Shamrock Duathlon

The Shamrock Duathlon went off today in Glasonbury CT. We have been watching the weather on both internet and TV for the last week and once again, meteorology has proven to be not a science at all. All the teraflops of Cray computing power behind weather modeling doesn't mean a darn thing. But at least this time it was in the athletes favor. The sun gods smiled upon us. Chilly early but warmed up so that we could wear tri-shorts and a jersey for the race. 3 other people from the team were there as well so that was cool.

Mass start got off a bit late as there were loads of people registering; gave time for a good warm up. 5K run 1 was actually pretty good, I peeled 20 seconds off my fastest 5K time. The distances were spot on as well since the race is a world championship qualifier, in addition there were some phreaking phast people there. Got in and out of T1 in 1:31, need to get me some tri shoes and lace locks. I bet that I could shave 45 seconds off....

The 28K bike works out to about 18.5 miles, there was much up which was fine although a hilly course is not one that best suits my body type (6' 2", 195 lbs) I'd much rather flats and rolling. That being said I was only passed by 2 guys on the bike, and I passed them on the second run. Learned an important fact today... Never listen to spectators on the course!!! As I was ripping around a corner a woman yelled 'only 2 miles to go'. Feeling pretty darn good I started to empty the tank and hammer. 2 miles went by, then 3...3.5... now I'm getting freakin tired. Heading down a looong shady hill @ 38 mph with my sunglasses on I hit a frost heave, or something, and CRACK. Scared the crap out of me, I thought I broke the fork. Once again my seat is pointing up at a 30 degree angle, same as in Wrentham. Need to get a new seatpost with heavier knurling. Calves starting to cramp, drank a boatload of HEED and was able to sustain without them locking up. T2-- running shoes and cap on -- 1:25 and I'm off.

5K #2 was slower as can be expected (2 minutes longer than the first run) and I had a heck of a time getting my heart rate up. I averaged about 182 for the second run, not sure if this is a good or bad thing. For the entire race I averaged 175, which is 10 BPM lower than my last race. My runs were definitely faster, but the bike was 1.8 MPH slower, due to the hills I'm sure.

My HR / computer profile for the race was:



My spouse won her age group, and we thought that she may have qualified for the duathlon world championship but 2 of the women in the top 5 overall were from her age group as well so we'll have to see. She did Awesome!!