Barkin' Dog Duathlon - DuathlonStandard

Was a little surprised by my pace. I haven't been running hard and wasn't trying to run fast today because of plantar fascitis in my left foot and a bone bruise in my right. Not that an 8:10 mile is all that fast, just faster than I thought I would be going.

Nothing

Had another encounter with sand burrs after taking off my running shoes. Had to stop and pull them off of my socks, then they stuck to my fingers - ack!

Bring a broom to sweep nasy prickly things out of the area?
Learn the shoes on the bike and jump on technique.

First time racing my new bike - a very nice change from my mtn bike last year! Passed a lot of people here and only got passed by 2 (but they were women from the wave behind me).

Lost a little bit of time at the turn around on the dam road. There were a couple of people on mountain bikes just ahead of me and I assumed they were in the race so I was focused more on them and when I could pass them. But when we got to the turn around they went slightly past it and then stopped. I think they were race volunteers or something. I couldn't stop in time, so I went around the pickup truck and then got back on course.

Coming back across the dam road I started a back and forth with a guy who passed me just after the turn around. Once he got past, I picked it up to try to stay with him, then he slowed down and I passed him. Two minutes later, here he comes again. I stayed with him again, and he slowed down again, but it was just before the turn off of the dam road, so I just hung out behind him until we got back into the park. Passed him going downhill after the bend to the right coming into the park. A minute later, there he goes again. Then he slowed down again and I passed him a final time. Didn't see him again until the run on my way back toward the finish after the turnaround.

Pay closer attention to the course.
Learn to push myself harder on the bike.

Got my feet out of my shoes before dismounting - that's the first time I've tried that in a race.
Took a few extra seconds to drink before the run

Learn to jump off a moving bike.

Only my second brick of the year so this was a bit of a struggle. Still I was faster than I felt I was going at the time. I was worried that I was running 10+ min miles! Felt like I was trying to run through melted tar or something. This is the point in the race where I always think about what ridiculous thing this is to do and why am I doing it. But after I finish I always think it was great and then can't wait to do it again!

Got a side stitch sometime after the aid station. Ended up taking a 30 sec walk break every 5 min at approx 11,16,and 22 min.

More bricks!

Just walked around, got food and something to drink.


Nagging injuries, lack of training.


A fun race. Somewhat disorganized:started late; then they tried to have a pre-race meeting near the registration table but most people were already at the starting line; couldn't hear any announcements at the start so I just had to watch the people around me to know when my wave was starting; it would have been nice to have mile markers on the 2nd run.