6.30am on the morning after my first Duathlon. For me this new decade is all about pushing myself further than ever… or die trying. Easter day, 2010 marked the day I became a duathlete.
I have been road running since Spring 2009, not having any previous interest in running ever since leaving secondary school, from my first pigeon step “end of the road runs” progressing to comfortable 10 mile runs with good min/km splits, it was time to put my improvement towards some kind of goal, something that would push me as much mentally as physically. 5k run > 20k bike > 5k run, classified as a sprint distance but something that would be a real challenge for me, especially as my cycling had completely stopped since being hit by a car on a ride back in September which injured my wrist tendons.
Training: 6 weeks to go and my training has to have structure, Working a multisport event isn’t that straightforward, you have transitions and have to plan your training schedule to cover the disciplines (for me) both speed and endurance for both runs and cycling. I’m certainly no pro but I found my body craving specific food groups, off the diary on the veg/protein and yeah, I could wolf down a bag of chips and not feel that “heavy on carbs” stomach.
Simulation: I rehabbed my wrist injury and simulated cycling on the gym bike which was a grind as my muscles weren’t up to scratch plus it’s really, really boring cycling for 45+ minutes going nowhere. At the same time trying to maintain my road running technique as my legs were building on the cycling. Time to get some grind time at the gym to get used to the transitions 20mins treadmill > 40mins cycling > 20mins treadmill is definitely not my idea of fun but had to be done to see where I could improve timewise… found out i’m seriously prone to cramping out T2 from bike>run, fook.
Raceday: Plantain power! Food of Filipino champions and hopefully enough to keep me going for potentially 1.40+ hours. Being pre-season the event I chose was full of pros using this as a warm up event, especially as there was a novice distance one the same day, I really know how to pick em!
Nub: First run was smooth barely broke a sweat but was at the lower end of pack, I could have gone faster but i knew the cycling to runtransition would take its toll. The change to bike was fast as i didn’t arse around with cycling shoes…helmet on and off i went, 20k in 5 laps and I wanted to conserve myself for a final blast on the last run, except I lost count on the laps and burned a bit too hard into the last transition, shit the plan was to whack up the rpm and stretch out my legs before going to the final run, as soon as I dismounted my legs felt pumped and motion was like lead this disorientated me in T2 and I left into the run with my helmet on! Classic transition mistake! luckily I styled it out by dashing it to a spectator asking her if she could look after it for me :p.
Cramp: Legs heavy… feel numb… calves tightening… SHIT!… calves tightening, here comes the cramp! Ok walk it off (not working) run it off (made it worse!) had to stop and take a 60 second hit to my time to stretch out and punch out the lactic acid, buy which point 6 people passed me buy. I recovered managed to cross the finish which at the end of the day was my only real goal.
