Spring Fling Duathlon - Duathlon


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Fresno, California
United States
Sierra Cascades Multisport
58F / 14C
Sunny
Total Time = 1h 00m 31s
Overall Rank = 7/49
Age Group = M40-49
Age Group Rank = 5/11
Pre-race routine:

i had to travel to Fresno CA to help train some service technicians at the factory so I decided to go out a day earlier to participate in a little duathlon. A friend of mine had a 2000 Trek, same model that Lance Armstrong rode in the TdF that year I was told. The bike was one size too small but with the seat set high I figured it would be good enough.

I got the bike on Saturday afternoon, did not ride it that day as I met a coworker and had dinner with his family after I picked up my race packet.

The race wasn't until 8:30 so I was able to sleep in a bit compared to other races where I had to get up between 4 and 5 AM. At a small bowl of cereal then headed out.
Event warmup:

The transition area was on grass, it was a little wet from rain the day before. I got on the bike to check the seat height and it was OK, it was a little far back and I didn't have the allen tool with me, oh well. I took a 5-7 minute warmup ride to check out the first part of the course. I came back and did a 8 minute or so warmup run, passing by the restroom on the way out.

This race had a Mountain Bike Duathlon as well as a 5K. The road and mountain bike duathlons started together with the 5K 5 or 10 minutes later. This was a pretty small race, maybe 60 or so people for both duathlons. There was one multisport club well represented, TC3.
Run
  • 13m 19s
  • 2.1 miles
  • 06m 20s  min/mile
Comments:

I started steady, not too fast not too slow. After about a 100 yards there's a downhill section, first on asphalt then onto gravel. The pack started to spread out a bit here which was good as the downhill section where the gravel starts had some crevices and loose gravel so footing was important and I didn't want to risk twisting an ankle. After that the trail narrowed to almost single file but there was room to pass as long as nobody was coming the other way. So I passed a couple people in this section.

A young kid (16 or 17) was on his way back with a pretty good lead, XC runner for sure I thought. The finish of the run is up the same hill we ran down which made it a not so easy run but a good challenge.


What would you do differently?:

Nothing, I ran to my current ability.
Transition 1
  • 00m 41s
Comments:

I forgot to press the Garmin coming out of T1 so this is an estimate.
Bike
  • 33m 7s
  • 11.75 miles
  • 21.29 mile/hr
Comments:

There were quite a few TT bikes in the racks so my hopes were to pass a few of those during this race. My position on this bike was not very good so I knew I would have to work hard to go fast. I passed a couple people within the first mile but they made a wrong turn by what they called the corkscrew. Luckily this other rider yelled out "wrong way" so I yelled back "Shit, THANKS!!!!" So the couple of people I had passed plus another went by.

So the work was on. Within the next mile I passed them again, then on the first of the only two real climbs I passed that young XC kid that blew everyone away in the run.

Going up the climb I was starting to gain on the guy with a TT bike in front of me but after a right turn onto a flat portion he then started to pull away again. I could feel I had very poor aerodynamics/positioning on this bike. I was so far forward on that seal I was barely on the front tip of it. I was thinking "why didn't you give it a test run the night before when you had the allen tool you dummy!". Oh well, lessons learned.

On the second loop I could see that guy on the TT bike ahead of me and I was gaining on him again on the climb. But once we hit the flat portion he started to pull away again. Finally got to T2 and I was relieved as my back started to hurt.
What would you do differently?:

Uh, make sure and get the seat position right before riding the bike.

They had chip timing but only for the finish so I have no idea where I ranked on the bike.
Transition 2
  • 00m 27s
Comments:

Pretty good T2 for me.
What would you do differently?:

Nada
Run
  • 12m 57s
  • 2.1 miles
  • 06m 10s  min/mile
Comments:

At this point my goal was to not be passed by those who I passed on the bike. Things were pretty quiet for the first 8/10th of a mile as we neared the turnaround. But they I heard some footsteps. This guy and a young girl ran past me after the turn around. The girl was the eventual overall female winner. I might have been able to switch into maybe one more gear but I decided not to because of the upcoming hill ahead. After those two passed me I saw the young dude coming the opposite way but with less than three quarters of a mile to go I figured I was safe.

I never did catch the two that has passed me, that last hill was pretty tough. I crossed the finish line and my Garmin had 1:00:09. The race results had me at 1:00:31 which is a pretty big difference in such a short race.
What would you do differently?:

Nothing really.but looking at the times I probably could have finished top 3 Overall had I had my time trial bike. The overall winner finished in 57:16 not sure if I would have been that much faster on the TT bike but third place was 58:59 so only a minute and a half ahead.

The run was advertised as 2.1 miles but my Garmin had it at about 1.8 miles so way short. Sometimes they roll the distance so GPS will show longer as it doesn't take into account the curvature of the terrain. That's the only explanation I can see.
Post race
Warm down:

Walked around, drank some chocolate milk, ate some oranges, talked to a local truck driver that ran the 5K.

They were raffling off a lot of stuff and I heard my bib # called and I won a bottle of wine. Cool swag!

What limited your ability to perform faster:

Wong bike position. TT bike would have helped too of course.

Event comments:

For such a small race it was pretty organized and the volunteers did a great job keeping people on the course. I'm not sure if it was worth the $95 registration fee but I guess that's a typical price you pay in CA. And when there's chocolate milk at the finish, that's always a plus.




Profile Album


Last updated: 2016-03-25 12:00 AM
Running
00:13:19 | 02.1 miles | 06m 20s  min/mile
Age Group: 5/11
Overall: 9/49
Performance: Good
Average HR: 160 Max HR: 170
Course: Out & Back mostly on gravel with a small hill at the end.
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
T1
Time: 00:41
Overall:
Run with bike?
Jump on bike?
Getting up to speed and into shoes:
Biking
00:33:07 | 11.75 miles | 21.29 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/11
Overall: 0/49
Performance: Average
Average HR: 156 Max HR: 163
Wind: Some
Course: Fairly flat, on road with two loops.
Road: Smooth  Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
T2
Time: 00:27
Overall:
Riding w/ feet on shoes
Jumping off bike
Running with bike
Racking bike
Shoe and helmet removal
Running
00:12:57 | 02.1 miles | 06m 10s  min/mile
Age Group: 5/11
Overall: 9/49
Performance:
Average HR: 158 Max HR: 167
Course: Same as run #1
Keeping cool Drinking
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5]
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 4