Clumber Park Duathlon

Its race day tomorrow and I must say I'm feeling quite nervous. I was really excited as both me and my husband have entered this event but as he has come down with a stinker of a cold its looking highly likely I will be competing without him. I know you race as an individual but with this being our first duathlon it would have been lovely to do it together. There seems so much to think about all of a sudden...what kit to take for cycling, running,food,drink, bike and the kit, sunglasses or not..which lenses...and on and on it goes..not to mention paperwork and ID...Oh I hope I don't forget anything ! ( which we did...a very important item...Lees helmet ! good job our son was able to jump out of bed and bring it to us !! Thanks Joe x)

Physically I have prepared well for this event and I am not at all worried about my fitness or anything...its just the fear of the unknown.
I will update this tomorrow after (hopefully) a successful and enjoyable event. Wish me luck :-)

Follow up

As you may have gathered from our smiley faces...we finished our first duathlon...together...Woohoo. Lee was still quite poorly so shouldnt have really but he took it steady and seemed ok.

The event itself was great, well apart from the weather. It was freezing cold and raining. Couldnt wait to get started but the sprint competitors were the last wave to go which meant alot of hanging around with no shelter. Registration was on the day of the event only and had to be done by 8.15am, bikes had to be racked by 8.45am. Our set off time wasnt until 9.35(and was also delayed) so by the time we got going we were shivering !! Still off we went.

5K RUN 1

The first run seemed alot further than 5k, maybe because of the cold. The run had a few sharp uphill sections, short but sharp but the run back seemed mainly downhill. As I reached the first finish line I was thrilled to hear cheers from friends, Tracey and Marcus who had arrived to support us and take photos ! Thanks very much to them :-)

12M BIKE

My first taste of transition ! I was all fingers and thumbs, my kit was wet and it seemed to take me ages to get going. But finally I was off, short run through the mud to the road then off along a beautiful tree lined route which started in the park then out onto fairly quiet and well marshaled roads. Course was quite undulating but nothing to really make me struggle. I was amazed at the speed of some of the bikes wizzing past me (and that was going at my fastest ever pace of 26MPH) I was still pleased with myself though and just cycled on in admiration of others.
Bike seemed over all too quickly though I did feel my calf's wanting to cramp up, I'd not had that feeling before. However they didnt and soon I was crossing the bike finish line, I unclipped and set off to run back into the transition area. My legs didnt feel like they belonged to me..a strange sensation I must say...how on earth could I now set off to run again ?

2.5k RUN 2

Decided to leave my cycling kit on to run in as it was only 2.5k I just swapped my bike helmet for a hat and stuck my trainers then off I gingerly set willing my muscles to realise what I was asking of them. Things started to click back into place and back onto the same route as the first run only turning around sooner. I wasnt trying to push pace at this point, I just wanted to comfortably finish, and thats what I did to more applause from friends and crowd.
That was it..Id done it..my first duathlon.

My thoughts then turned to Lee(not the first time he'd crossed my mind) I'd caught sight of him setting off on his run as I was coming back in so I knew he wasnt too far behind. I enjoyed being able to cheer him over the line and even Axel (Tracey and Marcus' dog joined in !)

Would I do another ?...without question !