Mallory Park Sprint Duathlon

I thought I’d do a duathlon in preparation for the triathlon season. Something nice and small just to get into the swing of multisport races; a sprint distance race on a closed road motor circuit sounded just the ticket. However… I didn’t notice it was a World Championship qualifier until a long time after I signed up! Not so small then…

So, with my expectations set rock bottom in terms of ranking, I made sure my focus was on my personal performance! I’m still building up running after an 8 month ‘niggle’. You know, one of those things that will hopefully be gone by the next run. However, I’m really pretty confident it’s getting better now. Honest!

The course was 4 times round a 1.25 km loop for the first run, and we’d been split up into waves based on age – I was in the 40-49 wave which had 32 people in it. My plan was to run by feel, not going into the red at any point.

As soon as the race started, I drifted to near the back. I think I was in about 28th place. I was running pretty quickly for me – 3:30 per km – but nowhere near as fast as most people! However, despite dropping down to a more realistic 3:45/3:50 pace, I slowly started overtaking.

Here you see me sporting my traditional camp running wrist!

It was a cold day, and I was wearing an extra layer under my tri suit and gloves, which felt way too warm in the sun running with the wind. However, turning back into the wind I was pleased that it seemed like the correct decision. I’d got warm enough with the wind that I didn’t want to shelter behind other athletes back into the wind as I was enjoying the cooling!

By the end of the run, I was up to 21st, averaging 3:48 pace, and just sneaking under 19 minutes for 5km.

Strava link

I took my running shoes off, and made my way tentatively out of transition barefoot (my bike shoes were attached to the bike). I was being careful of my niggly foot rather than being fast here. Still, it didn’t hurt and I got going.

I loved this course – there is beautifully smooth tarmac with NO POTHOLES! Sorry, got a bit excited there. It’s quite technical for a TT bike, with a few cutbacks and a hill. I overtook a lot and really enjoyed getting better at the course as I did laps.

Oh yes, the laps. I really should have read the instructions. I knew it was meant to be 20km, but not how many laps that was. I thought I’d done 2 laps and looked at how far it was – 7.5 km (yep – I’d already miscounted laps), so though it must be 6 laps. No 7. Oh bugger…

Knowing the distance might be slightly over or under so I couldn’t just rely on that, I resorted to asking people I was overtaking how many laps there were! This got a lot of confused looks, and several answers I couldn’t really hear. However – I had a cunning plan.

I knew Donald was racing, and would likely lap me towards the end of the bike. Soooo, just wait for that. Then stay close enough to spot when he dismounted, then do one more. Genius, right?

Which, surprisingly is what actually happened. It took a bit more power to stay with him once he did overtake me on lap 6 (?). At a legal distance. But it was actually fine. Maybe I should have been putting a bit more effort in all the time? Anyway, he finished, I overtook him while he was getting his feet out (un-lapped! It counts!) And did one more.

I got off the bike in 5th position, with 6th close behind.

Strava link

Coming into transition I ran through carefully, barefoot again. I took my gloves off to get my ridiculous running shoes back on, but a) cramped up a bit and b) couldn’t get my fingers to work well enough to get them through the hoops on the trainers. So, this was a sloooow transition. Slow enough that Donald completed one of the 1.25km run loops before I got out (lapped again damnit!). And way behind the athlete that came into transition with me, so back into 6th.

The final run was on a different loop than the first, with a slight downhill to the turnaround point, then back up. I had no intention of burying myself here, but did want to try to run at a decent pace off the bike. The downhill helped to get going, so I averaged a respectable 3:53 per km. I got overtaken by a charging Sullivan (same story as last time I did this race), and one other athlete who was a lap behind, but he was having calf issues, and I overtook him coming into the finish.

Strava link

I ended up 7th in the wave, 5th in age group, 15th overall (out of 256). And happy I hadn’t done myself any damage!

Full Results

What Watts? Wind Tunnel Testing

I’ve spent another day at the windtunnel for EZGains at the Silverstone Sports Engineering Hub. Some of it testing EZGains and Velotoze kit, some of it fun stuff like comparing GB age group short sleeve and vest triathlon suits.

