.  That surely cost me a bit of time, but I was out of T1 in 1:50.

The bike course was advertised as 9 miles, but I knew it was about 0.4 mile shorter based on prerace reconnaissance on Google.  The course also featured nearly 300 feet of climbing, working its way up and then a short steep downhill with flatter roads at the start and finish.

With the short course, I was really able to push hard on the bike.  I was pretty pleased, and since we started after the slower preregistered  swimmers I was passing a lot of riders.

 

Here are some shots approaching T2:

I finished the 8.61 mile bike in 25:19 which works out to an average speed of 20.6mph.  This put me 34/135 (top 25%) overall and 5/9 (top 56%) in my age group.

 

T2 was a lot faster, in about 42 seconds.  It was getting warmer on the run, so I threw my arm warmers off to my support crew as I ran out.

Unlike the bike course, the run was actually slightly long – advertised for 3 miles but clocking in at 3.25 miles.  The course was flat, with the exception of a short hill at the 2 mile mark.  I wasn’t feeling great starting the run and had to slow down to bring the heart rate under control.  Once I accomplished that about 3 minutes in I tried to settle into a good pace and pick off some runners ahead. 

 

My effort level was pretty consistent, with the first mile in 7:57 then a little slower to the top of the hill and the two mile mark, crossing in 8:25.  The third mile was 8:11 and the push to the finish was at 7:23 pace for the last quarter mile.  Final run time was 26:07 which was 50/135 (top 37%) overall and 5/9 (top 56%) in my age group.

 

Just before the finish:

 

I crossed the line in 58:51 which was ahead of my goal of 1 hour flat.  I was pretty happy with the race, although clearly I need to see some more sun to work on my pasty arms and legs.

 

After looking at the results, I was only 11 seconds out of 4th place.  So on one hand I got in a smooth swim starting after the main group of competitors, but I lost the ability to see if I was close to someone in my age group out on the road.  This was a fun race, and hopefully it will fit into the schedule for next year.

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				9		135
Swim	4:56	300 yards	1:39/100 yd	4	44%	33	24%
T1	1:50
Bike	25:19	8.61 miles	20.6 mph	5	56%	34	25%
T2	0:42
Run	26:07	3.25 miles	8:08/mile	5	56%	50	37%
Total	58:51			5	56%	40	30%

 

Also here is another chart that I am shamelessly stealing from a blog I read.  The idea is to show where I gained or lost time.  Since the field was small, here are all my fellow M30-34.  The baseline is the winner, and the chart represents how far behind everyone was after each discipline.  I am the red dashed line – notice how similar my splits are to 4th place – the lines are almost on top of each other.  This also tells me that I lost a lot of time on the run against the green line, but passed the orange line during the run.  Relative to 1st and 2nd, I still am losing the most time on the run (as expected). 

 

Thanks to my support crew for keeping me company on the long wait to start, and for the awesome pictures!

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Bradley International 10k Race Report

April 23rd, I ran in my 3rd race of the year.  The decision to actually race was a last minute one as the day was forecast to be quite chilly with heavy rain.  After carefully checking the radar, I decided there was enough of a dry slot to get the race in without running in a heavy downpour – although it would still be plenty wet and cold.  The race was an out and back on the perimeter road around the airport.  Most of the course had been recently resurfaced – which I knew as I ride my bike on these same roads regularly.  With the exception of one small hill at the 1 mile/5 mile mark it was a relatively flat race.  My goal was to try to hit sub 51:15 (8:15 pace) and use the race as a quality training run.

I lined up for the start near the front.  Here we are getting underway – I am in the all black with black hat dead-center between the two guys in white.

There were a lot of fast guys and my start was quick as everyone was running fast; the first quarter mile at 6:36 pace and the first half mile at 7:01 pace.  Being that I had not run even done any 5 mile runs yet this year, I knew I had to dial back the pace.

 

To the right of #113:

In the background with the black hat:

 

By the time I got to the first turn at 3/4 of a mile I had my pace under control and was averaging 8:15-8:20 miles.  On the way out to the turn around I just focused on trying to keep my pace nice and steady.  The rain was holding off and the 38 degree temperatures weren’t bad for running.  Also there wasn’t a trace of wind which was nice.

 

I hit the 5km mark in 24:52 – well ahead of the 25:37 needed for a 51:15 race.  I was running just ahead of 2 guys at this point which was serving as good motivation to keep up my pace.  I also had a few runners ahead that I focused on trying to reel in.  At the turn I also decided to try to finish in 50 minutes since I was well ahead of the plan for 51:15.

 

I slowly but surely was able to pull in the runners I was targeting ahead of me, particularly as we made our way up the hill at the 5 mile mark.  During the second half of the run the rain picked up and the conditions were getting pretty miserable.  With 1 mile to go I was slowly passed by a runner and I tried to keep up with him.  With 1/2 mile to go I could no longer stay with him and decided I was in a space where my final placing was decided so I just tried to hit the 50 min target.  In the end I came up just short by 11 seconds.

In the end it was a quality training day and my longest run of the year so far.  I was glad I braved the miserable conditions and held a better pace then I was expecting.

 

Here are my mile splits: 

My final placing was 33 out of 100 overall and 13 out of 28 in my age group with a time of 50:11.

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