A couple of weekends ago I was roped into competing in a teams triathlon (don’t worry I didn’t change my mind about triathlons!), I was then quickly told that I could do a duathlon instead which peaked my interest. I say I was roped into it, but really once I heard I didn’t have to get in the water I was all for the idea!
We arrived in Scorching Bay at a reasonable hour of the morning (win #1 for this event!), to a beautiful view (win #2) and a friendly atmosphere (win #3). I quickly found my team mates and begun to get a little bit nervous about the event, until I reminded myself that I wasn’t getting in the water!
I have never been so glad to not be doing the same thing as most of the other people there! I always knew I wasn’t the best swimmer but the triathlons I did completely confirmed the fact that I am not very good nor do I enjoy the act of swimming.
The teams Triathlon/Duathlon was run in waves, team member number one went in Wave A, the second team member in Wave B and so on. I was in Wave B so had a bit of time to watch how it was done in transition and where you biked and ran from which was nice. I thought the time in between the waves would drag but it really didn’t!
Before I knew it I was lining up ready to start the first run, with only two other people! A rather fit looking man and a young kid, this was going to be fun! I ended up staying relatively close to them for most of the run and they got a way from me a bit in the last few hundred metres, I had to fight the urge to try and keep up as I knew that I was not going to last the whole event if I did that!
The first run was pretty non eventful, albeit beautiful – seriously it is stunning around that area of Wellington! My first transition was pretty speedy as all I had to do was put my helmet on and grab my bike, no changing into bike shoes or any of that business, which most likely helped me keep my time under the hour mark.
The bike was harder than I expected given that there was a pretty heavy headwind around most of the corners and we had to do two laps of the bike circuit. My quads were already feeling pretty heavy by this point, clearly not too sure what I was making them do as I’ve never run and then hopped on a bike before! I got a little bit frustrated on the bike as I got passed by quite a few people on flash road bikes and I was just on my mountain bike, I’m sure having a road bike would have saved me a couple of minutes but the time saved wouldn’t be worth it for me to splash out for a road bike.
By the end of the cycle I was well and truly ready to get back out running again, running has always been my strength and I know I can do it. This run was KILLER though! My quads and calves felt like they were on fire the whole time! I felt as though I was barely moving at all but knew that I just had to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
I’m not particularly fond of out and back courses if you have to do them more than once and this second run saw us running the loop I had run earlier two more times. I got a little bit bored of the run to be honest, not helped by my legs screaming at me as they felt like lead! Luckily I saw Jane from Kettlebells and Cookies heading back from the turn around point each time so that was something nice to break the run up, I also saw Annalie as I was heading out on my last lap of the run while she was heading out for her first lap of the cycle (she was in the last Wave).
I was so glad to be crossing that finish line so I could sit down and let my quads return to normal as well as take my shoes off! Even though my legs hated me for it during the event I still really enjoyed it.
The Duathlon was 1.5km run, 13km bike and then a 3km run. Keeping in mind I didn’t do any training for this event, nor have I ever practiced a transition or going from running to cycling and vice versa I am pleased with my result of 57.08. I didn’t have any real expectations but I was hoping to do it in under an hour, which everybody in our team did which was awesome!
I could get used to this duathlon thing though! Whilst I wouldn’t want to be doing them all the time I would quite happily do another one and might even do another one later this year. I am wanting to focus on my weight lifting for the next few months at least and get back to hitting some PBs but I will look at doing some other running events or duathlons towards the later part of the year.
I’m already scheduled to run 10km at an Iron Maori event in Napier in November as part of a team for work, and I’m also contemplating doing an off-road half marathon towards the end of the year as well.
Thanks to Annalie and Ian for inviting me to be in their team and for answering all my questions about the event beforehand! I’ll see you again for another Scorching event, and I still won’t be envious of you two getting in the water đŸ˜‰
Have you ever done a Duathlon? Would you consider doing one?