Better Than I Expected 

It was a nice way to end up my season I think. Yesterday morning I competed in my last race for the year... the Green Bay Duathlon. It was a 3.1 mile run, then a 32.5 mile bike leg, followed by a 1.3 mile run. I've never done a duathlon before (only triathlons previously), and the bike leg was twice as long as any bike leg I've done previously... so I had no idea how I would do. I figured I would finish in 2 hours and 30 minutes, based on my previous times in other races, and the fact that the course was longer. Boy was I surprised when I finished.

As I said before, I've never done a duathlon before. It was actually very different to do the long run first... when I was fresh, and not suffering through the bricks. Of course I had to be mindful that any energy I spend on the run, I wouldn't have for the bike (or the later run for that matter). I tried to pace myself as best as I could. The first mile I did in 7:30... and so I slowed up just a little bit, and overall had a 25 minute 5k, which is just about where I wanted it.

Transitions were also a breeze with much less to think about. I actually carried my bike gloves in the back of my jersey during the run and put them on before I came into transition, which saved me one thing to do. After that, it was just a shoe change, toss on the helmet and go.

The bike leg was obviously the most challenging part, but I really surprised myself here. I got into a great pace, and kept it through the whole thing. Once again, I tried to make sure that I didn't put in a ton of effort in the beginning, only to blow up in the end. I was actually surprised as I looked down at my bike computer to see the pace I had been keeping, and was worried at the halfway point that I would blow up. But my legs kept going strong, and I maintained a faster pace then I thought I would. I carried plenty of gel packets with me, and downed two during the bike leg which helped. There were some climbs in this race, but nothing compared to Devil's Challenge. Still... I always did the passing on the climbs, and never was passed. I really think my higher cadence biking style paid off. Overall I finished the bike leg in 1:40:58, which means I averaged about 19.3 mph. This is actually about what I average during a sprint triathlon, which I find very encouraging. I always knew I had more endurance then sprinting ability, and this really hammered that point home for me.

The last run was pretty hard. It was only 1.3 miles... but after a 32.5 mile bike leg... I felt like I was in the bricks for the majority of the run. It didn't help that the start of the last run leg went up a hill on the south side of Lambeau either. I probably paid for my biking pace here, finishing the last leg in just under 11 minutes... but I think it was worth doing better on the bike rather then saving it for such a short run.

Overall, I finished with a final time of 2:18:53... and a lot of confidence to take me into next year with some longer races, knowing that at least on the bike I can really hold my own. You can find the full results here (in PDF format). I'll post pictures when I get them.