Tory Row 5k Race Report

Just a day after a pretty decent triathlon/duathlon, Elizabeth and I were signed up for a local 5k.

I was hoping to put in for a PR since the weather was perfect - cool with a light drizzle, but unfortunately the legs just weren't feeling it...probably a stupid idea to try for a PR the day after another race, but oh well.

Splits:
Mile 1 - 6:07
Mile 2 - 6:23
Mile 3 - 6:16
Mile .17 - 0:45
Final time: 19:31
http://coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/Jun3_ToryRo_set1.shtml

After heading out on Brattle, the course turns uphill onto Appleton.  It's pretty much the only hill in the neighborhood, and while it's not devastating, it's a tough little hill to start mile 2.

The only other tricky portion of the course has the runners head in and out of the Longfellow Park horseshoe (both on the way out of Harvard Square and heading back in). That portion has cobblestones, sand, drainage, pot holes, etc. and forces you to slow down just a bit. The Garmin showed a distance of 3.17 miles, and I think they could have done away with the horseshoe on the way back and not sacrificed much, if anything while allowing the runners a nice straightaway before turning onto Church for the finish.

Overall, I hated the results of the race for me. Elizabeth on the other hand kicked ass. I don't think she's been doing much training and ran a 20:57 (a 6:37 pace if the Garmin distance is accurate). That's nutz!  That's awesome!

Escape the Cape Race Report

Elizabeth, Kathleen, and myself stayed at Billington Sea Friday night, and had a great time eating burgers and just hanging out. Thanks to Aunt Suzanne for letting us stay at the cottage!

We were unsure as to what the weather would do, but we received notification from the race director on Friday afternoon that the race was on - so we were preparing to race in some ugly weather.

We woke up early, and the weather was as expected...gross. I've never taken the road bike out in wet weather like that, and I was nervous about taking sharp corners on wet pavement. Once I got there, I was debating on bailing before we even got out of the car, but we took our gear out and walked down to the check in. I'm not a strong swimmer, and once I saw how choppy the water was, I decided I would sit this one out.

...However, the local authorities also thought the water was too choppy, so they told the race director the swim portion had to be cancelled, and so they changed the swim to a one-mile run...and just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

I was part of the first heat, and was hoping to stay close to the front. The one mile run (more like ~.92m) started with a bit of an uphill away from the water before turning on a side street and winding back to the transition area.  I finished with a time of 5:24, good for the 34th fastest time. I felt really good heading into the transition area - the run wasn't too fast for me, and I was still in the thick of things. Unfortunately, since I had previously decided to bail, my transition area was not set up at all; I just sort of threw everything next to the bike.  So while 1:31 isn't a terribly slow transition, I think it was ~30 seconds too long.

The bike portion of the race was easily my best leg relative to what I've done in the past. Last year in somewhat windy conditions I finished in 34:22, and this year I took quite a bit of time off and finished in 32:19. And that's with taking some sharp corners extra slow, and dealing with a couple of really ass-hole cars in the road that were coming dangerously close to the riders. I only saw two people hit the deck, and thankfully they were only a little banged up, but overall seemed alright. The transition back into the run took me 1:12, and once again, I think that was ~45+ seconds too long.  I should've been able to just pop on my shoes and run the hell out of there...

The final run went well.  I think I passed about 20+ people and was passed by only one person who was part of a relay team - so I felt pretty good about that. The final time was 19:13, and while they said it was a 5k, I feel like the course was a little short. Still a solid time after the bike, and almost 2 minutes faster than last year.

Results:

SWIM .3-mi / BIKE 10-mi / RUN 3.1-mi
Pl  Name                   Final  Div/Tot Div       Rank Swim  Tran1 Rank  Bike  Tran2 Rank Run
87 Patrick Bugbee  59:37  9/33        M2529 34      5:24     1:31    218     32:19 1:12    24      19:13
http://coolrunning.com/results/12/ma/Jun2_Escape_set1.shtml

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the results of this season's first triathlon (duathlon). I improved over last year on the same bike and run course, and there's easily some room for improvement.