I ran my first duathlon this morning. It was named Black Diamond Off-Road Duathlon. It was an off-road 2 mile run, off-road 10 mile bike, and another off-road 2 mile run.
I am tired!
The temperature was in the low to mid 40′s, so I wore Under Armor Cold Gear. I had a better/faster finishing time than I was expecting. I haven’t really been training for a duathlon. I competed more on whim thinking it might be fun. All my training has been to run the Las Vegas marathon. Long slow miles on my treadmill. But today’s running was much faster and on muddy hills much steeper than I am used to running on. And the downhills were slippery. I ran slower than I was capable of to keep from injuring myself. I ran the first 2 miles at an 8 something minute pace. My heart rate was in the mid 180′s.
I used ride a bike a lot, but that was like 15 years ago. I only recently bought a mountain bike, and have ridden it maybe half a dozen times. Most of the 10 mile bike ride was on cinder trails that used to be a railroad track bed. So it was long straight and pretty flat. But there was one nasty section that I think was a mile or a mile and a half long that was around this little lake that was soft mud! I felt like my bike had a flat tire! I kept looking to see if one of them was flat. That part was so long and hard. Occasionally my chain would jump a little bit trying to go into a different gear. I am guessing dirt or mud was getting into my gears. The next section was on a muddy trail that paralleled the railroad bed. This part wasn’t as bad. I was happy to get back to the cinder trail where I could just spin! I found that during the 10 mile bike ride, my seat post sank by about an inch. I need to get this problem solved. I have the clamp about as tight as I can get it. I rode the 10 miles at an average 13 something miles per hour pace. My heart seemed to stay around 176 for much of the bike ride.
We were told before the race that there was a no-pedal zone, and they gave the street intersections. Not being from Victor, I don’t know the local streets. They said it would be well marked. But when I was on the course, I didn’t see any signs for the no-pedal zone. Since very little of the course was on roads, I can only think it was on the down hil portion that ended with a gravel section and a sharp left turn. I coasted down the hill in a aerodynamic tuck. I saw they had spray paint on the gravel something that looked like “Use Brakes”. So I lightly applied my brakes, went around the corner into a slight uphill. So I started pedaling here. I hope I didn’t pedal in the no-pedal zone. They apparently should have had it marked better. I never saw any mention of the no-pedal zone in the race packet that I got. I might have done some more research to see where it was at before the race.
When I got off the bike, and tried to run, it felt like my quads were swollen, and my legs were stiff. I started wondering I would be able to run the 2 miles. And I was thinking my wife would have drive us home. But I managed to run much of it, and walk parts of it. I ran the last 2 miles at a 9 something minute pace. I just slogged through this second run, and didn’t lok at my heart rate monitor much.
Did I mention I am tired?
I managed to cross the finish line. I finished in 1:22 and some seconds. I saw the results posted, but didn’t write the numbers down. They will eventually post them on the web site.
I ate a donut and got a 10 minute masssage. Then I ate a banana, and drank some water. They were supposed to have pizza coming. I waited for a while, but decided that I just wanted to go home. I still wanted pizza. I got home, ate whatever I could find. We had no bread, so I put some canned tuna in a bowl with a little mayo, and ate it with a spoon.
I hosed the mud off of my bike. My shoes are still caked with mud. I took a hot bath then slept for a couple hours.
I am tired. I may have mentioned that though.

Posted by Rob in Whatever on October 21st, 2006 | No Comments