Duathlon Age Group Nationals Race Report

So yesterday I raced Duathlon Age Group Nationals in Richmond, VA. The race went pretty much as I had hoped. Everything was clicking on race morning.

I managed 5th place out of 55 participants in my age group 30-34. Overall I was 62nd out of 1,000 participants including Male/Female.

The first run was a blistering 5k. I pretty much stayed in the top five through the first run. I ran a 17:34 min 5k which results in a 5:39 min/mile pace. I was very pleased with that.

The bike split I wasn't so happy with. I did it on my road bike. I really need to invest in a TT bike. I averged 23 miles/hr on the bike. The distance was a 38k. My bike split was 1hr 2 min. Coming off the bike I went from 5th to 7th place.

The last run was another 5k. I was able to reclaim the two spots I lost on the bike and went back to 5th. My second run split was not as fast as my first. My time was 18:43 min. Still good enough for a 6:02 min/mile pace.

My total time was 1 hr 40min including transiton times. So the moral of the story, get a time trial bike and do better on the bike portion.

The best part was the end of the race: FREE BEER AND PIZZA OHHHH YEAH!!!!

Duathlon Nationals

I will be competing at Duathlon Nationals this weekend. I feel like I signed up for this a lifetime ago. Even through the snowy winter I kept my focus and trained harder than any previous winter I can remember. In the process I lost about 25 pounds. I'm super excited for this weekend. The race is also a qualifier for Worlds in Scotland. I think I have a good chance of doing a top 10 and qualifying. Even if I qualify, I'm not sure I would go to worlds. Mucho dinero. I went to worlds back in 2005 when they were in Belgium. Had a blast racing there. I was also not married and no kids at the time so it made traveling easy. Either way I'm excited to get the show on the road.

Soccer and training

This past weekend my soon to be 3 year old started soccer. Its amazing how fast they grow. I feel like it was just yesterday we were taking him home from the hospital. We also took along our 16 month old little girl and she wanted to be in on the action. I enjoy watching them discover new things and most of all just being kids enjoying life.

On the training end, I put in some long running miles this weekend. Yesterday I finally made myself start a regimented speed workout. Its been awhile since I did a structured speed workout. With the duathlon and 10 mile race looming I want to make sure I have some kick for those final miles. I'm still riding about 3 times a week just for maintenance

Here is the speed workout:

2 mile warm up

4 X 1 mile repeats with 200 meter recovery jog in between sets.

2 mile cool down.

Total mileage 8 miles not counting 200 meter recover jogs.

My times were good, but lost time by the fourth set. The goal was to maintain the same pace for each mile. I may have started out to hard. By the fourth one was I was losing my kick. Things to think about and work on.

Forgot to mention the workout was done on the C & O Canal. Great place for mile repeats.

Here are my times

Mile 1 was 5 min 58 sec

Mile 2 was 6 min 5 sec

Mile 3 was 6 min 7 sec

Mile 4 was 6 min 11 sec.

All for now check back later.

Finally, some racing coming my way !!!!

So I've been quiet on the blogging end lately. I finally signed myself up for some races. I've been keeping the same schedule on the training end. My runs have improved significantly since the temperatures have gone down.

Sunday I did a 14 mile run with my Garmin Forerunner 305 logging the info. I averaged a 6 min 48 second mile pace for the entire 14 miles. I was tore up afterwards so I know I was working hard. Monday, labor day I ran a 5 mile recovery run and felt like absolute shit. I guess that's why it is called a recovery run.

I'm excited to race soon. I want to put all this training to use. Lately, I've taken a back seat to racing because I'm helping my wife train for the Marine Core Marathon. Its been fun not having to think about racing. I also enjoy spending my mornings with the kids while Momma is out training. I get to sleep in and hang out with my babies.

The two races I have coming up (which I signed up for already) are the Cape Henelopen Duathlon on October 11th (1.5mile run, 14 mile bike, 5k run). Second race is the 10 mile back yard burn run at Wakefield Park (Novermber 1st). I got 6th in this race last year with a time of 1 hr. 5 min. with no training. This time I want to podium. I ran out of gas last year and got passed towards the end of the race. NOT THIS TIME BABY!!!

All for now, check back later for more updates.

Weekend Recap and shots of today Hanes Pt. training

It seems August has brought back the heat and humidity. Still though, hasn't been that bad as last year.

Saturday I was able to do both an open lake swim and a run. I met up with one of my buddies at 6am to get in a mile swim at Montclair Lake in Woodbridge.










I then drove back to Mason Neck Wild Life Refuge and met up with my wife to get our running in. My wife has been training for the Marine Core Marathon. Her running plan had her running 9 miles. I always take the kids in the double jogger and run the same distance she does. The run felt good. Here is what my Garmin 305 recorded.

Distance 9 miles
Pace per mile 6:58 min
Calories burned 1900

It was a great double workout. Here's a pic of me and the kids in the double jogger. I was going to try and do my best impression of "Ice man" in Top Gun but my gut doesn't go that far in and I still need a full tan rather than a cyclist tan.



As for Hanes Point, the sprinklers are still up. We did the alternate loop and Mr. Chuck Hutch himself decided he was going to go hard so me and Guy Perotti latched on and decided to enjoy the ride. Chuck was pulling hard. We all stayed together for about 3 laps then it started getting a bit to dicey for me with the cars and pedestrians and all. Call me a puuuussey I guess !!!, but I still have to go back to work and in one peace preferably.

Here are some shots from today. Chuck Hutch himself and the mayor of Hanes Pt, Myron L. Trust me, Myron will let you know if your F'ing up a pace line. That's why we call him the Mayor.

Future Bike Geek

Here's my 2 yr old taking out the Hot Walker for a spin.

Open Water Swim

This AM about 6 AM I did an open lake swim with a friend of mine. I meant to take a pic of the lake but forgot my crackberry in my pack. It was about a 1600 meter swim. I always prefer an open water swim to doing laps in the pool. I hate f'ing around with flip turns and morons who don't understand this is the lap lane not the waddle your fat ass in the pool lane.

I wont be able to bring you great photos of noon bike training today because I have a luncheon to attend to. My boss is moving on to his next post so we're marching him out with a sit down at Red Hot n Blue.

C-ya.