Recap of the Younglife Fall Classic Duathlon

In the Spring, my multisport racing started with the Oakdale Spring Classic Duathlon. Just this past Saturday, my multisport racing season ended with a race on the same course--the ParkTool/Younglife Duathlon. It was nice to do the same race at the beginning of the season and at the end so results can be compared. I expected my race time to be about 5 minutes faster at the Fall version, but we'll blame that on the wedding we attended the night before. I was still about two minutes faster, but the wine and margarita's may have held me from beating my time by more...time.

The course was a 3 mile run, 13 mile bike, 3 mile run. The race winner was Neil Miller (GearWest). He won it in the Spring as well. This adds another component for comparison as it shows if you are gaining on the race leader. His time was 14 seconds faster this time around. Overall, I finished in the Top 10 with a time of 1:12:08 (Spring Classic time was 1:14:19). I improved on all three sections and I suspect my transitions came down a little too. They added about 200-300 yards to the start, claiming that the Spring race distance for Run 1 was a little short. Run 1 for me in the spring was 19:03; the other day it was 18:39. Not blazing, but I'm happy with it. I was 15th on Run 1. The bike time shows me taking longer, but the bike section included T1 (no chip timing at this race), while Run 2 included T2. I was hitting the lap button on the HRM, but couldn't do it on the way in to T2 because I was jumping off the bike and not crashing is a priority of mine (obvious statement). My computer showed 13.3 miles @ 32:50 with a 24.2 mph average--I checked that while it was racked after the race. I am guessing that is about right. I hit T2 in about 3rd overall, but was beat out of T2 by about 4 guys that came in just behind me so by the time I was on the trail for Run 2 I was in 7th position overall. This is accurate because I passed one (teammate Joe M. or J-Mo), was passed by two (one of which was teammate Jason S.), and ended up in 8th overall. Jason finished 6th, and J-Mo 9th so all the PCR guys in the race placed Top 10 overall. PCR Ann M. (A-Mo) was the 3rd female overall and placed 1st in her age group.

It was a fun race and a nice placing to end my du racing for the season. Now on to CX (that's cyclocross for the abbreviation impaired). Well, maybe CX. I love those races, but I think the family has had enough racing weekends and I am not sure I want to go at "puke intensity" again this season.

STAY TUNED FOR INFORMATION ON A MULTISPORT TRAINING CLASS STARTING IN JANUARY AT THE RAC.

Stride for Fitness & the TriRochester Mock Triathlon

Saturday was busy. My plan was to do the TriRochester Mock Triathlon then call it a day. However, the tri wasn't until 10am (then delayed a bit longer) so I decided to do the Stride for Fitness 5k prior to that as they were only a couple minutes from each other. The turnout wasn't very big at the Stride and the winning times weren't too hot, relative to course records, but for me, it was a good run. I PR'd my 5k time with 6:03 pace for a final time of 18:48. The winning time was 17:57. I was 3rd overall of 63; 3rd overall of 27 men, and 1st of 9 men 30-39.

From the Stride I headed over to the mock tri. I have never entered a tri, nor have I ever swam(?) in any event. I've never even timed myself just for fun in the water. My goal, when in water of any kind, is usually to be able to get out of the water alive. To top it off, the only water I have been under since early July was in my shower. I have a wetsuit, so I wasn't too worried about drowning, but feared that the water would be pretty cold since the temp dropped into the 30's and was only in the 40-50's when we started. Believe it or not, the water was pretty nice!
There were only about 30 participating, 5-6 in the Olympic distance (.9 mile swim, 25 mile bike, 6.2 mile run) and the rest in the Sprint (1/4 mile swim, 10 mile bike, 3.1 mile run). I did the sprint, of course. I did the swim in a slow 10:57. I think I was one of the last 5 out of the water, but was excited to get on the bike. The bike was an out-n-back with the turn around at 5 miles. I caught most riders prior to the turn around then got the last two just after. The run was where I messed up--thank goodness this was just a 'mock' and not the real deal. I got off the bike, ran about 1/4 mile, stopped for a pee. Then started running again when I saw Sara Kolpin (womens overall winner at the Treadman) coming around the corner. She was about a block back. I was following the orange arrows as they said, but followed a couple of the wrong ones. So did Sara. So did a few others. I stopped when I ran out of trail, turned around, met Sara just a little ways back, then met another guy about a 100 yards back from there. We were heading back and saw a couple more people, but they were only a few feet beyond the turn we missed. They got back on track, Sara went with them, but myself and the other guy headed back. I am guessing that I probably put in 3.5-3.75 miles by the time it was done (my run time ended up about 24 minutes--I was slower than the 6:03 pace from earlier in the day, but not that slow). It was good to get the experience in as the first 'new' type of race can be a little intimidating. Not sure which venue will be my first 'real' tri, but at least I won't feel like a total newbie.

The 'real' tri is titled The Rochesterfest Triathlon and is planned for Sunday, June 29, 2008. See other MN tri's and du's at www.trifind.com/mn.html

One Step Closer to Full-On Tri-Geek

The other day I ordered the 2008 Giro Advantage 2 Time Trial helmet from Rochester Cycling & Fitness. I never had the courage to breakdown and get TT helmet. First of all, they make you look like a bubble head like the Predator or the Alien (or this) with that tail sticking out the back. Two, because I didn't think having a TT helmet was worth it as I only used to do the stock category if I did TT's. And C, I never thought I would get into multi-sport (du's and tri's) events. Well, never say never--Alien and Predator were cool movies. Over the last few years I have went from mountain biker, to roadie, now I think I may be going all multi-sport next season. Shhhhhh....don't tell anyone. Ahh, nobody reads this anyway :)

note: if you go to the highlighted link here for AVP, there's even a 'tt' in the link name. Coincidence???

THE TREADMAN

The Treadman saw a much broader range of competition in it's 2nd year. It had bigger turnout with many more from the Twin Cities and an overall win from a Wisconsinite. Three PCR's made the top 10 overall: Jason Sinnwell, myself, and Joe Moyer. Here's the top 10 overall:

1 Brent Sinn

2 Jim Hannon

3 Mike Gruba

4 Jason Sinnwell

5 Christopher Koch

6 Robert Mitchell

7 Mario Minelli

8 Marty Netzel

9 Sarah Kolpin

10 Joe Moyer

For my personal results, I managed to defend my age group by taking 1st place in the male age 35-39 age group. Run 1 was where I saw the most improvement, but the bike leg was my strongest section of the race--I pulled off the 3rd fastest time of the day... and on a stock road bike with some clip-on mini TT bars! That actually hurts my chances of my wife getting on board with the idea that I need a tri-bike. "See, you don't need a tri bike, you need to run faster." Dang! She's too logical.

Pictured above: Darcy F, Jason S, myself, J-Mo, A-Mo.Complete results are here

Pictured below: Sofia, Jace, me