Apple Duathlon - DuathlonStandard

I felt like crap from the first step. Warm up was a warning, I guess. I went out too fast with my fast friends.
Arms were heavy--weird. Felt really weak. Was it the Accelerade that drew blood to the stomach? Was it the speed work I did on Mon (Swim) and Tues (double bricks)? The crazy bike on Sunday? A friend with experience said too much hard training that week before was probably the culprit. Though I was pretty nauseous for most of that run and still burping on the bike.
It was an average time for me (in spite of stopping to walk 3 times!!) but disappointing because I felt so lousy.

Start in the back of the pack and run my own race. Take it very slow up the hill--ridiculously slow, so you've got plenty left for the rest of the 2.5 miles.
Taper! I tried to cram for the race because of my lack of running resulting from injuries. I guess I'm lucky I didn't re-injure myself.
Drink water only before runs, stop 30 minutes prior to start. You know your stomach is iffy when running.

OK...here's a place where I could make some improvements and take a minute off my time!!
But I use the transitions to get my wits about me. But I insisted on wearing gloves that were hard to get on and I had to stop twice to readjust the velcro on my bike shoes which was flapping on the inside.

I need to practice and treat transition as a race since both of them added more than 3 minutes to my time!

If I had tipped over 19 mph average, I'd be satisfied, but just under so a little disappointed. I should check my computer to be sure. After the weirdness of the run, I think I went out a bit carefully but by the time I got to the hills i was in form. Once I started passing a lot of people I felt better.

Pray for a north wind?

Again, loss of time here at a minute and a half.

Practice.

Took it really slow up the hill--I probably could have walked faster but that's OK. tiny strides because my legs were so tight and quads cramping a bit. Loosened up on the downhill but maintained the pace and stride length throughout the whole thing--kind of afraid to change anything for fear of it all falling apart. But I knew once I went down the hill that I would finish. I may have even passed one person on the run (but the friends I passed on the bike, passed me on the run!)
At least by this run, my stomach calmed down and I knew the worst was over. I took little sips of water but that was it.

Train properly and consistently. See above.

Walked around and got a (free) massage at the end. Very tight left side, including glutes, hams, and calves. Right side, not very tight in comparison. Yolanda from Williams was very good.

Heart rate Note:
Average HR was 172
Max HR: 186


Taper next time.
Stop drinking at least 30 min before the run start.

Positive: I improved my time (2:06:34) by nearly 10 minutes from last year which was 2:16:25. Although Run 1 felt crappy this year at 27:21, it was virtually the same time as last year's 27:37. Bike average improved from to 18.9 this year, up from 16.9 last year. Run 2 improved to 30:48 this year from 32:15 last year. And while my transition times were bad this year, they were worse last year! So that's all good.

Running injuries pre-season were a limiter. (Really since Jan and still residual stiff even the week before) By race day, I was healthy but way under-trained in running. I don't know what limited me on the bike--maybe the headwind, the straightaway. Or maybe that was simply the best I could do on a 20 miler with various terrain and no drafting?


It's a really good race. Well-run and organized. Good food--House of Pizza! Lots of sponsors and great prizes at the end. Great announcer who is very knowledgable and funny on the spot. It's local for me, so lots of friends and a familiar course.