Friday, January 27, 2012

First Race of the Season - Chilly Cheeks Duathlon

Well, this is a first for me in more than one way. Up until last weekend, I'd never raced this early in the season and up until last weekend, had never officially done a duathlon. Last weekend took care of both.

The race we signed up for awhile back is called the Chilly Cheeks Duathlon. It's one of those races that you do more or less for bragging rights. Let's face it; at this time of year we're not exactly in tip-top tri shape and we're not exactly looking to perform amazing feats. Besides, you get sweatpants in this race. Awesome, right?

We woke up and debated going on the BRC morning run. I haven't run with these guys in forever, and I really enjoy their company. But we debated it and made the decision to stay in bed. However, we decided to at least stop by and say hello to Pete, who has become something of a friend and we're proud to be associated with him. We visited with him for awhile, discussing this, that, and the other, had some coffee with him, and then quick came back here to pack for the du.

Upon arriving (somewhat tardy) to the race, we quick got our trans area ready and listened to a pre-race brief. This du was super interesting in terms of format. It started off with a 1.5 mile run, then a 3.6 mile bike ride. You came back into trans, doing a 2.5 mile run, then you did the 3.6 mile ride x 2. After that, you sprinted 50 yards to the finish. What the hell, right?

We debated on what to wear on the run (it was somewhat cold out) and then what to wear on the first ride. T ditched her big Skirt Sports jacket but kept everything else on. We waited for the start of the race (we were in corral C).

At the start, we kept up a pretty good pace. It was kind of funny how quickly the race ended. I guess it was an interesting exercise in terms of pacing and seeing what the Mile High Mile could be. :-)

The ride was good, surprisingly fast. It's quite clear that the amount we've ridden this year has already started to pay off. I'm not going to say that I'm where I'm at for the year, but let's face it; good progress.

The 2.5 mile run? Not so good. It's obvious that my run training is still suffering. While I definitely have put in some time training for running this year, I'm not nearly where I want to be.

Back to the bike and things were good. I started faltering a little bit on the last lap, but let's face it; doing that same course in the wind was getting a little fatiguing.

When I came back into trans with T, I just said screw it and sprinted to the finish in my socks. I wasn't putting on my shoes for 50 yards. I crossed the finish line and that was that. I was now a duathlete!

I can't say I'm a huge fan of this format of duathlon, but thankfully, I have a pair of sweatpants. :-)

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