National Duathlon Festival: USAT Duathlon National Champioship - Sport Race
5 km run - 20 km bike - 2.5 km run


The Good:
24/66 Overall: 1:23:51
19/35 Men
3rd in AG
8:09 min/mi 5km pace
19.1 mph avg bike pace (19/66)
Cycling shoes clipped and dismounted successfully.


The Bad:
17:33 min split for 2.5 km run
Chain derailment in first 100 yds

The (almost) Ugly
Tri-berry Gu tried making a re-appearance during the bike
Blisters!


The Course
-was great, though for an on-road event, there sure was alot of off-road trail running. After a slight rain Saturday night (which brought the mid 80s temps down to reasonable low 70s), the 5km run course was slick, and in some spots, muddy. Starting behind Tredgar Iron Works

the run followed the suspension bridge to Belle Isle for a 1-loop out and back trail run. The views were great and the one picture I have does not do it justice:

I must have gone out too fast as I tailed at the end and viewing my time I know the last mile brought the average down to 8:09. Without my trustt Garmin, I have no way of knowing what my pace was, though signal would have been lost as for a few hundred yards we ran under a bridge. T1 was uneventful as I changed shoes and ran to the mount line. Immediately a 5-turn switch back is present preventing a speedy acceleration culmunating at crest with this:

A downhill lead to the river-crossing bridge, to an off ramp, back under the bridge, back on the bridge and back to the switchbacks for 4 5km loops. I like the way the course was set-up, as I could pace off some and reel them in on the bridge. I am happy with the bike performance with a 19.1 mph avg. With the switchbacks, U-turn at the off-ramp, and headwind on the way back in factored out I must have been doing 22+ mph on the flats. I remember looking down crossing the bridge and seeing 23.1 while doubling up on two competitors who were sucking wind. I felt smooth and was in full aero. At the end of that lap, in true Lance form, I challenged 3 others on the switchbacks. The four of us entered with about 1 sec between us and I overtook one racer on the first turn. The next two split to either side and I shot the middle. I hope the camera guy stationed got that pic because it was some fine racing! The greatest joy of the bike leg was dropping this dude who was leap-frogging me for the first 3 laps. I passed him on the out section, in full aero and only was him again on my way back on the 2.5km run -> he was sucking wind.

Not much to say of the final run, other than my legs tanking at the turn around. I took some water and headed back, at 11:18 avg pace. I pounded out the final uphill and finished. I wont say strong, but I finished. Having never raced a Du, I can say it was fun, but I didn't save much for the final run.


Slower pace upfront for a stronger finish? Possibly.
Finding eats that don't cause thoughts of regurgitation? Definitely.


I must amend my comment after Smithfield from "Stick to Nuun/H20 on the bike. No sugary drinks" to "More H20/Nuun consumption after downing a gel on the bike".


Overall, good race, good course and would do definitely do it again.

I totally wear a pair to work everyday...

http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/96-new-balance-shoes/

I've been meaning to write this post for a few days and only got around to it. Work has been well...work. You know the drill. We've been experiencing drought conditions stemming from last summer's lack of precipitation (read: no rain June-September) and just caught up this weekend. The rain started late Saturday night and only just stopped at 5:30pm tonight. So, things are wet.

I managed to sneak in training during all this mess, with a 33 mile bike during the Tornado Watch, which the news failed to inform me (even with the constant interrupts). Turns out a twister did touch down 35 mi East of here and took out a barn...with an aluminum roof, so not much actual damage.

