CapitalTri Duathlon

Most importantly, I kept my shades on
throughout the duathlon. 

You know how when you are doing an athletic activity you keep telling yourself "Do your own race..."? Thats really bloody hard to do. Monday night a the Lee Valley Velopark was no different.

I saddled up (pun intended) around quarter to 7. No one was there, I started to get a bit nervous. Did I get the date wrong? I checked my email. Nope. Right date. I asked the lady at the front desk. "They normally come in around 7-7:15". I guess I was a bit too eager! Oh well, now I know.

So they open the gate and you follow the sign to the road track. I checked in with a very lovely man with CapitalTri. He wrote my number on my hand and let me know there was a race briefing at about 7:25. Plenty of time to 'rack' my bike, which in this case was to place it along the fence in the transition zone with the rest of my kit.

Whilst waiting I started chatting to a women who has done quite a few of these. She helped to put my mind at ease about how it was going to work. Big things to remember:

1. You can't be on your bike in the transition zone 
2. Your helmet must be on at all times when you have your bike (even whilst running with it). 
3. When running stay to the left
4. When cycling pass on your right and be vocal about passing to other cyclists

ME: "Are you training for anything?"
HER: "The alpe d'huez triathlon"
ME: "Oh wow!" ::internally thinking Do your own race, do your own race::

Again this sounds so easy, and I felt like I was going OK on my run. I did my 2 miles in 16:34(8:17/mile), which for me is not too bad speed wise. It had some hills (inclines, whatever) but it was good as it gave me an idea as to what the bike ride was going to be like.

Well, thats what I thought.

I felt good on the first few bits. I honestly did, then I hit the first hill, ugh this sucks. Need to drop gears faster. Zoom zoom! People are passing me. That's fine, I have 10 laps to catch up.

I don't think I caught up with anyone. At least I don't remember passing anyone. I would of remembered because I would have gotten to shout "On your right!" I did NOT say that the entire time.

What was I doing wrong? I assume it was partly my form and mostly my gear control. There definitely were times I was spinning with no resistance, which equates to no power. So quite a few things to work on. 31 minutes later, I happily finished my 10 laps.

Oh but we were not done. After that I needed to get off my bike and run another two laps. This sounded beyond not pleasant, but what the hey I am there so I plod through. I didn't do too bad considering, another 2 miles in 18:02 (9:01/mile).

Looking at the results, I was actually middle of the pack for the cycling-- which it didn't seem that way at the time. Maybe had I heeded the "Do your own race" mantra, I would have stopped worrying about others and maybe could have fixed my form/gear issues faster.

Where I was more back of the pack was running... ugh. However, in my eyes I feel I could gain back quite a few minutes if I learned to cycle better, so that would offset my running. I guess this is what they mean when they say usually triathletes are good at one skill, OK at another, and not so good on the remaining event. But which one am I strongest at? I dont feel good at any of them. I would have said running, but the results skew that a bit.

OR--- how about I just stop worrying about comparing myself to others and DO MY OWN RACE.

...and train better. Turns out the Velopark has training sessions as well (and its only £5 a go on the course if you have your own bike and helmet, if you don't you can rent making it a tad pricier).... and considering the event was a mere £13 it my not be my last one with the CapitalTri group.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you stick true to your mantra when you have the niggling doubts?

The sun sets on the Velopark...