Duathlon National Championship - DuathlonStandard

My goal was to moderate my pace some. I had just finished long course training and my 5k pace was something I knew I couldn't hold for two runs. Turns out I really couldn't hold it for one run but that is a different story. I kept trying to back off my pace but then I'd find myself back at it again.

More 5k pace training.

Came to my rack spot to find someone had thrown their running shoes on top of my bike shoes. Really? Is it that hard to keep your stuff together? I tossed them off my stuff and got my bike shoes on, helmet on, and grabbed the bike and went.

Nothing really. Perhaps get a person next to me who only utilizes their space? I mean, the spaces allocated to us were large

I got onto the bike a bit before Elaine but it wasn't long before she went on by me on the bike. I decided to use her as the rabbit and kept her in range. At one point she must have slacked off a bit cause I went past her but I think that just woke her up as she soon went past me again. We got to the turn around at about the same time and I overtook her again but once again she passed me. And either she picked up the pace there or I slacked off but I never did catch her again and over the second lap she pulled away just a bit more. It was fun having a rabbit to chase though that I knew. Just added some fun to the course.

More bike training

And I came into T2 to find that once again the person next to me put their shit on top of my stuff. Really? How lame can you be. It didn't really add anything to my T2 nor stress me out, just find people like that annoying. Other then that a pretty smooth T2. Just racked the bike, switched the shoes, grabbed the hat and started to run.

Get a different person racking next to me.

And this is where it all broke down. I just could not hold a pace at all. Right from the get go I knew this was going to be rough. I couldn't get my HR up and just couldn't get into a good rhythm. I am pretty sure it was the first run that caused that and not the bike. I didn't bike hard enough and I run well off the bike. Hell, I ran better off the bike during my HIM for at least 6 miles so I know it wasn't the bike.

I saw Elaine at the first turn around on the run and told her I was coming after her. I was all talk though, I had nothing and I knew it. :) My goal was to try and keep the gap as small as I could between the two runs. Although the temps were not really that bad the sun was getting to me a tiny bit so I used that as motivation to just get off the course as fast as possible. I finished this race spent. I gave it all I had

Work more on speed fitness

Not much, just picked up my race time, got the bike, and walked back to the truck. I walked back down to the race site to get some food and Gatorade.


I think a few things came into play here. I had a HIM at the beginning of the month so I had a taper plus recovery in the time leading up to the DU. I also did some speed work during my HIM training but no 5k races. I think a few of those would have helped a lot. I was also in the middle of packing a house and preparing to move the day after the DU. I had a goal to beat my time from last year and although I was close to my previous time I think all that played into my not beating it. I also weighted 5 pounds more and on my frame that is a lot and I am sure affected my 5k pace.


I hate the price of the event but compared to other events they do give you your money's worth. It is the best transition area I have experienced, great swag, good communication, etc. I loved the post race food this year. I thought the parfait was a lame thing until I started to eat it and realized this was the most perfect post race food ever. I would have preferred they had it on ice though but it was super yummy.