Blitz Duathlon

Last Sunday, I had the most superb time at the Blitz Duathlon. The weather was absolutely beautiful with one of the most awesome blue sky days, and I spent time with some good friends whilst competing in a sport that I really hadn't got a clue about.

A day with good friends at the Blitz Duathlon

Running is so simple - a decent pair of running shoes, a shirt and shorts, and it's just you and the open road there to explore. Admittedly some runners do go all technical and start talking about what backpack they used, the socks they wear, what percentage of moisture their shirt wicks away - you know the kind of thing - but for me, running is a pure sport where a 3 gram weight difference in a pair of shoes really doesn't matter to me, and so long as my choice of clothing doesn't rub and cause chaffing, I'm a happy camper. I know that with running, I don't need to worry about gears and braking systems and such like, and the only advantage I get on the ups and downs depends on the amount of training I've put in.

The cycling element was very different with so much kit and tools to contend with - the weight of the bike, the type of seat (or is it saddle?!), helmets that need to carry the Canadian Safety Standard, gloves, cleats, toe clips, number of gears, braking mechanism, etc etc. To some degree I found there was an element of snobbery about it all, not in a nasty way, but there were certainly plenty of people wandering around the bike stands admiring and analysing their competitors' bikes and accessories, which in all honesty had me completely baffled. Fortunately, everybody was extremely friendly and they found my bemused look quite amusing when asking me about things related to cycling.

With Glady prior to the race (he finished 5 mins ahead of me)
and tons of posh bikes and stuff

The one thing I learnt for certain on Sunday morning is that I am definitely NOT a cyclist. The biking stage was only 20km and whilst there were a number of hills and we were at almost 5000 ft, it wasn't exactly like cycling over the Grimsel Pass in Switzerland!

I actually thought I was doing ok on the cycling bit - my legs were going ten to the dozen, hair blowing freely in the wind, and I felt FAST! That was until a few chaps passed me, then a few more.....and a few more...and, oh look, a few ladies were now passing me. The thing is, when running, I can usually hang off the back of those overtaking me, if only for a short while whilst they drag me along, but with cycling, they passed me so quickly that before I knew it, they already had a minute over me and there was absolutely no chance of me gaining on them. I enjoyed the cycling but with the majority of people finishing the bike leg in around 40 minutes compared to my 47 minutes, it's small wonder that I lost something like 15 places on the mid-section.

Which brings me to the running. The event started with an 8km trail run with a 3km trail run to finish, and for both stages my run times were in the top 16 overall which kind of gives a clue as to where my real strengths lie!

The first run was just shy of 8km and headed out from Station Flats to follow the Sulphur Springs Trail. It was quite clear from the off who the runners were - like me, they just ran straight through the muddy sections rather than picking their way around, leaping over tree roots, logs and rocks with a certain degree of agility, walking the ups and making considerable gains on the downs, and all the while whoop whoop whooping away in excitement as they went - yes, I am a trail runner!!

I passed several people on the return section and at the transition stage when hopping on to the bike, I was in 16th place overall and just a mere 40 seconds behind the leading lady.

End of first run, currently 2nd lady and getting set for the bike

I'd obviously never done a transition before, but Glady and Michelle had taught me well and I had to consciously remember to ensure I put my helmet on prior to removing the bike from the rack. Thankfully that's the only thing I had to contend with other than remembering to walk my bike to the mounting area and not to hop on too soon, but for others, they were faffing around with clips and cleats and gloves and goodness knows what else. In my ignorant bliss, if Salamon Speed Cross are good enough for the trails, they're good enough for a bike race - even if they are clogged up with mud :-)

I had actually borrowed a bike from Glady for which I was extremely grateful. It was much lighter than our old hybrid tank and I did feel the benefits of less weight - goodness knows how slow I would have been if I'd been on our old faithful!

Heading out on the bike stage and feeling speedy in my Salamons!

By the time I had finished the bike stage, I had slipped drastically back to 31st and I was lying about 7th in the ladies event with absolutely no hope of catching the leading lady at this point. The last run was only around 3km, far too short to be making any inroads on the lead unless I ran exceptionally fast and they were exceptionally slow, both of which were highly unlikely. I also had the added bonus of legs like lead having just finished 18km on the bike so I was finding it pretty hard to get the legs hitting the rhythm that they are used to when running.

The second run followed the Tom Snow Trail before looping back around and heading to the finish, and as I hit the trails again, I thought back to Iron Legs last month and how heavy my legs had felt back then after all the climbs over the 50 mile course. If I could run back then, I was pretty damn sure I could run now so I forced myself to stride out and found that I was speeding up and started to pass people even on the up hill, including some ladies.

Mentally the 3km was nothing - it was less than two miles and I could hold a decent pace for that kind of distance. The trail narrow on steeper downhill section and became both slippery and a little more technical but I found I was flying down the trail as I was doing something I was more accustomed to, managing to put a good minute or more between me and the other ladies.

As I ran into the finish area, the clock was on around 1 hour 45 mins and I was completely gobsmacked to have finished as 3rd lady and 1st in my age category. I also made up a few places on the final run, finishing 26th overall out of around 100 competitors whilst my time over the last 3k was one of the fastest and only 3 seconds off that of the winning lady - who knows what could have happened had I done more than one week of training on the bike to help me to prepare!

Finishing the Blitz Duathlon - 3rd lady and feeling pretty darn good :-)

Post race food was the best I have ever had with tons of cakes and deserts, and pulled pork sandwiches, tons of salad and veg, lasagna and pasta salad, and even spectators were allowed to have a nibble. The whole event really was brilliant and lots of fun, and with the addition of such glorious weather and fantastic surroundings, we really couldn't have asked for more.

Am I likely to do another duathlon? You bet I will! However, it's not a sport that I think I could get obsessed with - there is far too much to think about in terms of maintenance of the bike and all the technical stuff that goes with it, and I like a simple life - chucking a pair of muddy, smelly shoes on the back seat of the car and driving to the mountains to get off the beaten track for a few hours of running seems a far easier option than making sure I've got puncture kits, spare tyres, spanners etc. And whilst I can honestly say I admire anybody that can train for running and biking - and indeed swimming for those crazy enough to dabble with triathlons - I personally am a pure runner, and I'm proud of it :-)