Nitzana Duathlon - 8 April 2006
We left town at 5 a.m. which, thanks to daylight savings time, looks like the middle of the night. When we got to Nitzana at 6, the sun was just rising. If there's one thing I really dislike, it's arriving at the race start in the dark, but with a 7:10 start time, we didn't have much choice.
By the time I got my bike set up and went to the bathroom, I only had time for a short warmup. At 7:10, we were off. I went out at a good pace on the run -- I reached the 1 km mark at something like 5:20, which is very fast for me. I wasn't quite able to hold this pace for the entire 5 km (especially since there was a hill right before the turn-around), but I managed to hold a decent pace and keep quite a few people behind me. Just before I reached the transition area, I heard a bunch of kids from the team screaming my name. It's always fun to have the kids out to cheer me on. One of them asked, "Can you do it?" and I nodded "YES!" I looked at my watch as I entered the transition area and it read something like 28:15, I think. This is an especially good time for me considering the fact that I was saving strength for the bike.
The transition went smoothly, though I need to work on changing my shoes faster. I ran out of the transition area and reached the mat at 29:21, 47/62 overall (men and women) for the run and 2/7 in my age group (actually, I was 1/2 in my age group, but they combined two groups and I was second in the combined group).
I had a bit of trouble clipping into my pedals -- nothing unusual for me in a race. Almost as soon as I took off down the main road, I started passing people. I passed a LOT of people and in the first half of the bike course, no one passed me. My legs were feeling a bit tired from the run, but I managed to stay in the large chain ring, even going uphill. About 300 meters after the turn-around, I saw my teammate, Ela. I was a bit surprised to see her so soon -- I used to be a lot faster than her, but she's make some real improvement recently. I kept pushing as hard as I could so that she wouldn't pass me (we're in the same age group).
A couple of kilometers later, one of the guys I had passed earlier passed me. As soon as he pulled ahead of me, he slowed down. I tried to hold back a bit, but he was making it difficult and I wasn't quite up to passing him or at least not within the time allowed. Next thing I knew, I heard the motorcycle coming up behind me and then the whistle. The head official yelled something about 5 meters or 7 meters -- I couldn't quite make it out, but I got the idea -- drafting. Then he pulled out a yellow card. He didn't stop me, though -- he just told me that one more offense and I'd be disqualified.
A couple of minutes later, another guy that I'd passed earlier passed me and he, too, pulled ahead of me and slowed down. Ugh. The last thing I needed was for another official to ride by -- I didn't want to be disqualified for drafting. So I passed him back, but he wouldn't let me stay in front of him and he passed me again. At this point, I had no choice. The first guy who had passed me wasn't far ahead and there was no way I could pass this guy without entering the other guy's drafting zone and I wasn't sure I had it in me to pass both of them. So I held back, losing some time, but at least making sure I didn't get disqualified. The ironic part was that I watched these two guys draft off of each other for five kilometers or so with no official in sight.
Right at the end of the bike course, I was passed by one other person, a woman. It was just seconds before I got off my bike and I passed her in the transition area and never saw her again. My final bike time for 20 km was 43:12 -- that's a PR for me in a race and not a bad time considering the fact that I'd run before I got on the bike (it's a lot easier to ride a bike after swimming!). I was 41/62 overall on the bike and 2/7 in my age group.
I'm pretty sure that my second transition was slower than the first. It took me a few seconds to get my shoes on and to tighten them. At the start of the second run, my legs felt like logs. I could hardly move them. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only 2.5 km and that everyone around me looked and felt exactly like me. By the turn-around, my legs were feeling a little bit better, but I wasn't able to pick up the pace as much as I would have liked. Even at the end, I tried to sprint, but my legs didn't exactly want to cooperate. My time for the second run, including the transition was 16:48. That sounds really slow, but I was 41/62 overall and 2/7 in my age group (only 5 seconds behind the woman who ran the fastest). Relative to everyone else, I actually did better on the second run than I did on the first, even if the time looks slow.
My goal for this race was to better last year's time. I did that. My more ambitious goal was to beat 1:30. I did that, too. My dream goal was to finish in 1:28 and change. I didn't quite achieve that, but I wasn't far off. My final time was 1:29:22 (last year's time was 1:35:51). I finished 43/62 overall and 2/7 for women 40-49, a minute and 26 seconds behind first place.