First up we tested with Professional Triathlete James Teagle. He tested various things, starting with an EZGains cover on an MVR wheel vs a Prime disc wheel. As expected, yet again the results were very very close, with the EZGains disc faster at some speeds/yaws, and the Prime faster at others, but all within a remarkably small range of variance; across the whole range they were within 0.5 watts (testing at 45 and 50 kmph).

Other tests he did showed a bottle between the arms was faster than without, and same for a bottle behind.

Another test showed a big win (5 watts) for having a bottle down the top. Since doing this test, this has now been banned by the latest incarnation of Ironman rules – a set rules that we’ve spent a lot of time examining and talking to Ironman about at EZGains. Fortunately EZGains wheel covers are still allowed and we believe all EZGains products are.

Just to confirm that, the first Ironman races with the new rules – San Juan, Peurto Rico and Campeche Mexico – have taken place with over 20 EZGains customers using a variety of products including the Chainring Guard and Front derailleur guard and we have not received any negative feedback from any athletes competing and no issues with the officials.

The only other thing showing such a big gain was putting Velotoze calf guards on – 5.5 watts for those! These can be handy for triathlons as you can wear them under the wetsuit if it’s a wetsuit legal swim.

For pure cycling, we had another athlete Max, testing across lots of the Velotoze products – the XL and XXL socks (XL and XLL meaning tall, rather than big footed…) also came out well at about a 2 watt gain at 40 kmph.

Blue is normal socks, yellow XL, green XXL.

My testing was done at a speed suitable for my triathlons – 40kmph, and 0 and 5 degrees yaw. One test was with a bottle between my arms (2.5 watts faster with the bottle on).

Double rear bottles tested 2 watts slower than no rear bottles, a single rear bottle was a tiny amount faster than no rear bottle – 0.5 a watt.

The most unexpected thing was the GB tri suit test. In the current kit, there is the option for a short sleeved, or a vested triathlon suit.

Generally short sleeved tops are faster than the vest versions, but are hotter, so there’s a choice to be made for hot races. So the question of if the sleeved top is faster, and if so, by how much, is important.

The above shows that the vest tri suit (brown) is slower than the short sleeved tri suit (purple), but only by 1.5 watts, which is much closer than I anticipated! It’s certainly nowhere near the difference compared to the best short sleeved tri suit I tested, the Huub Anemoi (that was a 8.3 watts faster than the vest tri suit). I think it’s relatively poor performance is probably at least partially due to how short the sleeves are.

So what does that mean in terms of time differences? Assuming that you were travelling at 40kmph, here’s a table of extra seconds per watt over 40, 90 and 180 kms.

So for the GB tri-suit, if it’s a hot race, I’ll almost certainly go for the vest version as I think I’d lose much more time on the run due to overheating on the run – I’ll just need to make sure I use some decent sun-cream on my shoulders.

Stewartby Olympic Distance Triathlon

I was a little worried. The forecast was for 29 degrees C. I’ve raced in hotter conditions, but I’ve pretty much melted! However, I’d been looking forward to this race, so I’d just have to use Plan B – dump water over myself whenever I could!

This race was running alongside an aquabike race – a qualifier for the world championships – which attracted a lot of people. The aquabikers started 5 minutes before the the triathlon, so I got to watch that start which is always fun!

It was a deep water start, and I positioned myself at the front. After the countdown (10,9,8,6?!,7,5,4,3,2,1) we were off! The guy to my left pulled ahead and I tucked behind him. However… he was kicking too hard – he wasn’t going to last long at this pace. I glanced around and saw another athlete to the left slightly further ahead so switched to his feet just as the first guy started fading.

Looking around there was one other swimmer ahead an pulling away. I decided to try to switch to their feet. I had to push really hard as they were already a few meters ahead and pulling away. It took about a minute for me to close the gap! But… I was now struggling, having pushed too hard.

