Georgia Veterans Duathlon - DuathlonStandard

Started out way to fast, as everyone took off (faster than I have seen any my past duathlons). Quickly noticed that my Garmin was set on Bike - doh! Hit stop and tried to just hit mode to switch to run, but it wouldn't work. I was going to just leave it alone, but I knew I was running to fast. Turned it off, back on and got the mode to switch, hit start again. Phew, now I can pace myself a little better. Hit the first mile marker and hit split to get back on track with my averages. At almost 2 miles I looked at my watch again and realized it still said the same think - oops, guess I hit stop instead of lap! Started it again, but it was pretty worthless at that point and I just tried to keep pushing as much as I could. Thought I was going to die going up the last hill to transition, but made it alive. :)

Other than make sure I had my watch set correctly, nothing (I did look at my watch before the start - I just didn't realize what I was seeing). This was only about 10 seconds off my open 5K pace, so I'm very happy with the time.

Fastest split overall female - 4th fastest including guys. Got in and out, while trying to catch my breath a tiny bit. Ran out and tried to avoid the newbies who were all over the place. Getting clipped in a guy swerved almost into me, so it took a little longer than normal getting going on the bike.

Not much - pretty good. Could have moved a little faster, though.

I was 7th on the bike, including guys - not bad. After so many disappointing bike performances this year, I just decided to hammer this as much as I could and hope to get close to 20mph. I just pushed as hard as I could sustain and tried not to let up. I caught the 1st place female about halfway (I didn't know she was first at the time) and we played leapfrog the rest of the race. I tried, but could NOT drop her! :) Did a very fast (maybe a little too fast) flying dismount and ran into transition - just about running over some guy taking his time into transition. :)

Nothing - very happy with this effort, particularly with the small amount of time I've spent on the bike over the past few months.

Here's where I looked a total newbie! :) I ran into transition, got to the rack and went to the end where my stuff should have been. There was a relay guy standing there chatting with his friends on the other side of the fence and basically shoved him out of the way -- before I noticed I was one rack too far...stupid! I apologized, ducked under the rack and went to mine. Definately lost some time here, but switched back to running shoes quickly and apologized to the guy again on the way out.

Uh - pick the right rack! :)

Exactly the same placement as Run #1. Ran out of transition and immediately felt the cement-heavy feeling in my legs that I expected. Worried that I pushed too hard on the bike, but I also know that my legs feel 10x worse on the second run of a du than they feel in a tri. Tried to just turn my feet over as fast as they would allow. A minute or so into the run, the girl I had been playing leapfrog with on the bike runs by me FAST - huh? She finished a little ahead of me, so I was surprised to see her come from behind. I knew there was no chance I was staying with her, so I just focused on my race and keeping moving. I wanted to walk SO BADLY, but I know how much more time I lose walking instead of just running slowly (which is usually not as slow as it feels).

I did walk for a few seconds through both water stops, because my mouth was so dry and I have a hard time really getting good water in running. Running up the last hill to transition I was trying to convince myself to run faster, but it wasn't happening. Coming around the corner I heard Kirk and Doug yelling my name and somehow found the energy to pick it up a little. The finish line is tricky to get speed as you keep turning corners and I was so happy to finally cross the finish line.

Find faster legs off the bike - I haven't really done any brick practice in the last few months, so that's my own fault. :)

Walked into transition and chatted with the other girl who finished (didn't realize she was the only other female duathlete who had finished) for a few minutes then found Kirk and Doug. When they told me I was probably 2nd, I was shocked!

Went back to the room and showered, then walked to the restaurant for breakfast (included in our room price), then stood around forever still waiting on results. They finally had to move the tables of awards over to the parking lot behind the van that had the results computers. They must have had some technical issues and weren't able to print the results. They read the awards from the computer screen.

Looking back, this is one of the best mental races I have had - I talked myself into going faster throughout the race when I wanted a break.


More brick training needed and probably more bike training. :)


This is my favorite sprint race and has been for years. It's the perfect size and a great fast course. I wish the awards for tri & du were given out together (similar to tri the parks races), but that's a small gripe. Great race - highly recommended!