Well I signed up for the first Duathlon of the year. I had all of one week to get myself ready for it (due to my IT Band issues) and I woke up the morning of May 9, 2010 wondering if my leg and knee would hold out. Nervous? Yup.
This event though was a charity event first and foremost so I couldn't say no. It was raising money for the St Leonard's Society. And that is a good thing.
Elizabeth, Newt and I arrived in Musquobodoit Habour at a nice and early time to get ready without having to rush around. That is always the best idea in Triathlons/Duathlons. It means you can pick a good spot of the bike racks, maybe pedal a little bit and go for a light jog to warm up. Oh and go to the bathroom 100 times.
Anyway, the weather was nice. Some thought the wind was bad, but I thought it was fine (by product of cycling over the MacDonald Bridge everyday I guess). The rain held off, the sun often poked out often and the temp was decent (slightly chilly). The course as well was nice and flat (some rollers on the bike section) and was listed as 4k/25k/4k.
Well the starter said go and off I went. I seeded myself a bit back as I didn't know how I would feel on the run and hate getting in the way. But as it turns out I was feeling good and maybe a little stupid, so I passed a few people and made some good time. then it was the first transition of the year. New bike, new bike setup, and a change in pedals made things interesting. But t all turned out great. My Devinci CX1 felt smooth on the road and I flew through the bike leg of the course. Then it was onto Transition 2. In the past I ran my bike back as fast as possible and always ended up cramping into the first part of the run. This time I decided to jog it back, using this time to relax a bit. Man did that help. Changing shoes was a breeze, and off I went.
Sure there was a little cramping in the legs and the knee started to pain a bit but I made it through (getting passed by many of those I passed in the bike section). I finished strong and felt good (ie was able to walk). And my little dog was waiting for me, tail a wagging.
My final results were 0:16:38 / 0:42:02 / 0:17:46 for a total of 1:16:26. This left me in 15 out of 46 for the overall and 7 out of 9 in my age group. I am super happy with my time, less than thrilled with my age group placing, but what the heck, the other guys went faster.
Lesson learned: if placing gels in your back pocket and preopening them, do not grab them hard or you will be forced to do an entire race with a sticky hand. Ugh.
No comments:
Post a Comment