It also turned out they were moving faster than I thought I could hold, even drafting. I had been planning on taking the swim relatively easy so I wouldn’t overheat later. So after the second buoy I grudgingly let him go and calmed the pace down.

However, shortly afterwards he stopped to have a look around and get his bearings. The sun was quite low, but I wasn’t having much difficulty seeing the next buoy – maybe his goggles weren’t as good? Regardless, by the time he got going again I was right on his feet again! OK, I thought, I’ll try to hang on a bit longer!

About this time we started passing through the aquabikers – first just the odd one, then more and more. He pulled away and stopped a couple more times, and each time I caught up. Then he started going wide – I decided I really should swim at my own pace and took the direct path to the next bouy.

Coming to the end I spotted him again (we had fetching green swim hats on while the aquabikers had pink). He was only about 10 seconds ahead after all that!

I did 26:55, which would be a bad time except it seems it was a long course.

Strava link

I was sure I overtook the other triathlete in transition, so I was onto the bike in the lead! I was looking forwards to the fast course! The course had a link road out to what I think was the old Bedford/Cambridge road (there is now a big dual carriageway). 4 loops between 2 roundabouts, on a good surface.

I wasn’t disappointed! I seemed to be moving very fast for the power I was outputting (44-45 kmph average excluding roundabouts for 290 watts). I came to the conclusion that, since I’d calibrated my power meter early in the morning and it was now much hotter, maybe it read lower.

I got held up a bit behind cars behind other bikes, but not much and I got lucky at the roundabouts, again occasionally having to slow down but not stop. I overtook lots and lots! That was fun!

Strava link

Coming back into transition not having been overtaken, I knew I was in the lead! But this is where the heat was really going to come into play. I was trying to take it steady, but was also scared some fast runner would fly by! I got some water at the first aid station and dumped it over my head. It helped a bit!

The course was a 2.5km out and back, which you ran twice. A few inclines on a gravel surface, and blissfully, quite a lot of tree cover providing shade! After the first turnaround, James (the man behind ATW) cycled past and held a bottle of water out for me. Legend! I dumped some over my head and carried on.

When I saw the athlete in second place coming the other way I was happy! I was close to 4 minutes in the lead – if I didn’t do anything silly I was going to win! I was able to pass the half full water bottle over to him and it felt like good karma!

I wasn’t impressing myself with the pace, but I think that was the heat, meaning I was always going to be slower than I’d hoped. Well, I’m always going to be slower than I hope because I’m such an optimistic person! This was even slower than that…

Still, by the next turn around I was able to check; I wasn’t losing much time to those behind! Yay!

At the final turn around point I saw someone who was only about a minute behind me and looked like he was moving fast. I was pretty sure he was on his first lap, but to be sure, I tried to push faster. I didn’t actually move faster, but I did try!

Even so, I did have a bit of a chance to mess around for the camera at this point!

Coming into the finish I ran under Archie, then enjoyed the ice cold bucked of water and sponges at the finish!

Strava link

Full results

I was chuffed to win, even if it did make me feel a little short…

British Duathlon Championships 2022, Oulton Park

Running has never been my strong point in multi-sport, so duathlons, which feature two runs with a ride in the middle, generally are a bit depressing – I finish the first run a long way behind my competitors, cycle my way up the ranks, then in the final run get overtaken by the people around me.

However, having just got a shiny new 1:20:31 PB at the Cambridge half marathon (without any injuries – I’m touching wood as I type this…) I thought it would be worth having a go at the Duathlon Championships at Oulton park. Oh who am I trying to kid?! My real motivation here was riding a bike on the course there!

A custom made car/motorbike race track, on rolling terrain, it’s got smooth tarmac, sweeping bends, no cars, and fun hills with nothing too big or steep. It sounded great fun!

I travelled up early with my racing buddy Clinton in time to watch Ruth race in the sprint duathlon, a draft legal race which was a qualifier for the world triathlon race in 2023. She smashed it, coming 2nd in her age group, qualifying to represent GB!

I took some photos and couldn’t help but notice that one of the hills was a bit steeper than I’d pictured. Quite short, but it seemed to really sap the speed out of the racers.

