Ten Penny Ale Shamrock Duathlon Results

A few years ago, after two decades of running road races and an occasional trail race, I started to get the itch to attempt something different and give multi-sport races a try. In 2010, I took the plunge, bought myself a good road bike, and entered a local sprint triathlon that was held conveniently a mile from my house at Crystal Lake in Ellington, CT. I did fairly well on the bike, had the fastest run time, enjoyed the race, and finished 9th overall. I was pleased with the results of my first tri, but I also confirmed what I already suspected - I am a terrible swimmer. Later that year, I found out that the Hartford Marathon Foundation (HMF) hosts a duathlon, which is a 5k run, 26k bike, followed by a 3.3 mile run. NO SWIM! Now THIS was the multi-sport for me. This past Sunday was my third Ten Penny Ale Shamrock Duathlon by HMF.

Since I just recently ran the Boston Marathon, I had little time to recover and train specifically for this race. I was so completely focused on the marathon I had not spent any time on my bike. Following Boston, I took a week to recover and get my legs back, then quickly began training on the bike and working on my running speed. Going into the race, I was feeling confident about my running, but didn't have high expectations for the bike leg. My strategy was to go fast on the first run, ride as hard as I could, and hope I still had enough left in my legs to have a decent time on the second run.

When the start horn went off, I quickly settled in just behind the lead pack, picked off a few of the stragglers, and finished 5th on the first run. This gave me a much needed head start on most of the field for the bike leg. Much needed because at some point, it was inevitable that crazy cyclists with legs as long as me, and expensive tricked out bikes, will begin to catch and fly past me like I am standing still. I used to get discouraged by thi s, but now I just accept it. I know I'm am not the fastest on the bike, but I've learned that I will have the opportunity to catch them on the last run. So I finished the bike, ran out of the transition area and set out to catch as many ahead of me as I could. One by one I tracked down runners ahead of me and passed them until I ran out of road. I finished with a total time of 1:29:53, only 1:03 off my best time. Given that I didn't train much at all on the bike, I was very pleased with my time, which landed me 16th overall and 3rd in my age group.

TEAM HMF
This was the first Hartford Marathon Foundation race since our team meeting, and there were several team members there participating in the 3.3 mile run, the duathlon, or volunteering. It was great to see so many teammates there encouraging each other and representing Team HMF. And, the women's duathlon and the 3.3 mile run were both won by Team HMF members. Congrats to Allie Burdick and Lanham Marks-Hamilton!

NEXT UP
The Amica Iron Horse Half Marathon on Sunday, June 1 in Simsbury, CT.

Do you ever get bored with road running? What other types of races do you do?