Wrentham Duathlon Race Report

On April 15 I returned to the Wrentham Duathlon after a missing the race last year.  This race is right down the street from my parents house and on very familiar roads.  It features a 3 mile run, 11 mile bike and a shorter 2 mile run.  The runs are fairly flat but the bike has 2 hills and rolling terrain on the rest of the route.

 

This year the weather was nice and warm, but had some variably gusty winds especially on the bike.  My target for the race was a 25/1/34/1/15.5 split for a time of 1:16:30.  I tried to focus on my own splits as this race seems to attract a lot of very fast people, and the format is very run heavy – not ideal for me.

 

Knowing that the race does not have a timing strip at the start, I pushed fairly close to the front to minimize any time loss.  This meant I had to consciously sag back through the field and not get caught into running too aggressive a pace.

 

At the start.  Note the guy in yellow:

The race is held on the Wrentham State Fairgrounds and allows a wide-open view for the spectators:

After slowly settling into my pace I wasn’t feeling great, in fact I was getting a bit of a stomach cramp.  I had my usual pop tart breakfast 3 hours before the race so I’m not sure what happened there.  I tried to just keep it steady around 8:30/mile.  I was feeling warm on the run, as it was definitely the hottest run I had done all year.

 

Approaching T1:

 

My splits were 7:50, 8:33, 8:40 for the first run.

 

I had a pretty fast transition and onto the bike, the only chance I had of making up some time.  I got a good rhythm going right away and had a good climb up Jordan road.  The unpredictable wind made for a bit of a nervous descent off Jordan Road and then down Chestnut Street.  I definitely lost some time there but didn’t want to risk a crash.  I then spun it up the second hill to the Norfolk town line and then accelerated over the top on the long false flat to Norfolk center.  After that the course winds through several turns and hits one last short climb.  I had a guy just ahead of me that I would pass on the uphills and he would pass me on the downhills.  We were riding almost the same speed on the flats.  I always find this helpful to push me along.  If not for the grass section at the end, I would have averaged over 20mph.

 

Just before T2:

Had a very fast T2 and then go out for the last run.  Right out of transition, there was someone running right at my pace which was great.  I ran right off his shoulder and tried to settle in.  I wasn’t able to get my pace down like I was hoping for – I was running over 8:30/mile and I wanted more like 7:30/mile.  I got faster throughout the run, but the slow start cost me.  I ended up with a 8:40 first mile and 7:47 second mile.  In the last half mile a group of 5 caught up to me, and I ended up in a sprint battle with the same guy in yellow.  Of course he managed to beat me.  I am really slow on grass, as I am thinking about every foot strike to make sure I don’t twist an ankle or something.

 

Sprinting:

 

Final results were very close to my target times.  Only 4 seconds off total!

 

	Time	Distance	Pace	AG Place	%	Overall Place	%
# Entries				17		315
Run 1	25:12	3 miles	8:24/100yd	16	94%	204	65%
T1	1:00			7	41%	84	27%
Bike	33:02	11 miles	19.97 mph	8	47%	73	23%
T2	0:51			6	35%	60	19%
Run 2	16:27	2 miles	8:14/mile	12	71%	167	53%
Total	1:16:34			12	71%	127	40%

 

I did have a big improvement on my times from 2010, especially on run 1 where I was 2:30 faster.  I then picked up 40-50 seconds on every other phase as well (including transitions – which were very slow in 2010 as it was raining).

 

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Bradley International 10K Race Report

On April 7th I lined up for the Bradley 10k.  This race is always held the Saturday of Easter weekend, so this year it was almost a month earlier than 2011.  While the sunny, windless conditions and ideal temperatures in the mid 40s were much better than the cold rain last year – a 10k this “early” in the year was certainly going to be a slower time.  My running has been limited to a long run of 4.5 miles prior to the race so this was more of a long hard training effort than a real “race”.  My goal for the race was to try 9:00/min miles.

 

I lined up close to the front as this race does not have a timing mat across the start.  I am over the left shoulder of the guy in the green tank top below, with the white hat.

 

Over the first half mile I was consciously trying to slow down and get into a pace I could maintain for the whole race.  Looking down the column of runners, that's me in the green shirt and white hat.

 

The race runs concurrent 5k and 10k’s, with the 5k turning around halfway.  So there were plenty of kids blasting by me at the start.  

 

I immediately started focusing on running the tangents as the course winds around the airport.  The one hill on the course is at the 1.5km mark.  I cruised up that and then took it easy on the downhill.  At this point I was surrounded by a heavy breather that was driving me nuts.  I had to put in just a little acceleration to get away from him.  After the 5km race split, there are a lot less racers on course and I could begin to focus on reeling in people in front of me.

 

I reached the halfway turnaround in 27:20 at  8:47/mile pace.  I felt good that I was on pace and started back feeling strong through mile 3.  The fatigue started creeping in during the 4th mile but I was hauling in some people with my steady pace.  At the end of the 4th mile it is back over the hill, luckily I was running right with someone which paced me over without losing any time.  I then got on their shoulder for the next half mile which was the only section with any noticeable headwind.  This was more of a mental break, but it got me to the final corner with about 3/4 mile to go.

 

Around that corner there is a slight uphill and I put in a surge to drop my pacer.  I then tried to just accelerate from there to the line.  I was able to do that and I pulled away from the people I was near in the 4th and 5th mile.  I was able to drop the pace to low 7:00/mile for most of this last section.

 

I crossed the line in 53:53 which meant a 26:33 second 5k at 8:28/mile pace.  This also means I ran a healthy negative split of 46 seconds.

 

I really enjoy this race.  The course is also super accurate.  I have gotten exactly 10km both years.  Here are my splits.

 

I finished 13/18 (top 72%) in my age group and 57/127 (top 44%). Again, a bit of a decline from top 48% AG and top 33% OA last year.

 

Although I was a lot slower than 2011, I know that it is because this race is coming 3 weeks earlier which is a big difference for my training.  I was however faster of the last 1/4 mile!

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