Olympic Duathlon Recap: I came in last and still got a trophy.

So.  I had this duathlon thing going on this past Saturday.  I figured it was about time I blogged about it.

How did it go?  Well, obviously I got a big honking plaque.  I also met all my duathlon goals, despite the fact that my legs tried not to.  I even met those goals after my husband's pants tore a few holes in my black tri suit because those pants contained a sharp screw that viciously put holes not only in my tri suit but also in my duathlon hopes and dreams.

Wood screw = DREAM CRUSHER

Seriously, people - I was on the verge of tears until I googled "triathlon gear store" and found one (Urban Tri Gear in Westmont, IL) on the way to Muncie, IN, where the duathlon was being held.  I was lucky to find a suit kind of in my size and in a color I knew no one else would have because that's how I roll with tri suits.

That smile didn't last much longer.

Anyway, enough about my gear - what about those goals?  Well, remember that I wanted to run the first run in around 9 minutes, do the bike somewhere in the 17s for an average mph, and do whatever I wanted for the 10K run at the end.  Like I said, I did meet all the goals, but this wouldn't be a race recap post if I didn't give you all of the boring, minute details about each part of the race, not would it?  So sit back, relax, and prepare to be bored:

Run #1: Who's in my race???

Now, this race is primarily for triathletes, seeing as there's a big body of water at the race site.

Oooo water

We duathletes got to start way the heck away from that water, which also happens to be way the heck away from the bathrooms.  That's where I was right before the start and then ran up to the start line, getting there with a minute to spare.  And in that minute, I realized two things: 1) I was sweating pretty heavily after a light jog to the start...and that meant it was going to be a hot one, kids, and 2) there were, like. very few duathletes in this race.  And since they have three distances of duathlons (a sprint, an Olympic, and a half), that meant I didn't have a lot of competition for a fancy schamncy award...but I didn't know who that competition was. (And it's usually considered bad form to start quizzing people about this at the start line.) Well, I didn't know before we started, but I soon would know after we hit the sprint and Olympic turn-arounds for this first run.  And when we did hit the Olympic turn around, I was the only one that broke away from the pack and headed back towards the start line.

And that's when I realized I was free. 

I could do whatever I wanted to do for the rest of this race and it would be good enough for first place.  I floated my way back over the hilly hills to the transition area, where I was taking my sweet ol' time transitioning to the bike when another runner came into transition and ran up to a bike racked near mine and said, "I can't believe I didn't turn around!  I just kept following the pack and forgot to turn around at the Olympic turn around!"

And that's when I realized I was coming in second.

The Bike: Mostly 2nd place, with 6 miles of 1st place-ness.

I spent most of the bike in 2nd place, but still crushing my goal - I ended up doing an 18.4 mph average on that very hilly course.   Even though I was out of transition right after my competition finished telling me about her forgotten turn-around (and promptly slipped and fell trying to mount my bike), she passed me in the 4th mile of the bike and stayed ahead of me for the entire first loop and most of the second loop.  I did manage to pass her and stay ahead of her as she faded on the hills for the last 6 miles...so I was in 1st place for a little over 17 minutes.  If only this were like NASCAR where you get points for leading even a little bit. 

But it's not.

Run #2: Hot heat and trashed legs.

It was in the 80+ degrees when I got off the bike, and after I watched my competition blow by me in the first mile I realized that I had pushed way too hard on the bike - my legs were kind of toast.  I started run/walking in conjunction with wishing for shade like crazy for the rest of the run, just focusing on making it to the finish and not crying at all the hilly hills.  And, obviously, I did finish (in about an hour and 6...yikes!) and then collected my finisher medal and my 2nd place huge honking trophy-thing.

This trophy and medal goes nicely with the bling I got in September.

Now my 1st place trophy won't be lonely.

The magic of magnetism, kids.

Even though the bling is what's really important (not really), this race did serve as a useful baseline for the half duathlon (10k/56mi/10K) I'll be doing in September. 

It also gives me some good peace of mind in terms of the bike--I'm starting at a nice, solid 25 mile base rather than all the way at zero.

And this race even gave me a good, kick-ass photo of myself--and it's rare that I really like a serious race photo of myself, kids.

I just want the hot heat to go away.

But it's not rare to end a post with some facetious learnings:

• Even though I wilted in the last run, I still had a really good time at this race.  The course is just challenging enough to be interesting rather than brutal.
• The tri suit that I had never trained in and wore for the first time on race day was AMAZING.  It better be for as much as it freaking cost.
• I have never pushed myself on a bike ride as hard as I did that day.  I don't normally breathe hard at all on the bike, but I sounded like a seething lesser demon frothing at the mouth on the second bike loop.
• The woman who beat me was 53 years old and kicking my ass.  I want to be her when I'm 53.
• I love the course and I love the atmosphere of this race.  But I especially love the indoor bathrooms and the showers.
• I came in last but still got a trophy.  Boom.

Tomorrow's workout: More cross-training, this time some easy biking.  I'll catch you up on all of my recovery cross-training fun this week tomorrow I swears.