It was a good race for me and a great day :-)
By the time I got my bike set up and went to the bathroom, I only had time for a short warmup. At 7:10, we were off. I went out at a good pace on the run -- I reached the 1 km mark at something like 5:20, which is very fast for me. I wasn't quite able to hold this pace for the entire 5 km (especially since there was a hill right before the turn-around), but I managed to hold a decent pace and keep quite a few people behind me. Just before I reached the transition area, I heard a bunch of kids from the team screaming my name. It's always fun to have the kids out to cheer me on. One of them asked, "Can you do it?" and I nodded "YES!" I looked at my watch as I entered the transition area and it read something like 28:15, I think. This is an especially good time for me considering the fact that I was saving strength for the bike.
The transition went smoothly, though I need to work on changing my shoes faster. I ran out of the transition area and reached the mat at 29:21, 47/62 overall (men and women) for the run and 2/7 in my age group (actually, I was 1/2 in my age group, but they combined two groups and I was second in the combined group).
I had a bit of trouble clipping into my pedals -- nothing unusual for me in a race. Almost as soon as I took off down the main road, I started passing people. I passed a LOT of people and in the first half of the bike course, no one passed me. My legs were feeling a bit tired from the run, but I managed to stay in the large chain ring, even going uphill. About 300 meters after the turn-around, I saw my teammate, Ela. I was a bit surprised to see her so soon -- I used to be a lot faster than her, but she's make some real improvement recently. I kept pushing as hard as I could so that she wouldn't pass me (we're in the same age group).
A couple of kilometers later, one of the guys I had passed earlier passed me. As soon as he pulled ahead of me, he slowed down. I tried to hold back a bit, but he was making it difficult and I wasn't quite up to passing him or at least not within the time allowed. Next thing I knew, I heard the motorcycle coming up behind me and then the whistle. The head official yelled something about 5 meters or 7 meters -- I couldn't quite make it out, but I got the idea -- drafting. Then he pulled out a yellow card. He didn't stop me, though -- he just told me that one more offense and I'd be disqualified.
A couple of minutes later, another guy that I'd passed earlier passed me and he, too, pulled ahead of me and slowed down. Ugh. The last thing I needed was for another official to ride by -- I didn't want to be disqualified for drafting. So I passed him back, but he wouldn't let me stay in front of him and he passed me again. At this point, I had no choice. The first guy who had passed me wasn't far ahead and there was no way I could pass this guy without entering the other guy's drafting zone and I wasn't sure I had it in me to pass both of them. So I held back, losing some time, but at least making sure I didn't get disqualified. The ironic part was that I watched these two guys draft off of each other for five kilometers or so with no official in sight.
Right at the end of the bike course, I was passed by one other person, a woman. It was just seconds before I got off my bike and I passed her in the transition area and never saw her again. My final bike time for 20 km was 43:12 -- that's a PR for me in a race and not a bad time considering the fact that I'd run before I got on the bike (it's a lot easier to ride a bike after swimming!). I was 41/62 overall on the bike and 2/7 in my age group.
I'm pretty sure that my second transition was slower than the first. It took me a few seconds to get my shoes on and to tighten them. At the start of the second run, my legs felt like logs. I could hardly move them. I had to keep reminding myself that it was only 2.5 km and that everyone around me looked and felt exactly like me. By the turn-around, my legs were feeling a little bit better, but I wasn't able to pick up the pace as much as I would have liked. Even at the end, I tried to sprint, but my legs didn't exactly want to cooperate. My time for the second run, including the transition was 16:48. That sounds really slow, but I was 41/62 overall and 2/7 in my age group (only 5 seconds behind the woman who ran the fastest). Relative to everyone else, I actually did better on the second run than I did on the first, even if the time looks slow.
My goal for this race was to better last year's time. I did that. My more ambitious goal was to beat 1:30. I did that, too. My dream goal was to finish in 1:28 and change. I didn't quite achieve that, but I wasn't far off. My final time was 1:29:22 (last year's time was 1:35:51). I finished 43/62 overall and 2/7 for women 40-49, a minute and 26 seconds behind first place.
It was a good race for me and a great day :-)
posted by bari | 19:28
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