Woody Rae Places First In Duathlon Saturday

Woody Rae of Monticello won his class in Coliseum’s 2018 Rock N Rollman Olympic Duathlon held at Lake Tobesofklee in Macon last weekend.

Mr. Rae ran 3.1 miles then biked 56 miles and ran another 13.1 miles (a half marathon) for a total of 70.3 miles.

He did all this in a time of seven hours, 46 minutes, the best in his age group of 50-54. The baby of the age group, it was Mr. Rae’s second duathlon, and he lost five pounds during the course of the day Saturday.

Mr. Rae said it took him 27 minutes to swim the 1.2 miles, and three hours, 24 minutes for the run. The bicycle portion of the race took a little under four hours with an average speed of 14.5 mph.

More than 350 people took part in the competition which began at 7:45 a m. During the race, the competitors wore ankle bracelets that kept up with their times, and verified that they took no shortcuts. He said you had to cross the electronic pad at each leg of the race.

He explained that Saturday’s race was a half ironman, that a true ironman is double each part, and typically begin at 6 a.m., to conclude at midnight.

But, a half ironman is strenuous enough. Mr. Rae said his emotions ran the gamut Saturday, as you feel elated to be outdoors, then later you are totally exhausted wondering how you will go on, and that mood swings are very common.

He also told how his muscles got so stiff, he was beating himself up trying to feel his legs. He also said his legs were like jelly the next day, but by Monday he was walking normal, just a little sore still.

He said Saturday he kept himself going by eating power gels and power bars, and drinking sports drinks. He said he resorted to picking up food along the route as he was burning it up so fast. At the conclusion of the race, he said he devoured two slices of pizza which was waiting for him at the end of the race. No doubt he was hungry, he burned 10,404 calories during the day.

Mr. Rae says he has been running since 1996, and took up biking in 2000. He got serious about road biking in 2012, and pushed himself with that. He also does mountain biking.

Mr. Rae’s habit is not without expenses. He has two bicycles—one for mountain or off-road biking, and then the one he used Saturday for road biking which stresses aerodynamics. Besides different bikes, Mr. Rae explained that his training shoes are separate from his racing shoes. And, he said the cushion will wear out when they still look good and feel okay. The cushion needed for running doesn’t last long, apparently.

Mr. Rae plans to run a half-marathon on Thanksgiving, and a full marathon, his seventh, next March. And, he will run the Deer Dash again this year.

He finished second in his age group last year. Mr. Rae does much of his training near his home in Turtle Cove, and also trains in Conyers, where he works. He said he’d love to find some other cyclists to ride with here in Jasper County.

Mr. Rae said his wife, Stacy, and children Madison and Christopher have not fallen in its footsteps with him currently being the only runner in the house.