Ontario Women's Sprint Duathlon

Yes, DUathlon. No, I did not sign up for that of my own free will. I found out about this TRIathlon race a few days before, as my friend KB had signed up, wanting to get back into triathlons after quite a long break. I thought it would be exciting to do it together. It was located in the daunting foothills under the Escarpment in Milton, but I was up for a mental challenge. Unfortunately we were notified the day before that Kelso Lake is infested with bacteria, and that all races were being converted to a duathlon. There's a first (and last) time for everything!

The Women's Triathlon is a small, spare race, geared towards beginners, and offers a sprint and super-sprint/try-tri. Being a ladies' race, they don't even put your age on your calf, just your wave - go figure! The concrete TA left a bit to be desired, as my pampered feet are used to the grassy parks normally used by MSC. I racked my bike on the unsteady metal beam, incredulously donned my sneakers, looked down at my orange towel with nothing but bike shoes on it, and tried to figure out how to tackle the opening 2.5km sprint.

My friend and winning duathlete PK had admonished me not to kill myself on the first run, and I'd looked up the bike course to reveal a long steady climb in the first half, so I tried to be conservative. The run loop was also quite hilly, but I managed to pass a bunch of people in my wave, especially on the downhills. But I didn't get out ahead, and it turns out I actually would run faster on the 5km.

The 20km bike course was indeed a long climb, but I can get pretty aggressive going up hills, and I managed to catch and pass some of the actual (signed-up) duathletes, who had started in the wave before mine. I think it wasn't until the turnaround that I got caught up - by a couple of people two waves behind mine... That's what happens when you're too afraid to stay in aero most of the race. I lost a few more spots towards the end as well.

I didn't think transition would be a big deal in this flippin' race, but turns out my tri shoes are pretty much only good for being put on once. When I'd pulled them off, the soles came out, so I had a dilly of a pickle of a time trying to stuff them back in followed by my feet. Lost a few more racers this way, poo.

I've said I don't like looped courses (because I'm excited by the unknown), but knowing what was ahead on the two loops of the second run made it much easier to vary my approach to each section. I knew when I could attack. And it secretly felt good to lap a few people on the second loop, tee hee.

Unlike usually, I was surprised I didn't have my finishing kick. I couldn't catch another girl in my wave, so the best I could do was 6th out of 44 in my AG, with a time of 1:20:39 - just as I'd predicted for this race, though!

KB followed some time later, a bit sidelined by a mid-run stitch, but triumphantly finishing what may be the first of many tri(du)athlons. She'd been really bummed out because she had been practising her swimming for months, but I think she took it as a great accomplishment anyhow. It's actually nice that several hundred people, many of them newbies, took the duathlon in stride and did their best.

Run 1 - 12:43 / 5:05
T1 - 1:06
Bike - 41:14 / 29.1
T2 - 1:20
Run 2 - 24:22 / 4:53

	R	T1	B	T2	R	F
Place in Discipline	8	-	10	-	5	6
Place in Real Time	8	-	6	-	6	6

--Distance: 27.5km
--Duration: 1:20:39