There was a lot of talk about how many really strong athletes there were racing. While not a large field, it looked like it had attracted the best from around the country! I knew getting on the podium in my age group would be a big ask, but thought I might just be able to, having looked at the results from the previous championship, but I’d have to have a great race to manage that.

The plan was reasonably simple – aim at my half marathon pace on the first run (3:50 per km), then hit 90% FTP normalized watts on the bike (300), and do what I could on the last run. Half marathon pace would probably be a bit fast given the half marathon had been on a flat course, but I figured I wouldn’t manage to go any slower in all the excitement!

I had a couple of new aerodynamic toys on the bike that worked out well. In particular I was happy with the shiny new EZ-Aero Chainring cover, I think it really looks ace and on a windy day like this I can really do with the extra few watts saving.

On the start I was a couple of rows back and had a bit of banter with friends I’ve met at previous races and some new faces, and then we were off! The start is slightly downhill and everyone was excited, so it was fast! I averaged 3:30 pace for the first km and had dropped back to around 100th overall. The athletes at the front were going under 3:00 pace!

I felt like I was holding back, but dropped the pace slowly. At the bottom of the hill, the course curved round into the wind and started slightly uphill. I slowly started overtaking people, which felt good! The overtaking got less frequent, but continued for the rest of the run, although I tended to lose ground on the uphills, and gain it on the downs.

I came into transition just behind an athelete who I’ve previously raced and has left me behind on runs before, which was a good mental boost. I’d averaged 3:49 pace in 32:52 for the 8.6km, and made my way to 69th at this point. 10th in my age group – lots of work to do then!

Strava link

I got through transition quickly enough, and even managed a proper flying mount without crushing anything delicate. I managed to get one foot straight into my bike shoes, but messed up the other – I even managed to pull the Velcro strap completely out of it’s loop so had to fiddle that back in, although I didn’t have to stop to do that.

The course was every bit as fun to cycle on as I’d hoped! There was the first downhill, a sweeping left into the headwind, then a banked hairpin (not sharp enough to have to let off the power), a false flat into a small hill, a long downhill with a right bend leading up to the steepest hill (where all the spectators were), then a section of short rolling hills and a right hand bend back to the start.

I was trying to power up and over the hills, take it easy on the descents, and get aero, particularly into the wind. This seemed to be working. Looking at the previous result it had looked like I’d need to average something like 42kmph to be in with a shot of the podium. I was averaging 42.5, so that was promising! I overtook a lot, but actually got overtaken 4 times, although I overtook 2 of them back. This is pretty unusual for me, and again underlined the strength of the field.

Photo credit Two26

On the last lap I got my feet out a little early and not at a great time on one of the rollers and lost a bit of speed. My average dropped from 42.5 to 42.2, which was an irritating mistake. I’d moved up to 29th and 4th in the age group, just 4 seconds behind 3rd.

Strava link

I got off the bike and out onto the run. Running always feels bad after cycling hard, but fortunately there was the downhill at the start to get into it. Unfortunately, the guy in my age group was running faster than me (surprise surprise) and pulled away.

I seemed to be losing ground on everyone around, but again, not as fast as I thought I would – I was definitely doing comparatively better on the second run than the first (I came 53rd on the second run vs 69th on the first). However, I did still lose 4 places on the second run, including someone else in my age group. I ended up doing the 4.3km at 3:53 pace in 15:59. 5th in age group, 33rd overall.

Strava link

I’d averaged 3:50 per km over the runs, and 296 normalized watts on the bike – pretty much exactly what I’d been hoping for and by far the best duathlon I’ve done. But I was a long way down in the race. I think it was a faster day than the previous race I’d been looking at, so everyone was a couple of minutes faster. I was 56 seconds behind 3rd.

It felt more like a World Championship race than the British Championships! It’s a long time since I’ve come away from a multi-sport race without getting on the podium in some way.

I’m getting better at running, and if I can stay injury free, hopefully it’ll continue. As triathlon season approaches I’m just hoping some of these duathletes can’t swim!

