First Duathlon on 1st August - EEK!!!

[Lavender Rose]

Yeah I haven't got a road bike, only my trust hybrid, I do not use clip in pedals as they scare me!!

 

[Lavender Rose]

But thanks for the tip off ;-)

 

[Lavender Rose]

Well I am a little more scared now, I realised I have been looking at the wrong results and the 1st female is around 2 or 3 minutes quicker than I on each sector :-(

 

[ianrauk]

Don't worry about other people. Just go out, enjoy yourself and do the best you can.

 

[Tin Pot]

YIKES!!! Big Day tomorrow! I am working a short day to avoid rushing and extra stress - any last minute advice???!!

Well done, and have fun!

Getting to the start line is the hard part.

Forget times, run easy, bike easy, and sprint the last 50m

Then bask in the glory

 

[Lavender Rose]

Hehe - thanks @Tin Pot - I swear I am not competitive but I just don't want to be all slow and stuff, I have had some days off to focus on my weight training so I should be full of beans!

 

[Tin Pot]

I was sixth from last at my first triathlon, I'm weirdly proud of that. The finish line is always good fun wherever you place, imho.

Don't forget your bike helmet like I did.

 

[Stephenite]

Good luck @Charlotte Alice Button . Best advice i can give is go steady at the start, and ramp it up towards the end. Like @Tin Pot says sprint the last 50 or 100m. And remember to enjoy it. Look around you, take in the sights and sounds. You're there to enjoy it!

 

[Lavender Rose]

I know - thanks a lot guys! I will have mum there so that's good! I will try and pace myself, I do canicross with my dog and a lot of that is about pace. Just to complete it will be fun - they sound like a great group of people, very supportive!

 

[Lavender Rose]

So guys.....I DID IT!!

I am so proud of myself, I get there and it's all very professional but fun. And there's me with no spandex or road bike but with my trusty old hybrid bike.

I registered and the organisers let me ride around to get my bearings. There was a strong headwind and sidewind pretty much all the way round and two small inclines and a long incline drag to the lap line. So slightly more challenging than my practice venue.

The run was good. Everyone took off and I slowly saw them disappear intp the distance but I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up from the start so I just concentrated on me and my goal.

I then hopped onto the bike (I got a good tip as i had left it in 5th gear and going into an immediate incline in 5th was not fun...so I wound it to 3rd before starting the race...much better!)

As I said above. The cycling was tough but after the 3rd lap I picked up the pace. My mum came with me and was great support. Every lap she was cheering me on.

I got to the 6th lap and I pulled the bike in and ran my final 2.2k sector. By this point it was around 830pm and I was feeling the ache and fatigue set in. I kept going until 2km where I had to stop for around 10 seconds because I had a horrific stitch which I ended up stretching out as I ran.

I crossed the finish line and a few people cheered as they knew I was new etc. The atmosphere was great. I loved it.

Here are my split times.
2.5k run- 18:24
15km bike- 46.07
2.2km run - 18.57.

I can't really compare these times to my practises as the track was completely different

I'm hoping to borrow my cousin's cyclo-cross bike for the next one in September and get up there a few times with it in the meantime.

To use the track is £5.50 and I couldn't see a limit on how long you can be on there so that seems a pretty good price.

 

[ianrauk]

Well done Charlotte. Congrats. Awesome effort.

 

[Lavender Rose]

Here's my bike set up!

 

[Stephenite]

Well done. Sounds like you had great fun!

 

[Salty seadog]

nice one bird, glad you enjoyed it. see you soon...

 

[topcat1]

I'm proud of you Charlotte well done