Peebles Duathlon

Last event of the season, Peebles Duathlon, sprint distance, 5/20/5. Got there nice and early, registered, and met up with JEdgcombe and family.

Tried to warm up with a wee jog – ankle sore from the very start. Not great prep at all. Decided to wear the slightly more cushioning RocLite 295s rather than the lighter, faster Road X 255s.

Run 1 – JEdgcombe set off like a rocket. The Garmin helps me here, knowing that I wanted to run at 4:20 per KM to start off with meant that I did just that, and just plodded around. I did think that Jedg was going to blow after the first lap, but he hellf on to it, and I just overtook him going into T1.

I had a good T1, but the run up the bridge to get to the transition line was a bit odd.

The cycle went well. Easily my fastest ever 20K on the bike – 35 mins. I over took a number of people, and was overtaken by a few, too. Jedg had a shocker of a T1, but caught up a minute on me on the cycle, overtaking me up one of the hills. I was able to pull back and overtake again on the flat parts – my standard chainrings trumping his compact at last!

T2 was long – running down the bridge again, and then through gravel in barefoot. But I was quick, quick enough to pull 20 seconds away from Jedg.

The second run was the usual horrid slog of just trying to get one foot in front of the other. I settled down into 4:25 kilometres, and just tried to hold on. It was enough to push a bit of a gap away from Jedg, which was reassuring – I’ve trained all year, and he just turned up! Total time 1:19:18. Personal bests for each section, and total time. Definitely one to do next year, and compare times.

Monikie Summer Series Duathlon #3

Mixed bag, to say the least. My preparation was much better, having some miles, but nothing too mental in the nights before the race. Conditions, much better than either of the previous races: not raining, not boiling hot. I managed to actually charge the Garmin fully before the race, too. I didn’t manage to press the buttons for the Auto-Multisport at the right time, obviously.

The plan for the run was to aim for 4:!5 kilometres, to keep it steady, try to push the last K, and aim for 21 mins. In the end, I managed a 20:40, and felt comfortable going into T1.

The cycle started well, into the shoes easily, bit of a faff with by gloves, but a solid start. Pushed up the hill to Kirkton of Monikie in the big cog, and all was well. The hill out of Kirkton of Monikie requires the top half of the small cog gears – on changing down, HUGE graunching noise. Fiddled with the adjusters whilst riding, but no joy, so back onto the big cog. Dug deep, pushed on, got to the top of the hill, but tired legs. The downhill to Balumbie went very well – overtook some people, maintained good distance over some others, and all was well, again.

On turning up Drunsturdy road, tried to change down again, and the same awful graunching noise. I managed to get it into the bottom cog, but then once back on the flatter section, I pushed it back into the big cog – graunch, crack, wedge, fall off. Got back up, put the chain back on, and chose a gear to get on with – 4th was the only gear it would stick in. The fall mashed the rear mech, and stuffed up any changes. Gears jumping around all over the place. The group I had been riding with disappeared into the distance, and people started to catch me. Stuck in one gear, chain jumping, and very tired legs.

Despite all that, I still posted my fastest time of the series by nearly 2 minutes. The series times showed steady improvement through the 6 weeks, despite the ankle injury, the bike disaster, and all the rest of it. Next season – sub 20 for the run, and sub 40 for the cycle, sub 1 hour for the whole thing. Definitely.

Tomorrow the plan had been to go for a 70 miler with JEdg on the Kuota, but I’ll have to take the bike up to Cycle-World to get them to have a good look at it, see if they can get it right for the afternoon. Fingers crossed.

I wish there were more of these events, they’re a great distance, and a lot of fun. No honestly, they are.

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571568

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571572

http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/100571577

The whole series results

Race 1 – 1:04:32
Race 2 – 1:03:40
Race 3 – 1:01:59

Monikie Summer Duathlon #2

The Summer Duathlon series, race number 2. I was so pleased with the first race, particularly the run, but at the same time disappointed that I was so far off the pace, relatively, on the cycle. Last time I was 5th off the run, but 10th overall – dropping 5 places on the cycle was disappointing.

This time, with the ankle injury to worry about, but the excitement of the new bike, I had mixed feelings about going. The weather was hot – contrast to last time when it rained constantly during the run – and I was under-hydrated. Stupid, but I just didn’t leave enough time to drink before getting to the race. Also, I managed to forget to charge up my Garmin, so it ran out of batteries during my warm up!!!! Very frustrating. It meant I had no idea of my pace during the run ( I still don’t have a decent perception of my own pace) and then as I haven’t yet got a back up speedo for the bike, I didn’t have a decent idea of speed on the bike either. So, a bit of a disaster, really.

The run was tough – hot weather coupled with tentative running on the ankle, and not enough running training, meant I was 40 seconds slower over the 5K run this time (21:40), and it was hard work through the run. Transition went wrong because I managed to run straight past my bike, and tried to get onto someone else’s grey and white bike….. But the cycle went very well – I was only overtaken by 4 people this time, and overtook 2 people, meaning I was only pushed down 2 places on the cycle this time. The wee lady who overtook me with 5K to go last time overtook me on the last 500m this time!

My ankle is now pretty stuffed. It’s my own fault for doing essentially nothing, then going straight into a race. I should have missed the race, done some training, and worked towards the final race. But, it’s easy to say that now. I am taking the positives – I managed the run, and was only 40 seconds slower; I was over 2 mins faster on the bike. And a PB. Out of 2 races….

So, no more running until the ankle is better. I should get some physio tomorrow, that might help.

I need to get swimming again, too – not been for a proper swim for nearly 2 weeks.

Monikie Sprint Triathlon Series, Race 1

I signed up for the Monikie Sprint Duathlon series a couple of weeks ago. The Angus Chain Gang people are serious cyclists, so my expectation for this was to be there or there abouts for the run, and be obliterated on the cycle.

First appearances certainly supported this – the bikes in transition looked tasty. Kestrels, Cervelos, Ribble, mostly TT bikes, and plenty of carbon on show. And it was pissing it down with rain.

So.

Run.

Pleased with the run. I went of a wee bit quickly, and the 3rd K was a wee bit slow, but I pushed on, and do found a bit more speed by the end. I can’t be unhappy with 21:00 for 5K in a Duathlon.

Cycle.

Transition went well, but, as predicted, the field were strong on the bike. A number of guys came streaming past me, tubular tyres thrumming along, aero positions, high cadence, and carrying plenty of speed.

To be honest, I was pretty pleased with it. I’d not cycled the route before, and I really didn’t know what to expect from the hill at the end. The last hill was a real chest burster.

10th overall. Not bad, really. If I can drop my cycle time by a minute, I’ll be up to 8th. With another minute off the run….

But, another race, another PB. Although, I’ve never done one before, of course.

But, I think I need a race bike.