Yesterday was the March Madness Biathlon in Central Park. First the vitals:
- Overall time – 1:28:08
- Overall place – 197/376
- Age Group – 26/41
Splits:
- Run (2.3 miles) – 19:41
- T1 – 1:00
- Bike (12 miles) – 46:10
- T2 – 1:42
- Run (2.3 miles) – 19:32
History of Central Park Biathlons:
- 9/16/2007 – 1:24:45
- 3/30/2008 – 1:26:17
- 3/28/2010 – 1:22:44
- 3/27/2011 – 1:28:08
As you can see, it was not my best. Actually it was my worst. But I was sort of expecting it because I haven’t been on my bike much, I was sick last week, and have had a few nagging injuries. With the negative stuff out of the way, I can say I really had a great time. There is NOTHING better than being in the transition area of a triathlon or duathlon and just taking it all in. Even yesterday, when it was 28 degrees before the race, everyone was so upbeat and excited about racing. It really was a great time.
As far as my race goes, I went out a bit tentative on the first run, and then settled into a consistent 8:30-8:45 pace after cat hill. I found I was able to catch quite a few people that must have charged up the hill and then found they could not sustain it for the full 2.3 (I’m calling it 2.3, although the official distance is 2 miles) distance.
I blew through T1 very quickly. It helped that I didn’t need to change my gloves. I only needed to get my helmet on and get on my bike.
I was surprisingly consistent on my bike on the 2 loops. My best time for a loop around the park is just under 20 minutes. I completed the first loop yesterday in 22+, and then was also pretty strong on the 2nd loop, just a hair slower. The only problem I had was at the top of harlem hill the 2nd time around, when my chain came loose and then got stuck really badly. An experienced bystander thankfully was able to help me get it loose. I lost about a minute in total.
I had a little trouble in T2. The bike rack I was assigned to was a little low to the ground and I could not secure it with my seat. I needed to use the handlebars. I unfortunately forgot this when trying to rack the bike, when I went for the bike seat. When I realized my mistake, I had to get the bike all turned around again, which took some time. Also, with my frozen feet, I was a bit slow getting through the transition area.
I did well on the last run. It literally took about 1 mile for me to gain all feeling back in my feet because of the cold. But once I got into my groove, I really was able to set a good 8:30-8:45 pace. It felt like I was picking people off one by one. I probably passed about 20 people in total on the run, and only got passed myself 3 or 4 times. The finish is in front of the boathouse parking lot on the way down cat hill, and so this remains the only race I regularly run where the finish is on such a sharp downhill. It makes for a fast finish for sure! This downhill finish is even better than the downhill finish of Coogan’s.
Interestingly, the first run and last run took me exactly the same amount of time. My official time shows a 9 second difference because the start was not chip timed, and it took me 9 seconds to get to the start.
All in all I had a blast again, and can’t wait to do this race again another time. And yes it was cold, but interesting enough, I went back in my running log and saw that when I did this race in 2008, it was also the same 28 degrees at the start! So perhaps not so unusual. Afterwards, sampled a muscle milk (yuck) and picked up a few Zico Coconut Waters, which were the perfect recovery drink.
Next up, 13.1 New York on Saturday morning…
