Race Result

Racer:	Jeff Wolfe
Race:	Virginia Duathlon
Date:	Sunday, April 1, 2007
Location:	Virginia Beach, VA
Race Type:	Duathlon - Sprint
Age Group:	Male 45 - 49
Time:	1:47:39
Overall Place:	154 / 367
Age Group Place:	8 / 28
Comment:	Time to break in the RATS Racing jersey

Race Report:

Splits:
Run 1 0:23:07
T1 0:00:49
Bike 0:59:16
T2 0:01:16
Run 2 0:23:10

This is the year of my Ironman so we decided to skip Cherry Blossom and do the Virginia Duathlon in Virginia Beach. This allowed us to take the kids to see our new great nephew who was born in February. I convinced my wife to do the race as well. This was going to be the first time we competed against each other in a multi-sport race. She can easily beat me on the run but I can bike faster than her (at least right now) so I knew this would be a good race for us.

The VA Duathlon is a sprint race with a 32K bike between two 5K runs. The race moved to Ft. Story this year. The run had 2 hills in it which was a surprise since we were in VA Beach. The bike was 3 loops in and around Ft. Story.

My goals for the race were to run 7:30 miles for both 5Ks and bike as fast as I could. I did not do too much biking thru the winter so I had no idea what I could do. Although the morning was overcast, the rain held off for the race. Since this was a multi-loop bike race, the race directors decided to have one mass start to try and prevent as much lapping as possible on the bike.

When the race started, I felt like I was standing still. Everyone took off like a shot. The race was a qualifier for the World Short Course Duathlon championships so I guess there were some competitive folks here. I was right on pace for the first 5K, finishing in 23:07. Leslie ran almost 2.5 minutes faster than I did so I had some time to make up on the bike.

I got on the bike and my chain fell off. Not a good start. Once I got going, I was really cruising. No hills on this bike course. Just a large almost 7 mile loop with some headwind in one direction and tailwind the other. Lots of guys in pace lines. I caught Leslie mid way on the 2nd loop of the bike so I knew this would be a close race. I ended up finishing the bike in under an hour (including my chain mess) which had me average 21 mph. That is the fastest I have ever raced on the bike. I am pretty happy with that since it is only April. Leslie finished the bike around 1 ½ minutes behind me.

I felt fine on the last 5K as well. My goal was to run as fast on the 2nd 5K as the first and I finished only 3 seconds slower than the first 5K so I think the goal was made. I usually do not get passed too often on the 2nd run of a duathlon. As I continued to pass folks, I heard that patter of familiar footsteps. Leslie caught me at the halfway mark. She was running right under 7:00 minutes per mile. I couldn’t keep up with her but I finished with my fastest mile of the race. She still beat me by 38 seconds. The last time I was this close to her in a race was 14 years ago when we ran the Cherry Blossom 10 miler together. Of course, she was 5 months pregnant at the time so I made her run with me.

I would recommend this race if you want to skip Cherry Blossom and have a good early season race. The race was very well run. In addition, we got good running shirts. Leslie finished 2nd in her age group and qualified for Worlds. I got to break in my new RATS racing jersey. All in all, a good first race of 2007. This weekend we are heading down to Richmond to do the 3Sports Duathlon.

Jeff