Dorney Olympic Distance Duathlon

I haven’t done a duathlon longer than a sprint distance before. In the past I’ve always been too worried about injury to try a longer one, but (whisper it quietly…) I currently don’t have any running problems! However, having experienced, in the sprint ones, the pain doing the second run when I’d done the first one too fast, I really wanted to treat this race with respect!

Dorney lake has been a regular pilgrimage for me, thanks to my rowing past. I’d never managed to get any prizes there when rowing, so I’ve enjoyed my multisport success there; I was hoping to continue that. However, running being my worst discipline of the three triathlon sports, I knew it might be difficult in a race where you do that part twice.

After an enjoyable evening with my parents in their camper van, I made it to Dorney an hour before the start. After the typical faffing and toilet queuing, I was ready.

There were three races of different distances all starting together. Super Sprint, Sprint and Olympic. I guess that was about 170 people in total, with 75 in the Olympic distance race. So, the start was quite busy and fast! I was positioned near the front but was determined to do the first run in a controlled fashion, running just below my threshold level. This meant not getting carried away in the initial surge, so I found myself being overtaken quite a lot in the first 300m, but followed that by overtaking people back again, gradually, over the course of the run!

For the Olympic distance it was a 2.5km out and back course alongside the rowing lake, done twice for Olympic, once for sprint. The super sprint racers turned at 1.25km. The out section was with the wind, and I was really pleased that I was feeling like the pace was easy although I was bobbing along at 3:50 ish pace (which is a little faster than I was expecting). I just kept telling myself to hold back!

Coming to the first turn around point, there were plenty of athletes ahead of me, but two had broken clear, obviously having a great race against each other. Checking my watch, I could see they were already 1 minute 20 ahead! Still, I figured they were probably in the sprint race. I was hoping to get on the podium in this race – my running isn’t strong enough (I’m working on it!) but I was hoping my cycling would make up it for it since it was a relatively small race.

At the turn-around it became clear that we’d been running with the tailwind! I decided to tuck in behind a group of 3 athletes who were just ahead to try to get some shelter. This worked, but they didn’t change pace and even with their shelter it felt harder than I really wanted, not much, but enough to make me monitor it. They got me to nearly the end of that leg, then they overtook someone moving a bit slower, so I switched to drafting him instead.

The two athletes were running back the other way meaning they were doing the Olympic – damnit! Now about 2 and a half minutes ahead, they were still pulling away, but not so quickly. I think I was in about 16th position now, including the sprint. 10th in the Olympic. The return leg with the wind was easy again, and I remembered to eat a gel.

Coming up to the turn point, I made sure I was close to someone and tucked in behind him. This worked quite well until about 3/4 of the way back where he started slowing down. I stayed for a while before deciding he wasn’t going to speed back up and overtook. This dropped my average speed to 3:53. Getting into the wind by myself validated that it had been a good idea to seek shelter!

Strava link

Coming into T1 I felt in control, and like I hadn’t overcooked the first run. I was in 8th place, and I’d made a mental note of what the two leaders were wearing in the hope I’d overtake and spot them on the bike.

I’d decided to take my watch off for the bike section but fumbled doing it several times due to wearing gloves (did I mention it was cold?). Apart from that it went smoothly, and I was out and on the bike. The course was straight down the side of the lake with the wind, then a winding course back into the wind. 8 times.

The first section was fast, really fast! It was smooth tarmac, and I decided the tactic was to try to get up to speed, then just cruise until the turnaround (which meant maintaining 50kmph).

At the end of this section was a tight corner. It was a little damp, and there were some leaves on the floor, so it was a corner to take slowly and carefully!

Getting back up to speed after that, into the wind required a lot of effort. This section of the course was fun, but not particularly fast, with rougher surfaces. I tried to work hard all the way back to the start, where there was another tight corner. The combination of the corners and this slower section massively reduced my average speed!

I was overtaking lots but didn’t spot the 2 fast athletes. I had no idea how I was doing due to the laps and athletes from the different races. I remembered to drink my energy drink throughout, although it being cold, I didn’t feel particularly thirsty.

