Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Dousman Duathlon




It was raining.  First it was sprinkling and then it picked up to a pretty good rain, not really a downpour, but a good solid rain.  It rained the whole race.  Sometimes sprinkling, sometimes pretty hard.  Thankfully it was not cold, it was actually pretty good race weather.  Probably slowed the bike down a little, for safety.  It was the first time in 3 years (37 races, duathlons and triathlons combined) that I had to race in the rain.  It was a very good race, almost 6 minutes faster than last year, and almost 17 minutes faster than 2006.  Fifth place in my age group, about 4 seconds out of fourth, and less than a minute out of 3rd.  Very happy with my run times.  The run is pretty flat, so that makes it fast.  No long hills, but some short steep hills.  Good road surface.  I think next year I am going to try to get in the Elite wave (fastest 20%), which puts you in the first 2-3 waves.  I started in the 9th wave (400-450) and I finished 34th overall out of 615.  I pick my way through a lot of riders.  Many of them were exhibiting some pretty bad riding etiquette.  Riding 2-3 across, not staying to the right, etc.  It would be nice to have a little less traffic.  
All in all, it was another great race.  I am kind of sad, in about 3 weeks, actually less, I will be done with this season.  It has been a lot of fun and very enriching.  I am also a little happy that soon I will have some time off.  
Below, a look at my results for the Dousman Duathlon for the last 3 years.  Nice to see improvement.  Always nice to see improvement.  Hooray!

2008 Results
Run (2mi) - 12:58 (6:29/mile)
T1 - 1:25
Bike (20mi) - 57:17 (20.9 MPH, always 1-2MPH slower in the duathlons, first run kills the legs more than the swim) 
T2 - 0:55
Run (2mi) - 14:06 (7:03/mile)
Total - 1:26:39
Overall - 34/615
Age - 5/54

2007 Results
Run (2mi) - 13:20 (6:40/mile)
T1 - 1:19
Bike (20mi) - 1:01:50 (19.7MPH)
T2 - 1:17
Run (2mi) - 14:40 (7:20/mile)
Total - 1:32:26
Overall - 111/797
Age - 21/55

2006 Results
Run (2mi) - 15:12 (7:36/mile) 
T1 - 1:48
Bike (20mi) - 1:07:48 (17.7MPH, did this on my Lemond Sarthe with bolt-on aerobars)
T2 - 1:44
Run (2mi) - 16:28 (8:14/mile)
Total - 1:43:00
Overall - 238/254
Age - 13/24

 

1 comment:

Tat said...

Awesome improvement! Where were the USAT officials? i hate it when people do not respect the race rules, it makes it hard on everyone, especially those who do. Have a wonderful rest of the season and a great time off, base training is just around the corner!
Tat