From: tjensen@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (todd.r.jensen)
Subject: RACE REPORT: Coors Lt Du
Organization: AT&T
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 13:51:06 GMT
Keywords: Pain Suffering Misery

Coors Light Duathlon - August 30, 1992 - [5K run|30K bike|5K run]

The duathlon kings and queens were once again in the Windy City for another
round of run-bike-run.  This is the biggest race, numbers-wise, of the
series with over 2100 participants.  We were up before the sun at 4:30 AM
and arrived at Lincoln Park around 5:30 AM.  I was a bit sleep deprived as
I had also gotten up early the day before to help out at a local kid's
triathlon and then went straight from there to a wedding.  My head didn't
hit the pillow until after midnight, so I had about four restless hours of
sleep in me.  But so what, I do this for fun and the day was turning out to
be fairly nice - clear and around 60 by race start time at 7:00 AM.  According
to the race handouts, both 5Ks were certified, and the bike was actually 28.1K.

I was in the second wave, and started after the pros.  About a hundred of
25-29 year-old men were in this wave and also the next.  I worked my way
right up to the front and waited for the gun.  When it went off we started
flying south along the lakefront.  By the one-mile mark I had dropped off the
front pack of about 8 guys, but still came through at 5:25 on my watch.  I
had to ease up a little on the second mile to regain control of my breathing
and ran the third mile tucked behind a tall guy.  Drafting is legal on the
run, right?  I entered the transition just under 18 minutes about 10th place
in my wave.

Being too cheap to buy pedal adaptors for my running shoes, I had to change
into my cycling shoes.  We were allowed to ride our bikes in the transition
area, but it was tricky because some recent rain had made it fairly muddy.
I rode out at about 19:00 and headed toward Lake Shore Drive.  I couldn't
wait to get out there and hammer up to the leaders, but first we had to
negotiate some tight turns along a bike path.  Somebody was right on my wheel
when I almost took a wrong turn, and he almost went down.  This same guy
then decided to tuck in behind me.  I didn't appreciated this but didn't do
anything because I was too busy concentrating on navigating and going fast.
When we finally got onto LSD, we had to head north about a mile before turning
south.  Like the Sun-Times Triathlon, we could use the innermost two lanes.
The wind was strong and swirling this week and made the bike leg tough.  I
had already passed three guys and turned around to see who was behind me.
The same guy was still drafting me, this time a little bit off to my left.
I yelled and motioned for him to get off my wheel, and when he did he couldn't
keep the pace.  I was churning a 54x14 with some time in my 13 sprocket,
averaging about 27 MPH.  I was eating up the guys in my wave, and kept
riding harder.  At the turnaround to head back north, only three guys in my
wave were ahead of me.  I passed two more on the way in along with almost all
of the pro women and entered the transition second place in my wave.

I've never been this well placed in any other race and was pumped.  By now,
many of the other waves had finished their first run and were heading out
of the transition.  It was kind of hetic, but the volunteers did a good job
of directing traffic.  I fumbled my second transition and left at about
1:02:xx.  Liz Downing came hammering past me right away.  My calves seized
up when I tried to keep up - too many fatty foods and too little sleep
yesterday.  A few guys from my wave came running past me as we ran along
another path along the lake.  I was a hurting unit and shuffled into the finish
line.  Roy Spielman, who I had beat last year, passed me like I was standing
still.  He started in the wave behind me and ended up winning my age group in
1:17:xx.  I ran my slowest 5K of the year and crossed the line in 1:23:04,
good enough for 11th in my age group and 48th male overall, including pros.
I wasn't too upset as my first run and bike had me in contention, and it was
a change of pace to be up near the front in a big race.  Jeff Devlin (1:11:13)
edged out Dr. Matt Brick (1:11:31).  Kenny Souza was third (1:13:23).  At the
awards, Dr. Brick gave out a Polar Accurax heart rate monitor to the person
who could guess his average heart rate during the first run leg (178).

I warmed down and waited for Lauren, who finished first in her age (20-24) and
11th woman overall in 1:29:59.  The top three women all went faster than me.
Michellie Jones was first (1:21:21), Maddy Tormoen was second (1:21:38),
followed by Liz Downing in third (1:22:30).


Just Do the Du,

Todd Jensen                                  o
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