Minneapolis Duathlon - Duathlon

I knew this was going to be a slow day right away. First mile was in 9 minutes, which is about right, but it was hard. Usually the first few miles feel easy. Uh-oh. They had the sign for mile 2 on the wrong side of the road, which was confusing. But I was sure it was for us. The water stop was at mile 2.25ish. Too late! It was a hot day already. I was really glad to finish this and knew I was in trouble for the second run.

Quick enough for me. The transition area was huge and I was happy with my spot. Left my socks on, even though I never bike in socks with this particular pair of shoes. Was fine.

Really enjoyed this. Finally a good bike ride! I must have passed 100 people, seriously. I am not sure if I can figure that out due to waves, but it was awesome. Got passed at most 5 times. This is a very bumpy road, but slighly improved from last time. It was a windy day, but fortunately it seemed to be in my favor for the return trip. Overall 100% pleased with this result. I felt like I biked within myself.

They have a fancy race results graphic and you can see your placement in various ways. In this case I passed (I assume not literally, but standings) 123 people overall.

I didn't bring any nutrition with me, which was a huge mistake. I should have taken the opportunity of the bike ride to have two servings of gels and carried sport drink.

Pretty fast for the huge area. I took time to grab some gel bursts from my bag, although I guess it was a little late for that... There was a water stop inside the parking lot, but various timing mats so I am not sure where transition ended and the run began. Based on the time, I wonder if the mats before the water were actually part of the run.

My official results currently show 37:08 for my run, but that cannot be right because it doesn't add up and I know the 2:07:43 is correct. I did the math and came up with 34:21, which make more sense.

That said, this is the crappiest road 5k of any sort I have ever done. I walked right out of the gate. It took major mind control to run. After I had my gel bursts and some water (brought my own), I shuffled as quickly as I could with several walk breaks. At the water stop I had a few cups of a blue drink. I seriously had less than a mile here and it felt insurmountable. I am sure it was a combo of heat, lack of nutrition on race day, general slacking in previous weeks, etc. A chatty lady caught up with me and I hung onto her for a while. That helped a LOT, I am sure it would have taken me a good 2 more minutes without her as a distraction. I was DONE. By some magic, the finish line was much closer than the transition area. I didn't argue and crossed the line without any fanfare. The guy announcing names was not so impressive.

I didn't keep up consistent training, get good sleep, handle my nutrition like I know I should, hydrate, etc. I am not going to say "lay off the bike" this time, because that was intentional. I knew after a bad run, my only hope was a good bike (even if it cooked me). I enjoyed that bike ride and don't regret it.


Pretty well organized for a HUGE race. But I object to the water stop at 2.25. There should have been one at mile 2. For this big of an operation, it's the least they could go. I wouldn't have minded gels at the one stop on the bike.