An area for personal improvement

I've been running for half of my life. Started at the age of 15 with high school cross country. Figured I'd stop when I got too busy in college, but I kept at it (though only recreationally, as Northwestern did not have a men's cross country team due to a common misunderstanding of Title IX). When I started medical school, I thought I'd not have time for running ... only to discover that I had plenty of time for running during the first two years. (It was a little harder to find the time in the M3 and M4 years.) Residency didn't put a stop to it (though I've notice my times have slowed a touch since medical school -- running when post-call is not conducive to fast times).

This year I turned 30 and I decided to try something new: a combination of running and biking. It makes sense -- I started biking while in medical school, and I continue to run. Why not combine the two in one event? Like a 5K race, followed by a 19-mile bike ride, followed by a 5K race. There happens to be one such race right next to where I live, so it's crazy not to give it a try.

Well, it turns out that I have a bit of a deficiency when it comes to this sort of competition.

In the first 5K, I quickly found myself near the front -- 4th place after about 1/2 mile. I clocked the first mile in 5:55 -- just under my goal of a 6 minute first mile. I hit the second mile mark at 12:30 -- right on target. I did slow up a touch at the end of the 5K, finishing in about 20:00. However, I was still in 11th place overall.

And then the bike portion started. About the only place on the entire route where I was able to keep up with those around me was on the steep incline near the beginning. On flat areas and downhills? I was being passed like I was out for a stroll.

I like to think this was an equipment problem -- my bike isn't a racing bike. It's not even a street bike. It's my commuting bike, with upright handle bars and a rear fender. It is most definitely not a racing bike.

During the entire 19 mile biking portion, I passed all of one competitor - someone who had passed me earlier in the biking route. I felt like a lead weight sinking to the bottom of a fast-moving stream. Even when we turned the corner for home, with a nice tailwind, I couldn't keep up. I was in 24th gear (of my 24 gears), pedaling as fast as I could, and people just pulled away from me on their high-end speedsters.

Alas, the biking portion came to a close, and I parked my bike (one of the few with a kick-stand) and hopped back on the running course.

As I did so, I thought popped into my head: "What are Earth are you doing?!?! You've already run a 5K today, you just finished nearly 20 miles of biking, and now you're running again?!"

However, I was able to make up some ground on the bikers once we were back on solid ground. And in the end, I finished 30th after clocking a 22:00 5K. One of my slowest competitive races ever -- but given that I have never run a competitive 10K, I thought 42:00 minutes for a 10K of running was pretty good.

But, about that biking part ... well, I checked the results this evening and discovered that while I was 11th in the first 5K, and had the 18th fastest time in the second 5K, I was ... wait for it ... 61st in the biking portion.

That's right -- I wasn't even in the top half when it came to biking.

Hmmm ... that appears to be an area for personal improvement.

But the results yielded an even more entertaining find: I'm pretty fast at the run, not fast on the bike, but I'm really fast in the transition: I was the 3rd fastest transition from running to biking, and the 2nd fastest from biking to running. (I love the fact that they even keep track of that.)

There's a simple reason for my transition speed: you see, my bike is so pedestrian that it doesn't even have clip pedals. That meant I did the entire race in my running shoes. By not switching shoes, I probably saved an entire minute.

Tomorrow, I have a feeling I'm going to be pretty sore. But now I have a goal for improvement in next year's race: transition times under 30 seconds!