Race Result

Racer:	Amanda Shuman
Race:	Riverwatch Duathlon
Date:	Sunday, July 25, 2004
Location:	North East, MD
Race Type:	Duathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Female 20 - 24
Time:	1:39:32
Overall Place:	64 / 190
Age Group Place:	1 / 6
Comment:	Great Race (and proves my weak point is swimming!)

Race Report:

Times - (these times are nearly 10 seconds off my watch time, as I think the person starting the duathlon at the same time as the tri screwed up...)

R1: 22:00 (my watch said 21:51, the nerve! :) )
T1: 1:16
Bike: 51:30
T2: :45
R2: 24:02
Total: 1:39:32 (again -- my watch said 1:39:19...hmmm)

Pre-Race:
I signed up for this event the week after Eagleman. I based the rest of my season on that race and how I felt afterwards, hence, I signed up for the duathlon and not the triathlon (I think I can hold off on drinking fuel-filled water for a while).

Anwyays, I tapered for this event the week before because I wanted to PR in it. I've only done one other duathlon before, but after it I kept wondering why I didn't do more of these (duh, because there AREN'T MANY OF THEM in this area). I know very well my stronger events are the bike and run and so I was psyched about this race.

The day before and traveling to the race were pretty uneventful.

Race Day:
Got there early enough to get a nice spot on a rack in the middle. Bike was having back tire truing "issues" which I had to tweak a little. (I just need a new bike, really.)

1st Run:
I felt pretty good but I was so incredibly nervous. I'd done a 21:25 (or so?) 5k before, but not in a while. I kept pacing myself and as people passed kept saying "you'll just pass them on the bike, just ignore them for now..." And generally, I was right. I really only cared about my age group, to be honest. Thank god for the age on the calves! Some girl in my ag who passed me half way through the run and looked strong hopped on a hybrid and I flew past her on my bike as she pathetically walked hers up a hill :)

T1: OY did my legs hurt. I forget how much different it is from run -> bike then swim -> bike. I never practice it.

Bike:
I passed a lot of people including many around my age both from the du and tri at this point. Doing Mt Weather 3 weeks ago paid off BIG TIME. And lots of people with flats... I hope whoever threw the tacks out gets fined bigtime...

T2:
Feet were numb (still need new bike shoes...), but the new lock laces did their job. I've never had a 45 second transition before.

2nd Run:
Legs were hurting... but I always I loosen up after a mile, and like usual, I did. At this point I knew I was much slower than before. All I cared about was passing the other girls in my age group. I caught all but one :) Since everyone was mixed up with the tri though, I couldn't read all the ages accurately anymore; I recognized some people from the first run but not all. I paced off some guy throughout the bike and then again on the second run, but I think it was mutual 'cause he kept following me in the bike since I climbed the hills faster than he did. And I sprinted with some lady for the last 100 yards or so, so I still had some gas left (too bad I didn't use it earlier in the run!).

Overall:
I like duathlons because I actually stay up front near the other female competition. I placed 6th female overall and second in my age group but since the other girl ahead of me in the ag was in the top 3, they bumped me up to 1st place (yay!). Either way, it felt awesome! Especially since I *know* now I can work harder in the next one (I have got to get that pacing thing down so I don't have that much left at the end). I noticed the results were at least 10 seconds off of my watch time, which I started right when they said go) but whatever, next time I'll just do even better so it won't matter :)