4/7/07: Do-Da-Du, My First Duathlon!

More later (I'm more exhausted from this then a tri...) but I finished strong, AND won my age group with 1:22:39 or so! Yeah to my first one-YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST!!!

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Although I was pretty nervous about this (and why should I have been?) This was a very low-key race (only about 60 participants!) and an opportunity for me to get my ‘du-feet’ wet without getting in the water, lol.

I had a hard time getting to the start line/race start and so did everyone else, it seems. After finding a parking spot and carrying my bike across Memorial Drive at 7am, I was ready to go. Lucky for me, (in my infinite nervousness, I had forgotten to bring any gloves) and Strider Barry saved the day. It was pretty chilly and I was going to need them. I decided on tri shorts, tech tee and my long sleeve zip pullover to wear. I knew I would warmup on the first run and get rid of the pullover at Transition 1.

Barry and I checked out the transition area and the start line. This was going to be a little bit of a cross-country run it seemed. No biggie, just don’t roll my ankles, I told myself! After about 10 minutes of stretching and waiting, it was time to start. The race was so extremely low-key, everyone was relaxed and laughing/joking around and this put my nerves at rest. As the race started, I was actually having fun!

The run wasn’t as cross-country as I thought it would be…it was actually 'easy,' sans the downhill at the beginning and the uphill at the end! It was a bummer to see the leaders pass me on the way back though. I ran slower then I had planned to…just really warming up and saving ‘something’ for the bike and second run. The transition was quick since I didn’t change shoes and I just drank water.

The bike…ah the bike. How to put it nicely? SUCKED. Not because I didn’t spend enough time on it, but because it was windy as all get-up! Half of the 10 mile bike was into a headwind that even the leaders seemed to struggle with. You could see the pain on people’s faces as they biked toward me on the 2-loop course. Ouch, ouch, ouch. The headwind was most certainly evil, and in comparison, made running and finishing the Bayou City Classic 10k a piece of cake. The tailwind was sure nice though. The six 180 degree turns weren’t fun either. Eepp. Two things to work on for my next Du: quicker turns and shifting gears.

The second run started kind of crazy. My second transition was quick, but because my legs took a big beating on the bike course, they felt horrible. It took about 3 minutes of running to ‘shake out’ that bad feeling. Those of you that have tri’ed or du’ed before know exactly what I mean. But after the feeling went away, I took off the cycling gloves and went for the Gold. I told myself ‘I can run 2 miles in my sleep…let’s GO!!!’

I made it a goal to pass 5 people on the run…and I did! I kept speeding up as I passed each person. People that had completely wiped me out on the bike (And I mean I got passed by EVERYONE it seems on the bike!) were struggling with the run…so I just kept pushing faster to pass them. It felt great. Although the last uphill climb didn’t feel great…the finish line (that I almost missed!) and the water waiting for me made the finish very sweet. Plus I passed a girl in my age group by mere seconds right before that uphill climb. Cool!

We enjoyed delicious lettuce wraps afterwards and June and Steve sweetly waited to see Barry and I get our awards for placing in our agegroups. Neither of us had much competition, but it was still nice to be recognized for our efforts in the brutal weather! I am so totally hooked now…the Du was the funnest race I think I have ever done (okay, not a word! But that’s okay!) and I definitely plan to do another, maybe as soon as next month in Webster. (3 Mile Run, 17 Mile Bike, 3 Mile Run).

This means I need to train even more (especially on the bike!) but it’s very ‘duable.’ Plus, all the cycling is making me really excited about getting back in the pool again…it’s almost that time again--I am contemplating all the fun Tri’s that are coming up in July/August! YEAH!

The Stats:
2 Mile Run, 10 Mile Bike, 2 Mile Run
Total time: 1:22.36

18:29 Run1/.45 T1/44:41 Bike/.50 T2/17:49 Run2
Ave pace: 8:48/mile—13.6/mph—8:29/Mile

Heart-rate: n/a
Weather: wooo! windy and about 50 degrees or so. Cold.