Great Pumpkin Duathlon

It's been a hot day today.

The poor runners doing the Chicago marathon were subjected to some of the worst marathon weather possible- "record high temps" are probably among three of the most feared words in the running lexicon. Right next to "Stress Fracture" and "you'll never run again."

For me, it was better- high 70s to low to mid 80s for my duathlon. The heat did get to me some, but not too badly. Anyway, the stats-

Great Pumpkin Duathlon
Total Time- 2:32:10
Run 1 (5K*3.08M)- 24:16 (7:53 min/mile)
Transition 1- 1:49
Bike (40K*23.17M)- 1:15:39 (18.4 mph)
Transition 2- 1:16
Run 2 (10K*6.12M)- 49:09 (8:02 min/mile)

The distances in metric are what the website says I was supposed to have done; the miles shows what my Garmin recorded.

Overall Impression
I'm really quite happy with my performance. I wanted to be at an 8:00 min/mile for the runs and 18 mph for the bike, and I held to that pretty faithfully. My 10K pace was only 10 seconds off my beginning 5K pace, which is awesome- I didn't go out too fast and I saved some for the second run. The heat did begin to get to me toward the end of the race- I was very happy when I began my last mile. I was even happier when I finished it. :)

Run 1- 5K
It's always hard not to go out too fast when starting a race, and this was no exception. The first mile I had to constantly refer back to my Garmin to keep myself at or around an 8 min pace. It got easier once I got warmed up- but the first bit of a race always feels easier than it should. Of course, I could have run a bit faster, but what would have been the point? I had a lot of biking yet to do, and a 10K run later, and it would have been annoying if I had boinked. Place: 19/27

The Bike
The bike started off... interestingly. We began going down a pretty steep hill, and I had to hit the brakes because I would have been passing someone who took up most of the road- namely, a truck. It seemed I was breaking the vehicular traffic speed limit, maxing out at 37.2 mph on that first down hill.

At this point, I can see myself whining "But it didn't feel that fast, officer!" And really, it didn't. My new bike just freakin' rocks!

Not that much else strikes me about it, though- Grand River was both rough and windy, the Kensington hills just seemed to get taller the second time through, and my carefully laid out hydration plan seemed to work- though just barely. Needless to say, I didn't hit 37 mph during the second loop. But I didn't flag all that much- my first loop was in 36-37 minutes, and my second was in 38 and change. I'm not displeased. Place: 17/27

I wasted a bit of time chatting with a women with a beautiful Irish accent during the second transition, even as I was hurriedly taking off my bike shoes, moving my Garmin from my bike back to my wrist, and remembering to take off my helmet. It did take me a mile or so to remember to take of my gloves, which I carried for the rest of the run. :P But I guess I didn't waste too much time- my second transition was still ~30 seconds faster than my first.

Run 2- 10K
For some reason, I've always found that even if I have jelly legs, I still run faster and feel like I'm going slower when I transition from bike to run. Part of it is because I feel like my stride is super short. Part of it probably has to do with my cadence going up, more in line with biking than my normal running. But most of it is the subjective feel of moving very slowly. Even a slow moving bike typically goes faster than all but the best runners.

Anyway, I started off fast, and felt pretty good. My heart rate was at an acceptable speed, and I didn't feel like I was working too hard, so I just went with it. I started dumping water on my head to cool down. It's cold, but it really works! I got a bit nervous as I started passing a lot of people- but many were sprint competitors. Early on, tho, I passed a couple of people in my age group- it's weird, but I felt kinda bad for passing them. Strange, eh? Place: 8/27

They gave out a wet towel at the end of the race, which did wonders to help me cool down. I wiped off all the sweat that had accumulated, cleaned off my face, and threw the towel over my shoulder. About a minute later I noticed I wasn't holding my towel anymore, and had no idea where I left it. I asked a volunteer where I might have put it, and she (about age 14, I think) said very politely- "it's on your shoulder"

I looked. It was. And I said the only thing I could say at this point... "I think I need a nap."

Anyway, I got second in my Age Group, and tenth over all, though it was only out of 27. It was a pretty competitive race!

Great race; but I really think I need that nap now. :P