It is all over again ... On Saturday I participated in my first Duathlon with a Mountain Bike (my old yellow banger). I opted in to take part in the Sprint Duathlon which is a 5K run, 12K MTB and another 2K run. The event is held near the Gibraltar barracks in Hawley lake in Camberley. The course track is hilly, muddy, wet and with overgrowing branches. This made the course track Xtreme and for me this was the first time I participated in the event, I got carried away by seeing their online video a while ago and a few weeks ago I took my MTB out in the rain and I truly enjoyed this. Just like a little child again, coming back full of mud and mummy had to wash my clothes. 

The weather was forecasted to be a great day with temperatures possibly going up to 20 degrees. At the time of arrival it was only 9 degrees and very misty, I was unable to see the lake, luckily for the people participating in the triathlon the mist cleared when it was their start time, but t was only 12 degrees at this point in time. 

The event was organized by AllAboutTriathlons and they did a great job, on arrival you got your race pack with timing chip and t-shirt. I arrived around 7:20 am, for a race starting at 8:40 am. I rode my bike to the transition area and noticed that I was the first to rack my bike. I had the opportunity to choose the best spot, whatever that might be, in the whole transition area. The transition area did not had any numbers for our bikes so I choose to rack my bike, close to the "Bike Out" and not too far away from the "Run Out" gate. This turned out to be  good choice. 

Obviously with arriving early I had plenty of time to get used to the environment, I took the opportunity to thoroughly inspect the transition area including the start of the run and the start of the bike.  Around 8:15 I started to stretch slowly and warmed up with a light jog. During a last check in the transition area I noticed that my glasses where wet from the fog, I dried them up and hoped that they would still be dry once I needed them on the bike. 

The Run

All on time, at 8:40 am the start signal was given after a brief briefing. I noticed that it was a fast start and settled immediately in a position with maybe about 30 people in front of me. I wasn't planning to kill myself on a race track which I didn't know what to expect, I wanted to be prepared for any hills or jumps and needed to keep my full concentration for any branches on the rough track. I had my heart rate strap on my chest but after a short time this was hanging on my waste, this was due to the nature of the track. This never happened during training to me. Within 30 minutes I finished the 5K track and was pleased with this. 

The Bike

This was meant to be a quick transition as I didn't had to put any other shoes on.  I visualized the way I would transition during the run and this helped me tremendously but my glasses were fogged up and I had to take them off and put them on my t-shirt instead. I rode all the way without glasses. My gloves were not immediately fitting either, so I lost some time here. I got on the bike and could feel my legs suffering and it took me a while (1K) before I really got going. Thanks to Grace Jones and her song which was playing in my head I found the necessary power to push with a good Rhythm. The bike track was made out of 2 laps of each 6K and took us in the woods, under branches and above branches and obviously through the necessary mud which made it really cool and fun. At some places I had to come off my bike as pushing it up the hill, even with Grace Jones still playing in my head, going up wasn't possible anymore. I finished in 40 minutes times, which turned out to be a very good time indeed. 

The Run - Again

I was looking forward to this part, as it was only 2K. Surprise, Surprise the first 1K was hard, after having to spin and push on the bike so hard, but the last 1K I felt good. I finished the second run in 13 minutes

Official results

Position 19/61

Run 5K: 29:47 - position 35/61

Bike 12K: 40:21- Position 7/61

Run 2K: 13:26 - position 33/61

Overall time: 1:24:59 - For the official results have a look here.

Summary

A great fun factor was present during the race and with a better than expected nineteenth position and a great bike time I am very satisfied with tte result.