FIrst Duathlon Lessons Learned

Know the terrain beforehand.

I assumed the run was all on paved trails. You know what they say about assuming. Reality was the route was at least two thirds dirt trail. Those trails are usually compact dirt but not after getting rained on for 24 hours straight.

I didn’t realize my mistake until the race had already started. The trail shoes I left in the back of my car would have been a better choice than the new Topo Specters I bought specifically for the race.

Little things, like watch settings make a difference

In hindsight there were a few changes I would have liked to make to my watch settings

• Minutes into the race my watch told me my performance was down for the day. Not exactly a confidence boost.

• My watch was still set to display “current pace” instead of split pace. Current pace is not as accurate as split pace for telling you when you need to speed up or back off.

• My watch was set to ask me how I felt after each effort, wasting time in transitions.

Make sure to turn off performance condition alerts, set pace data screens optimally and turn off self evaluations.

Race day heart rate will be elevated

No matter how calm I think I am on race day there is going to be a lot more excitement than a typical workout. My body is going to response to stimulus with a higher heart rate. This makes heart rate caps useless on race day.

It’s better to run on pace and ride on power or exertion on race day. If power isn’t an option use your breathing and how your legs feel to determine how close you are to threshold. Set some rules and parameters to go into the run somewhat fresh.

Get more time riding outdoors

In training, I rode outdoors more the closer it got to race day. However, not enough to get in practice maneuvering some things on the bike. It was difficult to get my water bottle in and out of the holder in between my legs. The few times riding out of the saddle felt awkward and wobbly. More time out on the bike would have helped.

Practice transitions, especially bike to run

Getting off the bike and trying to briskly walk to the bike rack was awkward and slow.

I almost left the transition area with my helmet on. I ran back to set it next to my bike. This was a waste of time and could have been avoided if I had better muscle memory for transitions.

The mental game matters

When I signed up for this race I took a look at the past years results. “Huh, I could probably get top three in my age group”, I thought. I quickly shrugged that off as being an unrealistic goal. You can’t control who shows up to the race after all.

The only time I’ve placed top three in my age group before was when there were only three competitors.

On race day, after crossing the finish line, I went to check my results. I was surprised to see I was 2nd in my age group. The guy right in front of me was in my age group. I was seconds away from taking first. I realized not only could I place in my age group, but I could win it.

Being on the start line with confidence you can place gives you more motivation to pass the person in front of you. I’m decently fast at bike and run. It’s time to start training to move the top end up with track work, etc.

It would be fun to have a tri club

At the end of the race I watched the remaining competitors turn toward the finish line, put my stuff away and got changed. After that I just kind of wandered around aimlessly. I went to unceremoniously pick up my 2nd place age group medal. People were hanging out with their triathlon club members or loved ones. I felt kind of awkward and lonely there by myself. There may be some value in a triathlon club just for the comradery.