I enjoyed the ride and had 8 opportunities to wave at my parents! I try to make myself as obvious as possible, but my kit isn’t as bright as I’d like. I do have a fun swirl on my EZDisc though which I hope helps!

I averaged 41.7 kmph over the course. If you look at the speed in Strava it’s obvious where I’m going in which direction!

Strava link

I made it through T2 without any issues. Getting going running was kind of hard. I did quite a lot of sessions to practise this transition in the summer and it felt easier then, but I haven’t done these recently. However, that might just be because the summer races were triathlons rather than duathlons.

I couldn’t see anyone ahead. Or behind. There were a few athletes moving slower who were obviously doing the sprint, but no one moving fast. I wondered if I’d overtaken the front 2 and not noticed? But, no – coming towards the turnaround, they were coming back the other way, still right beside each other having a great race! And there was someone else with them! Damnit!

I continued to run as fast as I could and braced myself for a lonely run back to the finish into the wind!

I slowed a bit with the headwind but managed to speed up and sprint across the line. I’d averaged 3:53 – the same as the first leg, but it felt a lot harder this time!

Strava link

The first leg was 9.7km, the bike 37.2km, and the last run spot on 5km. I done it in 1 hour 52 minutes. I was 5 minutes behind the leaders (who’d finished 2 seconds apart!). Talking to them afterwards, it turns out the extra athlete running with them had had issues with his bike computer and miscounted bike laps, so I’d actually come 3rd! Sadly, it looks like there will be no trophy from F3 events though – there wasn’t any presentation on the day despite there being a little podium on the grass.

Full results

I had a lot of fun here and am very pleased to have done my first Olympic distance duathlon, and to come away without an injury or even any soreness! And it’s always an absolute pleasure to find an excuse to spend some time with my parents!

Bedford Sprint Duathlon April 2021

Whoop! A real race! With the loosening of Covid restrictions, outdoor sporting events can now take place. Active Training World have got going very quickly and managed to put on a World Championship qualifier within a few days of the restrictions easing.

This race was at Bedford Autodrome – an old airfield, turned into a motor racing circuit. Which means… no cars! The course is flat, with some hairpin turns. If you want it to be, on the bike it’s fast and a little bit technical. I love it there!

Being a World Qualifier there were a lot of people racing. To make this work

a) it was split into waves rather than a mass start, and

b) it was a time trial start, with one person starting every 5 seconds (chip timed so it didn’t have to be precise).

While this wasn’t as much fun as a mass start, it does have the benefit of allowing one to keep a cool head rather than getting too drawn into the excitement and starting way, way, waaay to fast!

It was a cold sunny morning (4 degrees centigrade) so after much deliberation I ended up deciding to race with 2 extra layers under my new Zone3 aerodynamic tri suit and sleeves, and some fetching neon yellow gloves. At least I wouldn’t clash with my trusty steed as that’s black and yellow:

The race was being live streamed! I managed to elbow my way in front of the camera before the start and gave a very bouncy interview. Having friends review this afterwards, they’ve asked if I was on some mind-altering substances (I was just very excited!) It’s been a while since I’ve last been able to race!

All photos courtesy of Active Training World.

Lining up to start, I gave myself a stern talking to, to make sure I didn’t go too fast off the start. I knew my pace target and wanted to stick to it. 3:48 per km. Fine. Got it. I got to the start, waited for the go, then off I went! Yes! Racing! 3:30 pace. Erm.

After a few hundred meters I calmed down and got the pace under control. Even so, I’d started off about half way through the competitors, so was just overtaking lots of people (this doesn’t normally happen as in a mass start you kind of end up in your relative correct position quite quickly) which was really motivating.

It was a two-lap course, 5.6km, and about half way round was an ace marshal with music blaring out, cow bells, dancing away madly! Apparently, she kept this up for all 4 waves! I think she must have had more of a workout than I did!

It was a bit windy; it felt reasonably warm when running with the wind. But cold again when running into it!

