Another Du!

Early start this morning! The alarm went off at 4am, and I was ready to roll. I drank coffee, ate breakfast, read over my race plan, and pulled the final few items together before hopping in the car.

I drove over to Terry's house and we headed to Sedalia. We're gonna do the Sedalia Duathlon today. It's about a 2 hour drive from Kansas City, so plenty of time to relax and think through the race. The drive went fairly fast. As we neared Sedalia, I noticed some lightening and rain off in the distance. Oh dear. I don't want the race to get cancelled after driving all this way, nor do I want to race in a storm! We got to the race site with plenty of time to spare. In fact, there were only a couple cars in the parking lot.

We got great spots in the transition area, set it up, and went to pick up our packets. Then, it was time to warm up. We started with the bike. When we rolled out onto the course, my legs were feeling pretty good. I tested them just a little bit, with some harder efforts, and things were still checking out. We flipped it around, rode back into transition, and got ready to run. The 2nd run of the Du started on pavement, but quickly moved into a grassy section. I didn't love the grass, but at least it wasn't terribly long. We ran this section for our warm up, and headed back to the start.

We were just a couple minutes from the start and we stopped at the potty and I think I just pulled my shirt down a bit and the zipper totally opened - as in off the track. (Nothing says "dainty" like blowing out the zipper in your jersey!) Uh-oh, this isn't good. Um, er, uh...hmmm. Let's try these safety pins. Nope, that's not gonna work. I'll run back to my car. Nope, no time. Everyone is lined up ready to go. Ok, the t-shirt they gave us for the race is in my transition bag...I'll just have to wear that. Racing in cotton - always nice.

Here we go! This was a pretty small race. I think someone actually just said, "go", for the race to start. Funny. Ok, so toe to the line...I was ready. The first few steps of the run, my legs weren't feeling it. I thought, "what am I doing?" Then, I quickly set those negative thoughts aside and settled in. I'm tellin' ya what, these folks shot off that line like someone had a torch to their shorts! I kept thinking of my plan, and just settled in at a steady pace. I felt good. The route was fairly flat, slight uphill in just a couple places. The stretch on grass had some uneven spots, so I didn't love that part, but thankfully it wasn't too long. Anyway, I was pleased with the first run and felt good coming into transition. Time to get on my bicycle!

The legs didn't feel too bad when I got on the bike, so I tried to stay in an easier gear and keep the cadence high (slight problem - I must have bumped my cadence sensor, 'cause I wasn't getting a readout for that. oh well). I picked up the pace a little too soon, and way underestimated how hilly this course was! Sadly, I totally tanked on a hill around mile 6. I was trying to push over the top and then realized
the hill kept going. Uh oh. Yeah, so it took me just a minute to pull myself back together and pick it up.

Just about that time, it started raining...thankfully that only lasted for a few miles and cleared away. The winds picked up a bit with that rainstorm too, and it started to heat up and get a bit more humid. Getting back into transition required going up this hill. It wasn't very long, but fairly steep, so that wasn't too much fun after the 40 minutes of pushing on the rollers.

Here's where I'm not so happy with my performance. I hit that 2nd run and my
legs just felt like cinder blocks. It was ugly. I ran out transition (with
bottle of Heed in hand) - this time we ran the course in reverse, so it started on the grass. I hated it. My feet felt so unstable and I was really having trouble keeping going. I made it through most of the grassy portion, and just as we turned onto this gravel trail, I pooped out. I walked fast, but I was walking! It's a race and I was walking. I knew I would be disappointed if I couldn't get it together. I drank some Heed and continued to walk fast for a couple minutes. Then, I was able to run again, but it was terribly slow and I just couldn't pick it up. About a mile in, I finally felt like I might make it...then, going back into the finish I hit the steep ramp-type deal into the parking lot...I had ridden up it, but this felt
nasty. Terry was actually standing there at the turn, cheering me on. He ran (and walked) up the hill with me. It's always nice to have encouragement at that point of your race! My legs felt like they were gonna explode and I felt a bit woozy. I shuffled up it, but also ended up walking a few steps of it too - hating that I couldn't muster up the guts to just tear up that hill. I had no big burst into the finish, merely a steady pace just across the line.


We grabbed some water and walked over to the bikes, talking about the race. It felt good to be done. After loading all my stuff back into the car and changing into clean/dry clothes, we went back up to transition for the awards. Terry had a great race - he took 2nd in his age group! WAY TO GO, Terry!

Follow this link to view a few other pics from the race.

So, overall a good race. I was fairly pleased with the 1st and 2nd legs, but also have some clear indication of some areas for improvement. I'll get there. Next race - 2 weeks away, and we'll be adding in a swim!