I competed in my first Duathlon this summer via Key Largo accomplishing what I set out to do. It was ugly and I knew that going in. Here I will share my experience from the first of five tune-up races leading up to the USAT Duathlon Middle Distance National Championship at the Daytona International Speedway December 3.
I took a nice break after competing at the Duathlon Olympic Distance World Championship in late April. I put my racing bike on the rack and haven’t been on her since. Two weeks ago I began riding again with effort and it will take some time to get my bike legs back. I did continue running after Worlds but with no effort for about two months. In July I began running with effort so my run is currently ahead of my bike output. The Key Largo race I was competing in was Olympic distance consisting of a 1 mile run – 24.8 mile bike – 6.2 mile run.
Going into the race I had the following goals:
- Identify my current fitness (race)
- Run to heart rate on the final run for the first five miles as a test for Daytona
- Race at 100% effort for this event
- Leave a bit pissed about my current fitness to spark me going forward
I competed at this race two years ago and I beat that overall time by 3 minutes and 50 seconds and all of that time was from the bike as the bike split was faster by 4 minutes and 46 seconds. That is a little different than I expected going in with the bike. However, my power output was down 9% from the World Championship so this gives me a lot of hope and encouragement as I know I can get a lot stronger on the bike…and I will.
My first run was about where I thought with opportunity to be faster and for the first time in an Olympic distance race, I ran to heart rate on the final run for the first 5 of 6.2 miles. This intention was for a couple reasons and the most important was I wanted to feel what it was like at that heart rate target for the race in December. I also thought it would be smart knowing I didn’t have a lot of miles in my bike legs so this race would take a lot out of me on the bike along with the high heat and humidity.
That game plan worked as I felt in control during the entire run. I was hurting while pressing but I didn’t feel I was going to bonk (head) and that was my biggest concern. My times were slow but for the first race in the heat it was productive.
The result was good and I lined up great against the triathletes on the bike and run so that felt great as well. So I hit all my goals including leaving a bit pissed about my paces and power…what I wanted to feel to drive me to the next step.
Icing on the cake for the race came in the form of meeting up with great friend and fellow Duathlete monster, Sergio Myers, who raced and won the Sprint distance. We shared our 1st Place trophies together in the blog photo. It was great spending Saturday night and Sunday morning with him sharing our life updates and training pursuits. What a great community to be a part of…
Back at a big training block for the next two and a half weeks before racing in Clermont September 9 at the Cool Sommer Mornings Triathlon. I love this duathlon life!
– Add Health to Your Life
The Healthy Giraffe 
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