Virginia Duathlon - Duathlon

I felt comfortable in the first run even though I went out much faster than I intended. My original goal had been to try and do the first mile in 7.30. I wasn't chasing anyone or trying particularly hard, so the fast start just happened. I consciously eased it off a little bit in the final mile because I was concerned that I was getting a little ahead of myself. Probably eased off a little too much, however.

I would try and managed the initial pace a little better. Alternatively, given my ability to recover on the bike, if I get a flying start like this I could try and maximize it by pushing through hard in the last half mile.

The mounting zone was a bottleneck. I was really pleased that I got on and got out without a lot of fuss or hitting anyone. Clipped in without thinking about it, could have got up to speed a little faster, but I was overly-worried about the initial roughness of the road and not getting caught in the draft zone of someone in front of me.

My shoes could probably have been placed a little better, I lost a couple of seconds dragging them out from underneath my bike. I would reach for the helmet while getting my running shoes on.

On the last 5 mile stretch I got pretty severe pain in my right inner thigh/groin. Couldn't stretch it out or shake it out. In desperation I finally moved all the way forward on my seat until I was perched right on the nose point, and that worked perfectly. Minimized the pain and I picked up my cadence. Passed a lot of people on the outbound leg into the wind, then in then on the downwind leg there was one section (Charity Neck/Hill (?) Rd) where I was doing 25-26 steady for several miles and I passed people in bunches. Picked up a lot of overall places on the bike leg.

I would try to start out a little faster. I also need to learn to trust my cadence and use my gearing. My cadence is pretty good but I generally gear to low, so that I am pedalling in the 90s, when I could be pedalling mid-80s and getting more speed.

Dismounted a little early, but the process was pretty smooth. In great pain when I got off, and the bike was all that was holding me up as I ran to the rack.

Not much, this was a good transition for me. If anything, I was a little slow because I was surprised at how quickly I was ready to go.

I have never been in such pain as I was at the start of this run. Legs like lead, inner thigh hurting like crazy, left ankle also hurting. However, I pushed through, just trying to keep my feet moving, and by about 1/3 of a mile I was running normally. It didn't feel as if I was finishing as fast as I was, but apparently so! My last mile was somewhere in the 7.30s. I briefly thought of trying to catch a couple of guys ahead of me, but they were just a little out of my reach. Did pass about half a dozen people on the run, however.

My partner was watching me and said that I looked kind of hunched over and that my upper body didn't seem to be moving freely. I think that's true, and I certainly felt as if I accumulated a lot of tension and anxiety in my upper body, because the day after I was very stiff in my neck and shoulders, something I don't usually get even on long bike rides with the tri bike. So next time I will pay more attention to warming up my upper body and attending to my upper body form on the second run.

Honestly, I was just too shagged to do more than walk around. Immediately grabbed some water, a couple of hot dogs and a banana and felt a lot better. Continued to walk around while cheering other people home. After about 3/4 hour I did some stretching.


Biking could have been a little more aggressive, although the headwind was a major factor (less so for me than some other people) on the outbound leg.

Run form on the second leg could have been better.


This was my second duathlon and I felt really happy with the performance overall. In my first duathlon last year I was in the bottom quarter of the men, this time I was 102 out of 205 men. There must be something to this training business after all!