Coming towards transition I was overtaken for the first time. I tried to stay with him, but he was going faster than I wanted to, especially as I wanted to be switched on for transition having not done that in a long time.

However, in transition, running to my bike I saw him stop, look confused and turn around – I guess he’d gone past his bike. I didn’t see him again.

Here’s my run on Strava. 3:45 pace (a bit faster than planned, but not too bad – the idea was I’d be able to do the same pace for the second run).

I got to my bike without any issues. Shoes off. Helmet on (the gloves worked OK with the buckle) and off I went.

There were a couple of people stopping to get on their bikes at the mount line, so I nipped past and did a flying leap onto mine. Well, kind of. I’m out of practice, OK?!

Anyway, I got my feet on top of my shoes (which were already clipped into the pedals), got quickly up to speed on the slip road, and then started to get my feet into the shoes. First one went fine, but I only managed to get my toes into the second and then unclipped it! I was moving pretty fast at this point, but managed to reach down and grab it, pull it onto my foot, clip it in, then do it up. Disaster averted!

Onto the bike course. Oh my, this was fun! There weren’t many people on it at this point, so I could take the racing line around the course. Again, I had a target to aim at (power), but having just done the run, didn’t have issues going over it this time!

It was 5 laps of the course, and the wind was mostly cross head/tail, rather than much direct head or tail wind. It felt like the shape of my EZDisc rear wheel disc cover was working well in these conditions, and it wasn’t hard to handle as the wind was constant rather than gusty.

The race organizers, Active Training World, had organised photographers (they put the photos on Facebook for free afterwards!) and I spotted one on the bike course, so put on my best bike position as I came past…

I overtook lots through the ride. I had my eye on catching the current European duathlon champion in my age group (who’s a much better runner than me, but I thought in a non drafting race I might have the advantage). I knew he’d started some time before me, and I caught him late in the 3^rd lap. Whoop!

On the last lap I took the effort level down just a tiny bit to prepare for the run, but I don’t think I lost much speed. Racing is different than training, so it took a bit of mental effort to not chase a certain watt score but try to race smart!

In the last straight I got my feet out. That was cold! But I was ready when it was time to peel off into the pit lane. There was one cyclist just ahead who still had his feet in, and I closed on him coming up to the dismount line as he got his feet out.

I leapt of my bike behind him and had overtaken by the time we go to transition (all of about 10 meters away). There were just 2 bikes in transition at this point.

Here’s my ride on Strava. 41kmph, 309 watts normalized.

I found my lurid green trainers, got my bike racked, helmet off, and struggled into the trainers. Then off I went! The other athlete was just out of transition before me, as we started the final 2.6km.

I ran just behind him for a while. I’m used to the second run of a duathlon being pretty depressing with faster runners overtaking me, but I was pleasantly surprised here. I couldn’t keep up with this guy (we were going about 3:30 pace), but even when I slowed down a little, there was someone about 50m behind who wasn’t closing.

This run seemed harder, not just because it was the second run, but it seemed there was more running directly into the wind (it was the reverse direction of the first run). Oh, OK, it was just that it was the second run!

But it was great being that close to the front! Especially knowing I’d started halfway down the field!

I kept trying to stop the distance to the athlete ahead getting any larger. It did, but it did help me focus. Turning into the final straight, which was about 200m, I tried to sprint. Nothing changed in my speed… Through the finishing arch I tried a jump for joy. I think I got about 2 cm off of the ground!

I’d done 3:42 pace this time – actually faster than the first leg! Woop!

I had such a blast racing again! The atmosphere was great, with loads of people giving off positive vibes! Even when I was having a panic about losing my car keys, some superstars that I didn’t know kept me company and stopped me getting too stressed until I found them.

I really enjoyed this! My friends that were racing have all spent quite a lot of time dissecting the race afterwards. The video stream is still available so we’re finding ourselves on there, and comparing racing positions etc.

Oh, and did I mention, the results were available immediately, and I won my age group! The guy running ahead of me on the last leg was in it; he got over the line 30 seconds ahead of me, but it turns out he started 45 second ahead!