Belmar Duathlon for Autism

This Sunday was the 2nd annual Tri/Du for Autism in Belmar. I liked a lot the inaugural race last year, so I went back this year. The course is along the beach in Belmar, Lake Como and a bit of Spring Lake, and it is completely closed to traffic (because otherwise the beach traffic would make competing impossible). There were about 500 people at the start, most of them doing the triathlon. Me and about 100 other people did the duathlon: 2mi run, 11mi bike, 5k run.



The duathlon was also my last scheduled race for this season. Now the stork may come at any moment, so I don't have anything else on my calendar. Doesn't mean it was the last race of the year, since I might do smaller races in the fall, but it will be last-minute decisions, depending on the baby's cooperation.

I'm not as well trained as last year, so I had no hopes of a PR, but I wanted to do my best, give it all on the course, especially since I'll have plenty of time to rest after this. I went hard on the first run, and especially on the last half mile I forgot there's a bike ride coming up. I finished in 15:31 (7:46 pace) which is slower than last year by 8 seconds, but I'm happy with the time.



There was a malfunctioning mat when exiting T1, so I don't have T1 and bike times... Organizers said the mat signal interfered with police radios, so whenever a cop was near a timing mat, people missed results. Luckily, there were no cops at the finish line, so everyone got an accurate total time. But T1 was quick for me and then I went on the 3-loop bike course. I went as hard as my current fitness level would allow, averaging 19.2mph. Over two minutes slower than last year, when I was in great cycling shape, but it's still my fastest bike average of the year! The course got very crowded after the 1st loop, with many beginners zig-zagging on the street or riding alongside each other, so I had to be very cautious. At times, I didn't even stay aero, because I wanted to be close to the brakes. There was also a lot of drafting. Three bike lengths apart?? I don't think I ever had room for three bikes between me and the closest competitor.



But there were no incidents, except for a bad crash, a rider ending up in the hospital, but it was a mechanical problem, not a collision. The turn around point after each loop, despite the chaotic setup, went pretty well too. Just to give you an idea, it was a 2 lane road, with a bit over a lane used for the 180 degrees turn around, and two more lanes coned off: one for exiting towards T2, and one for the oncoming runners.



I had a pretty fast T2 (1:32, exactly like last year), and then went on to the final run, first around a lake, and then an out-and-back along the beach. I went really hard here and caught up with a lot of people. I passed more than I was passed, and ended up with a huge improvement over last year, by more than a minute: 25:18 (8:10 pace)




Final time was 1:18:35 (last year it was 1:17:08). I'm happy with that, I made up a lot of the time lost on the bike during that final run which really felt great. I placed 29 out of 104, but only 4th in my age group, so I didn't get the hardware that I got last year when I was 2nd.