Brick Duathlon: 3km/24km/3km

Hoped for: 13:30/48/13:30 + 4min transitions = 1:19

Splits:

R1: 13:31 -> 34/62 AG, 212/524 OA
B1: 53:49 -> 19/62 AG, 156/524 OA
R2: 15:49 -> 32/64 AG, 254/524 OA

Overall: 1:23:08 for 22/62 AG, 185/524 OA

Note: That bike time is a joke as they had no "transition" mats so your time in transition was added to your bike time. On my watch, I was about 4:30 total in transitions total making my bike a more respectable 49 minutes = just slightly under 30kph. And when they say "challenging course", they were right. Either up or down the whole way. No break. I can think of only one km or so stretch that was flat that I could get into a good gear and crank. Not a fast course. I was secretly hoping for 45 min but after that ride, I was satisfied with my time.

OK, now to critique my performance -

R1 - Probably started out a bit fast, and faltered psychologically into T1. I have a habit of doing that. I get the thoughts about "saving myself for the bike" or "I'm already dead. Save something for the bike Clive". I must stop this and pace myself appropriately through the first part of the race so that I finish steady into T1 and not have to take a "break".

T1 - Pretty good considering the fact that it was pouring and I had to remove covering to get at my stuff. The transition was muddy as the transition was on grass. Pretty consistent transition. No problems.

B1 - I think I was pretty consistent on the bike. Towards the end I did tire a bit and lost focus for a few brief moments, particularly on a long rolling uphill (damn that was a bitch!). But I recovered in each case and passed alot of people, catching many in the previous wave who started 3 min ahead of me.

T2 - Another good transition. Fast and efficient considering the positioning of the transition and the conditions.

R2 - Legs like lead. Felt bad getting out of T2. I did the first km in 5:08 which was about all I could muster. The 2nd km I sagged both physically and psychologically. The run through the park felt very long. I think I did the 2nd km in around 5:33. When I hit the last km marker I suddenly felt much better (maybe because my torture was only gonna last 5 minutes or so more!) and I was able to get my pace back to 5:08/km without a big sprint at the end. When I finished, I thought to myself "why didn't I maintain my pace through the 2nd km"? I must get psychologically tougher + I think my legs felt the infection I'm fighting and taking off quite a few days off in the week previous.

I live to fight another day.

Clive

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