A Shiny New Trophy!

I headed out with the Dutchman and my trusty Focus Izalco Chrono yesterday morning to Dartford in Kent to have a crack at my first ever duathlon and first race of the season. My last race, Ironman Arizona last November feels like a distant memory! Despite coming from a running background and loving to cycle, I was not really looking forward to doing a duathlon.
We got there with plenty of time to spare after a 6am start, went through the registration and got the Dutchman a t-shirt. I do the races and he gets the T-shirt. An arrangement we are both happy with :)

We then headed over to the transition area and slotted the Focus Izalco Chrono into an end space. I was very pleased to see that on the next rack was another Focus Izalco Chrono with a lovely Zipp disc wheel. I got organised which took no time at all which is a huge plus to duathlon. You don't need anywhere near as much prep time as triathlon given you turn up in what you are going to wear running and basically need a bike, cycling shoes and a helmet in transition.

They started the race in 2 waves with the majority of the men heading off 15 mins ahead of us ladies and the rest of the men. I started at the front with 1 other girl and stuck behind her with the 2 of us leading the field around the first 500m lap of the field and out onto the road. The other girls and guys seemed happy to sit behind us and see what was going to happen. I was slightly slower than the leading lady and decided I would run at my pace keeping her in sight and let her go for the time being. The boys behind us must have sensed this and started to move up also trying to keep her in sight. 1 guy managed to catch our speedy leading lady about 1km in. By the 2km mark I had slipped back to 50m behind her but was feeling good and actually really enjoying myself.

I sat back for the rest of the race pushing up all the hills and using the flats and downs to recover. I went through the first 5km in 19:33 which is OK for this time of year given I am still in base training phase and building up my fitness. I was thankful for all the recent track sessions as I am usually very adverse to that hard push required for short distance. Having been an Ironman athlete for 2 years I am really not used to pushing hard like that in a race so it is all new to me.

My T1 was a little slow and then out onto the bike. I was a little worried about the bike leg as it was the 4th time I had been on the Focus and we are still getting acquainted. The course was quite hilly and really didn't replicate any of the training I had been doing in Regents Park so was a bit all over the place with my gears and having to get out of the aero position to climb. This is exactly why I do these races early in the season to iron out the bugs as quickly as possible.

I am extremely lucky in that I have no fear descending and I loved the thrill of flying down the hills tucked up in the aero position. The speed is so cool! I don't have a computer on the bike as I sometimes like to race on feel rather than looking at the numbers so I have no clue how fast I was going. I got a pretty good indication when I hit some gravel in a corner and slid a little. Makes you realise how far away the brakes are all the way out to the sides!!

It was an out and back course and I had managed to miss the front runners who were a minute ahead at the first turnaround and working as a group. I was working hard but in hindsight could have been more efficient on the bike, especially climbing. Hill repeats in Richmond Park coming up for me I think :) I am so pleased with the way the Focus performs, as soon as I get in the aero position my back is completely flat and you just feel the bike surge forward. Now all I have to do is work on these legs and get them in tip top shape! It was a reasonably quiet road and the cars very patient. Being only 22km it was over reasonably quickly and I was off the bike in 37:48.

Back into T2 and out again for another 5km lap of the run course. I had overtaken 6 guys in a group at the end of the bike leg and was refusing to look over my shoulder knowing that they would be coming for me on the run. It was spurring me on and was pleased that only 1 of them managed to catch me and he was a great runner so I happily let him go :) My legs were feeling pretty heavy by this stage and it was a case of just keep pushing knowing it was only 5km.

The 2nd lap was quite a bit slower at 21:25, but I was very pleased given I had no idea how I would feel. With transitions I had a total time of 1:21:00, 2nd place and a shiny new trophy to boot. All in all a morning well spent!

The guy next to me in transition with his Focus Izalco won the race overall and broke the course record at the same time! Very impressive. Happy training this week everyone, I am heading to France to go cycling through Provence for 5 days with The Dutchman! Cx