Login
Reston Area Triathletes RATS.net Logo

Race Result

Racer: Steve Smith
Race: Brandywine Duathlon
Date: Saturday, April 17, 2004
Location: Delaware City, DE
Race Type: Duathlon - Sprint
Age Group: Male 30 - 34
Time: 1:21:00
Overall Place: 6
Comment: Great race w/ a tough pro field



Race Report:



Prolog
======

I love racing. Perhaps the only thing I love more than racing is racing with people who finish at about the same time I do (preferably a tad slower). What I would really like to do is race with REALLY fast people, who happen to be at my level as well but, as I was reminded this weekend, the really fast kids are still well out of my league. This was no surprise to me, but I still don't have this answer: how far out of my league?

Which brings us to the Brandywine Duathlon. Now, for my own reasons, I decided to train through this race and practically every other race this year except for New York City until I hit my trio of A races in September: Reston, Nationals, and the Half-IM champs in Kansas City. Brandywine fell smack-dab in the middle of my two-week "run camp", and I arrived outside of Delaware City Friday night with 65 miles of running in my legs since the previous Saturday, and that included the zero entered for Friday. By Saturday's end, however, I'd more than make up for my zero day.

At this point in the week, I felt pretty good. I wasn't terribly tired and even though I spent a few hours in traffic (I should have left at 7:30 pm, I would have arrived in Delaware at about the same time). There's a strip of motels and even a Dunkin Donuts about 10 minutes from Delaware City. I wouldn't recommend the EconoLodge unless price is your only concern. And what's this nonsense about DD having great coffee? Maybe in Boston, but not in Delaware (I later found the great coffee about 10 meters from the race start).

Let me say this right now: as you make your way to the race, don't let the refinery scenery scare you. Once thru the petrochemical zone, you find yourself in a very nice little town. As I'd arrived 20 minutes before the race-day packet pickup would start, I drove the run course as the sun rose. Flat, but with a few turns as you snake through the town and back onto the main road into town. You run out until you get a glimpse of the refinery and then turn for home. All in all, a fairly fast run course with a great finishing straight on Main Street. (There was some talk post race about the run course being a tad long, I wasn't sure.)

Transition area is right on the water, off Main Street, and I got all checked in on race morning. One thing about Piranha races: since they offer race-day packet pick-up, race morning can be very hectic. If you want to arrive the morning of the race, be prepared for a line. I picked up my race kit and put my bike in TA. As the sun finished rising, Saturday morning grew into a gorgeous day for racing: sunny, cool, no breeze.

And it was a good thing the wind was at bay, because this bike course would be demonic with serious winds. Sitting right off the water, it is quite exposed with little tree cover. I was also stunned at the "overpass." When I hear overpass, I think of dinky little rise. The overpass on this race course is a mile long and climbs a few hundred feet. It's a pretty significant climb and in windy weather would cause me to leave the disc wheel at home.

One nugget of wisdom: If you choose to preview the bike course on race day, there is a cluster of Porto-johns a few miles before the turnaround. The bike course in general is pretty simple, scenic and flat after the long climb over the waterway. The road quality is excellent for about 60% of the ride and good for about 30%, leaving 10% a little on the rough side. Just my impression, so take that for what it's worth.

I made my way back to TA and waited for the race start. This was one of those races where I knew I was not in contention for the win. Never mind the high-volume running, the local pros would be well beyond my abilities. Aside from Greg Watson, the country's best duathlete, for whom this is practically his hometown race, there were locals Matt Cooke, Todd Wiley and even IM specialist Spencer Smith, who has apparently moved from San Diego to New Jersey ... I'm sure he had a good reason, but I cannot imagine what it was. I guess New Jersey is better than England :)

The pros started a minute before the rest of the race. As is usual for me, I started my watch early, and the 1:00 mark was a good point. A little after 8 a.m. the pros, six men and three women, disappeared around the corner and we awaited our turn. My wave, M00-39, was next.

5K Run
======

I took the first mile out fast, but it didn't feel like it. It never does, especially this time of year. I've been doing technique/power workouts on the track. Not quite speed workouts in my opinion, these 8x400 sessions (about 80s work interval and 3:00 rest interval), are meant to keep technique (leg turnover) fresh and serve as a power session, almost a plyometric workout. So it didn't surprise me at the Virginia Duathlon that I went out fast over the first mile and then faded. I just haven't done the hard anaerobic sessions (3:00-5:00 work intervals with <=1:30 rest intervals) to build speed endurance, all tucked into an 8-mile run. The good news is that my 400 speed is better than it was at the end of last year, so I have high hopes once I start the real speed work.

Anyway, I took it out fast. I was a little surprised that I had two people on my heels. As I hit the first mile marker I checked my watch: 6:12 ..."Holy crap!" I huffed. I was stunned. I mean, I wasn't pushing as hard as I could, but surely I was under 6! Then I remembered the 1:00 head start. Pheww. Right on target. Just as I cussed, the guy next to me said, "What's wrong? Too hard? Too easy?"

Hmmm, I thought, that guy shouldn't be talking in complete sentences. Not at 5:12. This could be a problem.

"Nah. I forgot that I started my watch with the pros."

He chuckled, and we exchanged a few more complete sentences. It turns out I was talking to Brock Butler. Really nice guy. I was surprised that I could talk, or at least fake it. Brock kept going at his pace, and I slowly slowed down. However, I think the fact that we were chatting along spooked the third guy, as he fell back at the first mile, at least a bit. I watched Brock scoot along ahead of me and realized he was a very elegant runner. This would be trouble indeed.

