Cartersville DU-Steph

My first Du is now in the books.  I felt good about it.  On sat, the day before the Du,  had done a hard Road Race and TT totaling 60 miles of riding for the day.  I have been sick all week and nursing a strained back so I knew this weekend was going to be though.  Saturday was tougher than I had thought mentally and physically.  After a year of having faulty functioning cycling computer I was finally able to get a hold of a Garmin 305!!  I was SOOO happy to finally have a good working piece of equipment.  In the first 4 miles of the race I attacked and it FELL OFF MY BIKE!!!!  After the race I went back to get it and  ended up collecting pieces across the road....
Then in the TT my heart rate monitor clock time was off and I missed my start.  They said they had an extra spot and help me for a couple mins. I figured they would just pencil me in for that start time... NOPE.  with 4 mins added on a 7 mile TT  I was last place.
Tomorrow was going to be a new day.. if only I could sleep. My 4 am wake up call was going to be early enough but I couldn't sleep and just got up at 3 instead.  Shannon and I rode together and were ahead of schedule, however on getting there the parking lots were all full and the packet pick up was over loaded (only two people handing out packets that were NOT pre-packed).  We scrambled to get through the line, get our bikes racked and get back to the car to get our stuff.  My warm up consisted of jogging to the car to change and jumping in place on the line.  Shannon took off with a couple of girls.
My plan was to pace the first 5K, Hammer on the bike, and really run a hard final 5k.  First run I was feeling good and was picking people off left and right.  I was at a comfy 21 or 22 min pace (not sure yet on actual split).  On the bike I felt GREAT- sooo much better than the day before.  The course really suited me long gradual rollers. I caught quite a few girls and boys here.  Then the final run... oh no.
Finishing the bike I was feeling great.  I thought at this point I had really paced myself perfect.  But as soon as my feet hit the ground my legs left like lead.  It look me the whole first mile to get some of my form back but I could not get any speed.  Saw I would not catch anyone but that I had another girl on my heels.  I tried to re-group my self but in the final 200 she passed me.
I overall time was 1:37:XX. I won my age group and was 7th overall. I was only 8 mins behind Shannon who was racing on fresh legs.  For the end of a long weekend. I am happy!!!  The first place winner was the Short Course National AND World Champion!!!!!!!!!!! WHATTT!!!!!???  Glad its over.  When is the next one? :)

The VA-DU, is a 5K-40K-5K out in Surry VA.

This was my first Duathalon and being half the distance of nationals was going to give me a pretty good feel on how Nationals would feel and the state of my training.

I got to race with all kinda of new things today, first time using speed laces, borrow Giro Areo helmet, some Carbon Profile design areo bars, my Garmin 310XT, and  my fancy new tri suit. When I looked into tri suits, I debated going with a suit or two piece, decided on the suit because I ride in Bibs and like not having waistbands and lack of shorts sliding all over.  Decision post race.... I want a two piece.  I loved the suit but did not love, not being able t get dressed with out needing a second person to zip me, and then the lack of ability to use the bathroom the 5 mins before the race because I could not unzip my self.  This being my first DU I also had to think a lot more about fueling since with running my stomach cant handle much.  I planned on eatting 3 times, gu before the race, gu early bike and gu late bike, drinking a whole bottle on the bike and had a small fuel bottle with Cliff shot at the transition I could drink between transitions.

Run #1

The women started all together in their own wave which was nice.  When the gun went off three girls immediately went to the front.and I followed not wanting anyone getting away from me.  I let one lady lead and hang off the front about 20-40 feet while I settled into pace.  On the first hill I closed the gap some, which was a good sign.  By mile 2 I had caught her, and she was losing speed so I passed her.  She stayed right behind me and I could hear her breathing hard.  When we came to a second, short and very steep hill around mile 2.75, I pushed it hard knowing that she was weaker on the hills than I was.  She broke less than 1/4 of the way up and dropped back.  I kept the pace up but recovered for the bike that was coming up.

It was pretty neat being the first woman coming into the transitions and getting cheered on by several guys as I passed.

T1

This so much easier than I though.  I have heard horror stories of transitions but with little to put on of change it went quick.  I did second guess my self and only grabbed one GU instead of the two I should have.  I took a few chugs of the Cliff and off I went.

Bike:

I knew this was probably going to be the strong point for me since Im more of a cyclist, but I wanted to still push to see where my Time trial abilities were.    The bike was pretty uneventful except that I got passed by the woman that won, heres how it went:

mile 1: man i feel pretty good

Mile 5 : IVE ONLY GONE 5 MILES?

Mile 8: Im bored. the adrenaline worn off.

Mile 10: What the hell a girl just passed me? damn it. Keep with her.

Mile 15: Im tired, I think I went too hard in the run, how the hell am I supposed to run another 5k? This chick is too far ahead of me,I need to just pace my self, eat the gu.

Mile 20: thank god almost done, just want to be off the bike.

Mile 21:...., Mile 22:  where the hell is the turn??? 

Mile 23: oh thank god, theres the tent.

T2: Shoes off, shoes on, helmet off.  Good too go.

Run #2:

Holy crap I need to do more bricks.  I felt like a slug trying to run.  I thought my run times were going to be 8 min miles.  Took about a mile to not feel like I was going to trip on my floppy feet.  On the second run it was nice to loop around because I could see the other women a gauge how close they were.  The leader was about a min ahead, and the woman behind me was a little more than a min,  By mile 2 I felt pretty good and was ramping it up again.  The hill close to mile three almost killed me the second time around but I knew it was less than half a mile left.  Finished strong and really happy with how it went, since I really didnt know what to expect.

Results being 2cnd overall Female, with 5k: 20:36, Bike 20.3 avg, and 5K 21:38

First 5k is probably only 30 seconds off my 5kPR, the bike I think I can get up higher with lots of solo riding (ugh) and the second 5k was not as slow as I thought, and with better understanding of pacing and bricks itll get better.

Post race BBQ, was fantastic, had two plates of pulled pork and got a neat owl trophy.

No photos yet.