Long Run and Minneapolis Duathlon

Marathon training is a good thing. Racing my first duathlon is a good thing. Doing one right after the other is still good, but very tiring.

It doesn’t work out very often, but occasionally I run with my gym’s run club. This Saturday, they had a supported long run for fall marathon training. With a nice course, lots of friends and plenty to drink along the way, it was too good to pass up. It occurred to me that the timing wasn’t the best since I had a race the next day, but I decided that marathon training was more important so I went ahead with the run. The last mile or two was hard, but I got my 16 done and then went home for a shower and a nap.

This morning, my friend and I headed downtown for the Minneapolis Duathlon with a 5K run, 18 mile bike and 5K run.  This was my first du and it was billed as the world’s largest duathlon. Packing up for a duathlon is a lot less stressful than packing up for a triathlon. With no wetsuit, goggles, or swim cap to worry about, my pack seemed almost empty. It was also nice to not worry about the water temperature or the usual jostling during the swim, I wasn’t too anxious about the race. I assumed my legs would be dead from the day before. My goal for the day was to run the second 5K faster than the first. Actually, I made this my goal so that would take it easy on the first 5K and the bike with the hopes that the second 5K wouldn’t be excruciating.

On the whole, the size of the race wasn’t overwhelming. The downside was that the race didn’t start until 8 a.m. and my wave didn’t start until 9. Since I had been up at 5:30, it was a long morning waiting for my turn at the start line. It also meant that it was getting warmer and windier as the morning passed. Finally, it was time for my wave to start. The first 10 steps of the race were terrible! It felt like I had already biked 50 miles before my first step. My legs were completely dead. Mentally, I had to break the race down to a mile at a time. Somehow, I managed to run the first 5K at a 9:17 pace.

I was really looking forward to the bike. I figured I would just take it easy and enjoy the ride. Well, the first 8 miles were really crappy. The road was in terrible condition and I felt like I was getting beat up with all of the bumps. I couldn’t get down on my aero bars at all because I felt too unstable. It finally improved and I was able to get into a rhythm. I biked at 17.2 mph, which I was happy with considering the few hills on the course and the poor road conditions.

Coming off the bike, I tried to steel myself for the final run. It really came down to just gutting it out. I was tired. I considered walking several times but was able to convince myself to try to keep going as long as possible. Somehow I ran at a 9:04 pace. It’s a miracle that I achieved my goal of running the second 5K faster than the first. I didn’t look at my Garmin at all and just tried to shut my mind down and run. I was pretty surprised that I ran as fast as I did. Good surprises are always welcome.

I’m tired now. Even though I took a nap again today, I’m just exhausted. Even so, I am really happy that I went ahead and did the race after my long run. Being able to race 2 hours on tired legs gives me confidence that they are going to have the strength to get through the marathon training. I feel less anxious about the rest of my training and I’m really proud of myself for getting out there today. I’m also really proud of my friends who did the same. Some of them ran 20 miles yesterday because their marathons are earlier than mine. Now I guess I’m a duathlete along with being a triathlete and a runner. I enjoyed the format of the race and will try to put one on my schedule for next year. Oh, my. I’m too tired to think about next year. Time to get some rest.