I am doing a lot of short racing this season- duathlons, TimeTrials and running races. The goal of these types of racing is speed work. I am going at or near 100% in a race environment with the goal of continuing to train my body for success at IMLP. This week the race was the 27th annual March Madness Duathlon in Central Park NY.
The race was a bit shorter than last week's Du in prospect park- 2.2 mile run (straight out and back) 12 mile bike (2 loops of central park) and a second 2.2 mile run. But those differences are not very significant- it was gonna be a short but very hard day. One thing that made this race great was fellow Spinervalian Rob Crane was also racing so we got to meet up. Having teammates at the race is great as we do so much training alone in our dark and cold pain cave basement & garage locations.
Pre Race- It was cold, very cold- about 33 degrees. So I was very glad not to be swimming again this week (first official swim as part of a race is not until April 28, but I hope to get some open water time by mid April). For those of you not familiar with the nightmare of parking in NYC, Sunday is a special day- you don't need to feed the meters so it meant I could safely park on the street without fear of a ticket (& I parked on Columbus and 78th so a nice safe area too). When I got to the transition area, the organizers weren't quite ready so I had some time to hit the porta pottie and get in line to enter the transition area. I ended up with a great location- single rack near the bike out/ in area although the guy next to me was racing on a folding bike- kinda cool.
Once I got my packet and had my bike set up it was time to warm up. I did a short jog and watched the weekly sunday morning central park bike race. These guys start at sun-up and crush it for an hour and then go home / riding for the rest of the day. But it was good to see the other side of cycling (even though a lot of the guys in the peleton think we triathletes don't appreciate cycling since we also know how to swim and run...) And maybe this summer after LP I will take a turn or too in the peleton on my Ridley & look like a "real cyclist'. As an aside I love cycling- road, tt, mountain, but I am proud to call myself first and foremost a triathlete.
As we waited for the race to start, the sun came out- not really warming, but it was nice to see the sun rise over the east side of the city and make its way over the park. Quickly we were ushered to the start line and given our final race briefing- run straight to the turn around and back to here, ride two laps and do the run all over again. Be careful as the park was closed to vehicular traffic (except garbage trucks) and other cyclists, runners and pedestrians (with dogs- not on leashes). This was important for two reasons- one be careful and two don't follow the person in front of you blindly, they may not be racing.
And then the horn went off and we ran up a 1/4 mile hill to start the run. Starting on hills kinda stink, but if that is the only hill and it is an out and back you have a down hill coming home. Plus you are burning a match at the start so getting it out of the way first was not a big deal. What was interesting about the first loop is there were a couple of guys near me wearing the same Zoot Kiawe shoes. First time I have noticed them on other racers and here we are running together. Now the run after the first hill was essentially flat and straight so quickly I settled into nice 6:15 pace. I ran with a pack of about 5 guys through the turn and essentially all the way back to T1.
Run 1 -14:23, T1 :30.
The transition area was tight and really not enough room for double file but thankfully I was there early so it was not too crowded. I was on the bike fast and geared correctly to spin up the short hill. I nailed a flying mount and decided not to even worrying about getting my feat into my shoes until I got to the top of the hill. Once my feet were in my shoes, I spun the bike up to speed and hammered. Something cool about accelerating at the start of the bike- especially a short bike. There is no rest in an hour long race- kinda like sprinting the whole way. The first loop was pretty empty of racers- was probably in the top 30 or so on the first run. There were a lot of cyclists noodling around following their race, but they stayed left closest to the running lanes so not in the way at all. About the only issue on the first lap was some garbage trucks that were hogging some of the bike lanes and a bit of a headwind on the west side of the park. BTW most folks thing NYC is flat, but near Central Park- 60th to 100th street or so it is hilly. Nothing crazy, but short steep match burners- especially on the north west corner of the park. Coming around the south side of park I was heading into my second lap- here things began to get dicey. Lots more racers including a tight fit at the bike mount area- instead of pushing folks up the hill, the organizers were pushing them out on to the course and in the way of the second lap folks. Some cones creating a bike start area would have worked better. The second lap- while more crowded was also uneventful. I passed a bunch of folks on both loops but one guy beat me- I had caught him early on the first lap, but he was able to open a gap on the second lap that wasn't worth trying to close. About 300 meters, but if I could have caught him I would have likely fried my legs. He was on a Trek Speed Concept- with a disc wheel so obviously he was fast (if I had a disc wheel I would have been faster.... well maybe not). As I got ready to come into T2 I had a nice clear path, pulled my feet out of my shoes and glided up to the dismount line with my left leg already kicked over. Nice being near the pointy end of the race- just not as crowded.
Bike- 31:53 (5th fastest) T2 0:39- was a bit slow since I went down the wrong row first.
But quickly I was out on the run. The hill part 2 was not fun, but I knew it was short so I concentrated on getting a stride and breathing pattern and focused on getting to the top of the hill. While I did get passed by a couple of guys, I felt really good and actually was surprised when I got to the turnaround. On the run back, I was gaining on a guy in front of me and decided it was worth the pain to push for the pass. I increased my stride and with about 400 meters to go I passed him and continued to accelerate. I held on and ended up finishing 14th overall and 3rd in my AG.
Run 2 14:56
Overall 1:02:18
I am very happy with my effort on the day- two consistent runs and a very strong bike. Transitions along with Bike mounting/ dismounting very well executed.
And now that I have finished two Duathlons this year I can get ranked since they are treated separately compared to triathlons in USAT's ranking program.
Congratulations to Rob Crane for also having a solid day. There were about 470 total racers and Rob finished in 1:10:14 66th Overall and 9th in a very competitive & large age group. And he negative split his second run!
Here is the link to the race results- hoping to add some pictures in soon.
http://www.nytc.org/results_full.cfm?ID=211
And next week I am not racing, but riding in the Hell of Hunterdon- a 76 mile Belgian style ride including about 5000' of climbing and 15% of the roads are dirt/gravel or otherwise bad. Should be a great day. Here is the link to HoH:
http://www.hellofhunterdon.com/
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