Anyway, 16 weeks "base training" phase is complete and here are the numbers:


Runs: 35
Avg. MHR: 164.6
Avg. AHR: 155.1
Avg. Time: 00:32:34
Total Time: 18:59:56
Avg. Speed: 6.6 MPH
Avg. Mi Pace: 9:07
Avg. Dist.: 3.6 Mi
Total Dist.: 119.3 Mi

Bikes: 24
Avg. MHR: 153.4
Avg. AHR: 141.0
Avg. Time: 00:51:35
Total Time: 20:38:21
Avg. Speed: 17.5 MPH
Avg. Mi Pace: 3:25
Avg. Dist.: 15.6 Mi
Total Dist.: 249.7 Mi

Swims: 23
Avg. Time: 00:20:34
Total Time: 03:46:22
Avg. Speed: 2756.6 M/hr
Avg. 100 M Pace: 02:10
Avg. Dist.: 921.7 M
Total Dist.: 21.200 kM

Total Summary: 83
Total Time: 43:43:40
Total Dist.: 384.3 Mi
Cal. Burned: 39412

Monday starts my 21-week Oly base/build/race plan culminating at Nation's in DC. I've got a few races along the way and a few tri goodies in route. I'd like to start swimming before work, which may prove feasible in about a month. All-in-all, the main goals are to stay healthy, have fun, and learn a few things about myself along the way.

Monument Ave 10k Photos!

Home Stretch!

Passing D-groupers! (They started 13 min before I did!!)

Ukrop's Monument Ave 10k/U.S. Men's 10k National Championship
10 km run

On a wet, blustery April morning 31,158 registered runners/walkers toed the line at the intersections of Harrison and Broad Streets in Richmond, VA for the 9th annual Ukrop's Monument Ave 10k. Leading the pack were the elitest of runners: former and would-be Olympians, USA Track and Field stand-outs, studs of the running world. For this local race was more than just an exercise in health to benefit cancer research, but the U.S. Men's 10km National Championship. Abdi Abdirahman, of Tuscon, AZ won the race in an astounding, 28:31. For more about the race from an objective point-of-view, go here.

Parking was easy to come by arriving from the West. I suppose the throng of racers live in the East-end as the parking garage my wife and I parked in was quite empty at 07:45. We walked the 4 blocks to Monroe Park, the site of the finish line and bag check. Of course, the heavens parted and drenched everyone in rain water once we checked in our rain gear and headed to the start.

I started in the "G" group, G8279. This group's predicted finish time was 55 minutes and was the 8th wave to start, 27 minutes after the gun sounded for the Nat'l Championship Men at 08:30. I started the Garmin and crossed the timing mat. Game on.

I had mixed feelings going into race. My fastest pace over a distance greater than 6 miles was just over 9 min/mi. 9 minute miles does not yield 55 min 10km. And yet I've PR'ed the 3mi distance at sub 8 min/mi pace just 1 month ago...something's gotta give.

The course started on Broad and met up with Monument Ave at Stuart Circle, our round-about of 1/100 the magnitude of the Arc de Triumph in Paris. The rain continued to fall as I passed the 1 mi mark in 7:30, maybe too fast a start to a 6.2 mi race.

Once I passed the 2 mi mark I knew I just had to maintain pace to reach the 55:00 minute goal. The miles ticked by every 8 minutes or so, until I met the 6 mile mark on the East side of Stuart Circle and caught sight of the finish. Imagine thousands of bodies hurtling through space, across wet pavement all toward the same location. Men and women, dropping like flies and some pushing themselves to the limit, some walking some bent over. The last 0.2 miles were the hardest, yet most fun. The street was lined with spectators decked out in umbrellas and raincoats gladfully cheering on the participants. I pushed it down the home stretch and crossed the mat at an official time of 01:17:24, or factoring out the 27 minute delay from the G-wave start, a net finish time of:

00:50:15 Personal Record!

08:05/mi pace.

23:38 3mi time (close to PR by 15 sec!)
25:03 5k time (close to PR by 30 sec!)
40:06 8k time (PR!)

252/789 Men 20-24
2060/9976 All Men
2580/24055 Overall

One more thing, we watched the CBS coverage of the event Sunday night and I have a cameo at the 01:27:00 mark of the video. This should be around the 3.75 mi mark, 30 min into my run.