But it got a little worse before it got better. The other guy that had hit the first mile with us was back, and passed me around mile 2 or so. I finished about :40 back from Brock (impressive given we were at MP1 together) and about :20 from the other guy.

5K run: 7th OA, 17:11/5:33 (out: 8:06/5:14, back: 9:06/5:52)
Fastest Matt Cooke 16:02/5:11 (out: 7:45/5:00 back: 8:18/5:21)
Winner Greg Watson 16:04/5:11 (out: 7:44/5:00 back: 8:20/5:23)

30K Bike
========

I had a fair transition, about 10s slower than the fastest, but hit the bike course in good form. I'd retaken the #2 runner pretty quickly and then, yet again, found myself alone on the bike. The "overpass" comes early in this ride, maybe 1.5 miles into it. It's followed by a similarly long descent that drops you onto a costal road with new asphalt. I picked up the pace here and moved along.

I spotted Brock and one of the pro men about 2/3 thru the out portion of this out-and-back bike. I kept a good pace as I reeled them in, taking them not long after the last turn before the turn-around. The pro, Ryan Jones, was moving at a good pace, but I had to slow down a tad to stay legal. After a minute or two I hammered as hard as I could to pass him in the legal 15 seconds. It was a tight call, but I made the pass and kept going. Not long after, Ryan passed me. This was a new thing for me. As a strong cyclist and (formerly) weak swimmer, I was used to coming out of the water behind the top guys and plowing through the field, or, in duathlons, hanging for the run and biking by myself. I'm not sure what the protocol was here, but I knew that I'd put a decent amount of time into Ryan in the first half of the bike, and I didn't want to get in a pack, not even a legal one, if he was going to keep the pace he'd been keeping before I showed up.

So I gathered my wits and passed him again. I put a little more distance between us this time, but not a lot. Brock was still a little ways back and definitely not out of the picture. But he was still behind Ryan. I stayed ahead for a mile or two. Ryan passed me one more time (as I was fiddling for a water bottle). I passed him back fairly quickly and we three turned off the waterfront road and into a bit of a headwind. Here I tucked in as tightly as I could and held a strong, steady pace. I think this is where I finally broke the rubber band, but Ryan & Brock were never very far back. Back up the overpass and down the other side (which seemed WAY more bumpy, and windy, than the descent on the outbound trip) and into transition area. I'd made up the :40 lost on the first run, and got myself another :20 of breathing space.

30K Bike: 5th OA, 43:01/23.4
Fastest: Greg Watson, 40:54/24.6

5K Run
======

Crap.

No way, I thought, was that enough room to hold off Brock on the second run. Sure enough, after 500m, there went Brock. We introduced ourselves, chatted a bit about a common friend, Brian Shea of Personal Best Nutrition, and then I admitted, "Well, that was a lot of biking for nothing" as he scooted along. Oh well. The rest of the run wasn't bad. I picked up the pace notably on the second half of the run and managed to hold off Ryan at the finish line. I finished 6th overall, 2nd amateur, about :40 back from Brock and a whopping 5-minutes back from Watson, the eventual winner.

5K Run: 9th OA 18:56/6:07 (out: 9:39/6:14 back: 9:17/6:00)
Fastest: Matt Cooke 16:47/5:25 (out: 8:27/5:29 8:18/5:22)
Winner: Greg Watson 16:55/5:28 (out: 8:41/5:37 8:14/5:19)

Race Analysis
=============

6th OA
2nd AM, 1:21:00 17:11/43:01/18:56
1st AM, 1:20:12 16:30/44:03/17:56 Brock Butler

All in all, I was pretty happy with my race. My biking is definitely not where it can be, but as I wrap up the run camp this week, I dive into six weeks of hard-core biking. I was really happy with my first run given the mileage in my legs; less so with my second run, but I think that is related more to my biking. Transitions were okay, much better than the Va Du, but still not crisp.

Most of all, I really enjoyed racing with someone. This is the first duathlon I've raced with someone nearby (usually I'm in a pack for the first run and then very lonely for the rest of the race) and the dynamics of position were fun. I hope I can get my swim up to par so that I can race triathlons in a similar fashion: just a little bit behind as the bike starts.

Post race goodies included pizza, sodas, and bananas. I grabbed a banana and headed out for a 30-minute run which, with my warm-up run, would get me my 10 miles for the day. It was a slow slog, but a pleasant, pretty run. I was definitely feeling the mileage now.

Training Thru
=============

I downed a 32oz bottle of Endurox and some bananas, grabbed my AG award and hit the Delaware City Cafe for a *good* cup of coffee (and a pound of house-roasted beans).

Having gotten my ass kicked by a handful of pros, I decided I needed to buttress my lame "training thru" excuse. Sure, these guys would scorch me even in full taper (but by how much? 1:30? 2:30?), I figured if I was going to trot out this training-thru thing, I might as well make good on it.

I headed for the Columbia Triathlon course. Because of my travel schedule in the coming weeks, this would be the only time that I would have to preview the course. I had a map from my aborted attempt to ride the course before the Va Duathlon. I got to Centennial Lake around 2 p.m., loaded the spoked wheels onto the Cervelo, and took to the course.

I may have to rethink my ideas on bike warm-ups. I don't know what got into me, but I smoked thru the course and felt great. So I did it again. That was a bit more difficult, so I stopped for a couple of cokes on the course. Finally feeling good and tired after two loops, I got into the car an headed home. I did have, by the way, a 5K race the next morning ...

... to be continued

http://www.lin-mark.com/results/search.asp?race_id=316