It's Magic

The Magic City Duathlon was just the thing. In fact, I think I can die happy now.

I trained and tapered just right. The weather was perfect: 60 degrees, dry, and only slightly windy. The race was on a downtown course with a large, enthusiastic crowd. Mrs. AJMac and Daughter Mac cheered me loudly at each transition and turn-around, and at the finish, which was very helpful. The run course was mostly flat and quite fast. A very technical bike course--more than a dozen 90 degree turns and three 180 degree turns--allowed me to be competitive against guys with aero helmets and Zipp wheels. And my new, aerodynamic TT bike made a huge difference on the straightaways.

The result: 6th place overall, out of 180 finishers. I judged correctly that to be competitive I would have to break one hour; the top four finishers all came in under 58 minutes. There were two professionals in the lead pack, and the winner ran the opening 5k leg in 15:11!

I managed to stay in the first chase group with six other guys the entire race. Out of that group, I came in second. I made a decisive move about halfway through the first run, going with two other guys to stretch the chase group by about fifteen yards. That gave the three of us a little space to work with in the first transition. On the bike I netted one place (I passed two guys and got passed by one guy), then I traded places with two guys (one up, one down) on the last run.

What's more, I set a new 5k PR in the first leg of the race, which I ran in 18:27. The transitions and the 12-mile bike ride took just over 36 minutes total, and I ran the last mile in 5:58. My line is here. Assuming that the transitions took just over a minute each, I figure I averaged just over 21 mph on the bike. Not quite as fast as I had hoped, but fast enough to hold onto the place I had secured for myself during the first run.

I understand that CGB had a blistering 5 mile run yesterday. I hope he'll tell us all about it.

UPDATE: According to the overall results, I came off the first run in 9th. Mrs. AJMac tells me that I finished the bike in 5th. So, apparently I really sealed the deal on the bike and actually lost a spot on the final run.

Pictures forthcoming...

FURTHER UPDATE: The keeper of the stats can't seem to make up his mind, but perhaps this is the final, final, official, not-going-to-change-again line: 6th overall; 18:28 (5k run); 36:16 (12-mile bike and 2 transitions); 5:53 (1-mile run); 1:00:36 total.