Two summers ago, I talked a few friends into signing up for a duathlon with me at Alum Creek Lake in southern Delaware County. This duathlon was a 2-mile run, a 20-kilometer (12.4 miles) bike, and a 5k (3.1 miles) run. I'd never done a multi-sport event before. Heck - I'd never even seen one live. But some of my friends were doing the triathlon that day (swim-bike-run) and I thought it would be fun to try something new and cheer on my running buddies.
I had a "Tour de Neighborhood" bike which my family had given me for Mother's Day. My training involved weekly rides around the neighborhood and a couple short "brick workouts." These are runs immediately following a bike ride; the name comes from the way your legs feel for the first 5 minutes of the run.
Only 15 women did the duathlon - we were corralled on the sidewalk near where 300 triathletes prepared to enter the lake. Most of us were newbies. We joked that the Du was obviously the Children's Fun Run of the triathlon.
(Lora Kotsaris, me, Aimee Bross, Kirsten Leymaster)
After the triathletes had all entered the lake, we were told to prepare to start. And then we were off! We ran to the end of the beach's sidewalk and turned left into the grass. The previous night's storm left huge muddy puddles, too wide to jump over. My shoes were pretty wet and heavy. We turned around after one mile and ran back to the transition area, where everyone's bikes and gear were set up (called T1).
While most people had to take off their wetsuits from the swim and put one shoes with cleats on the soles (to clip into the bike pedals), I was doing this Old School. All I had to do was put on my helmet, unrack my bike, and run it to the starting line of the bike ride.
The bike course was a big loop around the reservoir, mostly flat. I stayed way to the right on my Old School bike, as EVERYONE was passing me. A few times, I was surprised to hear a car approaching (since the right lane was blocked from traffic) - but it would actually be a "real" rider flying by me on a $5000+ bike with spokeless wheels. My co-worker Cathy lives nearby - she and her daughter Emily parked at the corner of Plumb and Africa Roads and cheered me on as I chugged on by.
Close to the end is a 1/4-mile climb which (for me at least) was a real butt-kicker. Then I turned into the parking lot and approached the transition area again (now called T2). Race volunteers were shouting to "slow down" and "get off your bike" - it seems you have to dismount in front of the line lest you be disqualified. I ran my bike back to the rack and swapped my helmet for a running hat. Of course, all the real cyclists had to swap their riding shoes for running shoes. The hardcore ones had unbuckled their shoes when they reached the parking lot, so they could slip their feet out before dismounting and then run barefoot to T2.
And then I headed out for the 5k run. My quads truly felt like bricks. I ran as hard as I could, yet it felt like I was standing still. My Garmin assured me that I was at a 9:00min/mile pace, which was where I wanted to be. The out & back course was the same as the initial 2-miler, only longer :) I had to walk a few times to get my heart rate down. When I returned to the beach sidewalk, I attempted to make a strong finish-line surge:
Here are the final stats:
I finished 2nd of 4 in my age group, so I got some coveted AG bling. And I finished 12th of 19 women. And so I was hooked on Multisport!
(Jen S, Carolyn C-W, and me at the OSU Horseshoe)
