Today I took part in Cirencester duathlon which was held in Charlton Park near Malmesbury.
The course consisted of a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike ride and another 2 mile run, all cross country. This was my first duathlon so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in terms of effort so I didn’t push too hard at the start. I completed the first 2 miles in 15:43 which I didn’t consider particularly fast but I’d made good progress with many of the competitors setting off fast but slowing quite quickly.
My transition to the bike was clumsy, I couldn’t find my bike initially and then I had difficulty putting my helmet on, in fact I’m pretty sure my 16 year old bike helmet was on back to front. The bike ride was difficult because of the snow, ice, mud and ruts. I found this reasonably hard and the bike was difficult to control at times. I came off the bike a couple of times but nothing serious. Quite a lot of riders came past me during this stage. I finished the bike in 46:28.
The transition back to the run went pretty smoothly and although my quads had started to burn at the end of the bike section they had largely recovered about a third of a mile into the run. I overtook quite a few other competitors during this final run, regaining some of the positions I’d lost during the bike. I finished this section in 16:41.
My overall time was 1:21:00, the remaining time included my transition.
I enjoyed this as an change from my normal training and I’d happily do another. The venue was good but to be honest I wasn’t admiring the scenery on the way round.