Do you want to du?

This year is the 2nd one in a row for me to race the Du For The Parks Duathlon in Hot Springs on Memorial Day.  I quite like this one :-), the run portion is nice and flat, lol.  Since this was a repeat race for me I did have a time goal in mind, kinda wanted to knock 5 minutes off last years time of 1:14:13. Alas, it was not to be, mostly due to the fact that I have done ZERO brick workouts again and the very warm and humid temps were a sharp contrast to last year's unseasonably cool, misty day.  I was also still stressed, feeling a bit ill, and tired from Saturday's 8k.  Elsie also woke us up at 0327 sick as a......well, dog.....  Wow, queen of excuses aren't I?

Anyways, you'd think I was disappointed with my performance after that build-up but nope. I'm quite pleased with most of my race.

Breakdown of this year versus last year.  Note G/O stands for girl/overall, the placement of where I was after each leg.  2 mile run/12 mile bike/2 mile run.

2009  Run1  15:19         
2010  Run1  15:14  Not much difference here.  G/O 7/51

2009 T1  1:05
2010 T1  :54   Huge improvement on my transition time

2009 Bike  40:21
2010 Bike  38:37  My cycling is very strong this year.  G/O  4/42

2009 T2  :52
2010 T2  :31  I tied with one other woman on fastest time out of transition here

2009 Run2   16:38
2010 Run2   17:53  G/O 11/63 

2009 Overall time 1:14:13
2010 Overall time 1:13:06

6/44 females
48/117 overall
I won 1st place female masters

So a personal record here :-).  As you can see, my transition times were dramatically better than last year, the cycling time was a bit faster but my run times this year sucked.  HAVE TO DO AT LEAST ONE BRICK before the next duathlon in July!!!

A few thoughts about the race.....the heat killed me on the run.  I'd woken up several times Saturday night sweating out a fever and pretty much spent all of Sunday on the couch.  I should've sat this race out but I'm a bit stupid/stubborn sometimes (most of the time, lol).  During the first run I had chills and again I should've called it quits instead of pushing on.

Cycling this year is going very well, especially if you take into consideration that I'm only getting 1-2 rides in a week. Part of the reason for that is because of all the trainer work I put in while my ankle was sprained and the fact that I'm pushing myself to ride with the stronger riders in our area even though it means I'm usually at the back of the pack and they have to wait on me quite a lot.  Fortunately, most of the time the guys are very patient. This really paid off Monday in the rolling hills at Hot Springs.  I was passing guys the entire race going uphill.  Most of the time they would pass me right back on the downhills (darn aerodynamic tri-bikes!) but I was able to put quite a few of 'em behind me too.  What I need to work on here--being more aggressive when we get packed up and making sharp turnarounds.  After the turnaround point I ended up catching a group of guys and 3 times when I was passing, I ended up getting cut-off which left me with 3 options....1)run over 'em 2) grab the brakes or 3) move out into the opposing lane which was also against the rules.  I ended up grabbing the brakes but I was cursing them under my breath, grrrr.

Run 2 time sucked..........no ifs, ands, or buts........it sucked.  I was way slower than last year and while I'm usually slower on the second run portion anyway, it shouldn't have been that much.  Literally, I was shuffling and huffing like a freight train, my only goal here was not to stop because I knew if I took a walk break I wasn't going to be able to run again.  I thought I was going to throw up afterwards and I so did not want to be one of those who puked at the finish line :-(.

I did get several compliments afterwards.....one of the guys in the group that kept cutting me off came by and said that I was an extremely strong cyclist and one of the officials in/out of the bike area asked me how it went. I laughed and told him I survived, at that he told me that he thought I did EXTREMELY well.  That made my day :-))))).  My running club was very well represented with almost all of us, if not all taking home awards.  However I raced wearing my Bike City jersey.  Gotta give my favorite bike shop props & love, lol.