The season gets off to a chilly start
Kicked off the 2008 season yesterday at the rather snowy Swindon Duathlon. To say conditions were arctic would be generous. When I first looked out of the window and saw the amount of snow on the ground in Oxford I didn’t think there was a chance the race would go ahead, but it did and the organisers did a grand job in staging a safe race.
For me, trying to figure out how many layers to wear so as not to be too hot on the run and then too cold on the bike was one of the most challenging parts of the morning and having never done a duathlon before it was all an unknown - but I got there in the end!
I was keen to ensure I didn’t kill myself on the first run (10k) so that I had plenty left to give the bike some welly (40k) and then run home strongly for the final 5k. It kind of went to plan, although trying to keep my heart rate below the agreed 160 beats per minute on the first run while running uphill into winds which can only be described as arctic blasts was a little tricky.
I made a mental note to self while running through T1: “must work on transitions” then got out onto the bike to enjoy what I thought would be a fast, flat course. I was riding the Focus Izalco Tria, which, considering it costs less than half the price of the bike I was riding last season, is unbelievable! Put a pair of Zipps on it and it will fly!
Unfortunately there were a lot of dead turns on the course and I was riding cautiously due to weather conditions so I couldn’t crank it up as much as I would have liked, but I still posted the fastest women’s bike split - thank you Tria! I’m due to collect my Focus Izalco Chrono later this week so that’s when the really fast fun and games will begin!
The second run wasn’t quite as painful as I’d anticipated and with my support crew of Ozzer, Suz & Gav doing a great job as I came through T2, I found myself actually almost enjoying the race (although couldn’t feel my face, fingers or toes) and ran home strongly to win my age group (25-29) and finish second woman overall. Not too bad for an ex-swimmer! Needless to say, it took several hours to thaw out and, call me a fair weather triathlete, but I’m in no rush to race in such freezing conditions again any time soon!
EK