Rochester Autumn Classic Formula 1 Duathlon
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Rochester Autumn Classic Festival info
2007 RAC F1 Duathlon results
photo slideshow
A great day at the races! I PR'd for the RAC F1 Du by just about 6 minutes, finishing in 2 hr 28 minutes, mostly due to a major PR during the runs, averaging under 10 1/2 minute miles! Wahoo!
Ann surprised me by coming over to the park for the entire race - I had suggested that she could use some of the time to work out while waiting for me, but didn't think she'd actually go for it. We pulled into the parking lot and found it even more packed than in the past, possibly because the nice folks at Yellowjacket Racing have added two trail races to the race options. I managed to get my usual parking spot under the trees, looking out at the pond, so I was happier than some of the folks I saw driving around trying to get the best possible spot...
After doing five of these duathlons, I have the drill pretty much down... picked up my race number and shirt, then stopped at the entrance to the transition area to get my timing chip. I was a bit disappointed to see that one volunteer who'd been at every other spring and fall du wasn't there this time - I had fun joking around with him as I plodded in and out of transition during the race. Dropped everything off at the car, then took the bike and my bag of race gear (bottles of water and gatorade, plus my helmet and gloves) over to transition. After that I changed clothes and then wandered around for a bit until we got the call to head over to the start.
Boots had the usual pre-race things to say, though we did have a new warning this time around - apparently the town recently resurfaced a short stretch of road we'd be on with oil and crushed stone. Ugh. Fortunately, it was only about a mile or so, and much of it was uphill... still, that had to be frustrating for the fast riders. Once the clocks were set up, he gave us the signal, and it was time to run!
I ended up at the back of the pack very quickly, running with another fellow in the eye-jarring combination of an olive green shirt and pink shorts. We kept up a reasonably good pace, chatting occasionally - the trails were in great shape, with very little mud. The first hill, up the road from the boat launch, was tough as always, but then the rest of the first mile is level, until the course comes out to the road - then there's a long uphill along the road and through the woods. It was along here that the first of the sprinters started passing us. I stopped for a cup of water at the aid station, and lost my running partner - didn't see him again until the end of the race. But I did keep up a good clip up the steep hill and then across the field and down into transition. In fact, I was more than a bit surprised when I finished the first two miles in 20:37, or just slightly over 10 minutes per mile!
Zipped through transition pretty quickly, walking the bike out and mounting up in the parking lot, then trying to get my legs to work for riding. All the hills right at the start didn't help! Turned onto the recently-resurfaced road, and while it took some concentration, traffic had worn enough bare tracks through the crushed stone that it really wasn't too bad to ride. It took me a while to get warmed up, but once I did I managed a pretty good clip on the bike. Got passed by a few sprinters, but toward the end I also managed to pass a few folks who were struggling up the many hills on the 10 mile loop... I'm not that fast on the flats or the downs, relatively speaking, but I'm a moderately strong climber, probably my my quads being strengthened by running up hills. Along the way I also passed a rather confused-looking deer, who was standing in someone's front yard watching the bikes go by. Made it back to transition in 41:11 - I originally thought that was a PR for the bike leg, but it turns out I've ridden just a tiny bit faster in the past. Still, a pretty darn good time, considering that I didn't ride as much this summer as I wanted to.
As always, getting my legs moving for the 2nd run was tough... I really should do bricks (training sessions where you ride and then run immediately afterwards) to maybe make that a little easier. Felt like I was crawling through the entire two miles, so I was surprised when I made it back to transition in 21:03 - definitely the fastest pace I've ever done for that middle running leg!
The rough thing about the 2nd ride was the hills got tougher and tougher as my legs ran out of gas... but the nice thing about it was the knowledge that once I got back to transition, all I needed to do was another two mile run. Pushed as hard as I could on that ride, and hit some downright scary speeds (for me) on a couple of downhills (roughly 30 mph.) Thought I was going to end up in a crash at the bottom of the driveway, just before the dismount - the course marshalls were uncharacteristically inattentive and several folks started to walk out in front of me, until they finally heard my repeatedly bellowing "HEADS UP!!!!" Jogged the bike into transition, and managed to finish that leg in 41:38 - a great time, as far as I'm concerned.
From there, all that was left was the last run, albeit without a whole lot of oomph left in my legs... once again it felt like I was crawling, but I guess I managed to push a pretty good pace, because I came over the last hill (which always feels great, as the view opens up and I can see the finish line off in the distance) and made it across the finish in less time than either of the other running legs - 20:28! Best of all, that (plus hustling in transitions) gave me a total time of 2:28:09 - a PR for the course, and under 2 1/2 hours, which was better than I had hoped for!
After that, I lugged all my gear over to the car, marvelled at the $2000-$3000 bikes that were leaning against other folks' cars while they attended the award ceremony (my bike was locked up, and it's not worth anywhere near that!) and then headed over to try to rustle up some food. The pickings were slim, but I managed to stave off the immediate threat of starvation, before Ann and I hopped in the car to go looking for something more lunch-like.
Needless to say, I'm very pleased with how today went... my runs were not only fast (for me) but also consistent, where in the past my pace always crept up to 11 and 12 minute miles during the 2nd and 3rd runs. My riding was as good as it's ever been... at this point, I suspect the only things that might help that improve would be to put in a lot more miles on the bike (tough to do, when I'm putting in lots of miles running) and to drop some weight from both the bike (ie. buy a lighter, faster bike) and the rider (a never-ending battle.) In any case, as much as I sometimes think the Rochester Duathlons can get a bit boring (after all, in a given year I see the run course 6 times and the riding course 4) - at this point they're old friends, and I have a tough time imagining not doing them. Besides, the folks at Yellowjacket are consistently great, and the volunteers are fantastic. I may take an occasional break from the Rochester Du's to be able to try some other races... but I can't imagine giving them up completely, at least for the foreseeable future.
Next up: the Monroe Dunbar Brook 10.5 Mile Trail Race, at beautiful Monroe State Forest in the northwestern mountains of Massachusetts. Two years ago the roads there and the course were under water, and the stream crossings were raging rivers... it will be interesting to run it under less extreme conditions!
JMH
2007 EVENT TOTALS
Running 217.9 mi, 50 hr 43 min
Cycling 46.2 mi, 3 hr 18 min
Snowshoe 31.3 mi, 9 hr 11 min
states visited: CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, VT
