Okay, this was an experience. I know there was a thread awhile back about which is harder Tri or Du... I don't want to start that up again, but I gotta tell ya, this was HARD!
The race was the Dannon Duathlon in Alpharetta, Ga. The distances were 10k run/40k bike/5k run. The weather was absolutely perfect (about 70, and not very humid). I signed up for this race with the intention of proving to myself that I would make it through the oly that I am planning to do in July. So the goal for this race was really just to survive, but of course I am me, so I had to set some time goals. (time goals were 10k in 50 min, 40k bike in 1:20, 5k run in 25). ffice
So the short version is that I finished (yeah!) and beat my time goals (yeah!). I also proved to myself that I could push through when I didn't want to go any further which is probably the best part of the whole experience.
Now for the long version and lessons learned...
Pre-Race - PBJ and a little bit of water. Lesson Learned: Stop drinking the evening before to avoid troublesome "Issues" on the run. This was the first 10k that I didn't feel the need to go to the ladies room!! Slice of toast with PBJ was enough to get me through the first run.
10k Run - the run was rather uneventful. Duathlon folks are VERY fast runners and I was left to the BOP in no time at all. This didn't bother me once I checked my time going into transition, 46 min was the best 10k that I had ever run. Lesson Learned: Don't worry about what everyone else is doing, you are just out there for your own reasons/goals. Endurance training is a great thing. (I hadn't done much speed work, but months of endurance runs seem to have made me faster... cool!)
40k Bike - 3 laps around a rolling hills 8 mile+ loop. (The looping part was nice because my husband and one of my friends were there to cheer me on, so it was great to be able to go past them a bunch of times) I was on a high after the run time and the bike felt good. During transition I had eaten a clif shot and had some water, which took me awhile, but I had been worried about running out of steam on the bike. Then about 15 min into the bike my right calf cramped so severly I could not un-point my toes. I had never felt this before, it hurt at first, but after awhile it just felt wierd, but I could still pedal so I kept moving forward. I need someone's help on this one... my calves (left soon followed) would cramp going downhills, but if I kept my bike in a harder gear I could get the cramps to work out a little going uphill. It didn't make sense to me (pushing the harder was making them better), does anyone have any ideas? Lessons Learned: Don't know yet, trying to figure out why I cramped so it doesn't happen again. Keep pushing through if you can, it may work itself out.
5k Run - last leg yeah!!! Almost choked to death in T2 trying to drink some water. Out on the run I kept egging myself on thinking how short 5 k was and I couldn't give up now since I was almost done. EVERYTHING HURT! I really didn't want to go any further, and my calves especially were telling me I was nuts, but I was ALMOST THERE... so I walked/ran the last 5k. I was so happy when I saw that finish line I almost broke down in tears. It was strange to me that I was so happy for myself since I was pretty certain that I finished dead last in my AG, but I really didn't care.
Crossed the line in 2:34 (46:48/1:17/26:52 with the change in T1 and T2), which is 6 min faster than goal of 2:40. It was a great day with a 10k PR (which may have been why I cramped on the bike) plus I was able to prove to myself that I could stay in a race for 2+ hours, which is what I was worried about.
Post Race - Went home and read the first 10 chapters of Harry Potter Book 5!
Thanks for reading! Sorry so long, Jill
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