Galena Duathlon - Duathlon

It was very cold out. I wore capris, shimel, and wind breaker. Wish I had ear covers!

45 degrees at the start with wind 15-20 mph PLUS gusts up to 35 mph. Burr!

Nada. Felt I had good form running down the hill (leaned back and did not put too much pressure on my knees).

OK- maybe not hit the porta poddy.

Steep incline (10pct grade) right out of transition, so no time to get power. I could not clip in..which made it fun.

Nothing.

Need to replace cleats.

Fun downhills; 3 times the gusts almost blew me over. Stayed in aerobars most of time...maybe 3 uphills and then that s-curve because I had traffic and had to hit the brakes (sad cause it was fun going 27mph). Hit 26-27 in some flats.

Left quad felt strained about 7 miles in. Looked for salt tabs...nada. So I had to rely on infinite ride formula. Not enough sodium. Legs were fatigued on bike and left quad was tight/strainish. So I backed off a bit.

Remember to install my bento box and not lose my salt! Also, more practice on turning the block. 10x better than 2 years ago..maybe next year I can really rock it if I get a good hill base.

ave 14mph...hm. Thought it would have been closer to 15 given the 36mph max, hitting 25mph on some stretches. But there was a lot of hill climbing. Saw the 5mph a few times.

Thanks to compact crank, bigger cassette, and more hill experience teaching patience and gear shifting, I felt great!

Not sure why this took so long. I racked the bike and had like a brain fart or two. Sat and thought, what do I do now? Then I grabbed my shoes, hat. packet and ran.

Immediately discovered the right inside IT band was cramping. It moved into the left groin about 1/2 mile in.

Took off the windbreaker so just had the shimmel. With the leg cramps, I sucked on a choc powerbar gel (1x caffienne) and hoped for water (nada till after mile 2). Thought about form, tried to keep a good pace but walked a bit to try to work out the leg cramps. Also to get HR back below 180 (thank you hills).

Took water at aid station and grabbed a gatorade. Chugged the gatorade about 1/4mile after aid station. Did ok....cramps did not dissipate.

Had to walk a bit on the final hill. But I finished strong with a smile across my face. I did not sprint in, but felt I could.

Not lose the salt pills. Post-script. CTC pictures of the event highlighted my horrible form. Leaning forward so baddddd. Friends suggested I was running uphill. Maybe. I was focused on straight-up, right arm up, drive the right knee.

Stretched. Rode bike 5 mile back to the house....big mistake. That was hilly torture!


Losing the salt pills.


Fun race. Well organized.