This Yogi did her 1st Duathlon!!!!

Before I did this crazy thing called a Duathlon...I had to confront quite a few dilemmas...first and foremost, how do I even say it or spell it!! I kept wanting to say Dualathon or Duathalon.....just to be clear, it is:

My husband and I decided to buy road bikes a few months ago for many reasons (take advantage of the amazing parks in Louisville, cross-train together, experience and move our bodies in a new way, opportunity to meet new people by joining the local bike club....and because it's awesome to be outside and play!!) 

So what exactly is a Duathlon, anyway? A combination of running, cycling and running again.

For my 1st Duathlon we chose the only one left in the area for the year which happened to be a perfect amount of mileage in my opinion for a beginner -- TriforSight in Lexington, KY --5k run (3.1. miles), 13 miles cycling, 5k run.

Why Not?

Quite a bit of fear had to be overcome before I was willing to sign up for it...I was WORRIED about so many things:

• Falling of my bike because I have only been riding with clip in pedals for about a month

• Abiding by the rule of riding 3 bike lengths away from any of the other cyclers 

• The entire transition area - Before signing up for this I didn't even know what a transition area was....so I was so afraid I'd do something wrong or get in the way of the 'real' athletes

• Remembering all of the rules in the heat of transitioning from bike shoes to cycle shoes to the bike....remembering to buckle the helmet so as not to be disqualified. 

Must Read Tips:

So, I scoured the internet for all possible advice and tips I could find for 1st time Duathlon-ers. So grateful to read:

• Duathlon FAQ's for beginners - excellent resource, a must read for new-by cyclers
• What I learned from my 1st Duathlon - Reminding me to have fun and not take things too seriously and I loved her picture of the transition area ~ helped to alleviate the mystery. 
• And with that I completed my 1st Duathlon - Fun and light recap of her 1st Duathlon alleviated much of my personal fear & stress
• Catching my breath: 1st Duathlon - Lots of pictures to show transition area, many emotions and thoughts I could relate to
• Training tips ~ Gear & Bricking

Post Race in the Transition area...
showing off my first ever race markings!! 

How did it go?

With all of that research and quelling of unnecessary fear.......It went well!!! WAY better than I expected! We woke up at 4am and drove to Lexington, KY with the bikes on the back of our car. As my husband likes to say...the most scary part of the day was riding with the bikes on the trunk of our Honda....we were soooo worried they were going to fly off the back end or bump into each other breaking a spoke or something worse. (They survived...no issues at all :))

It was so much fun seeing everyone else riding or running so seriously....
with a smiley face on their back calf!! Bring some light-hearted fun to your experience!!

My goal was to finish, but more than that was to finish safely without injury...and to learn and treat this as my first cycling experience in a large organized group.

• No crashes = SUCCESS
• Transition area was not threatening, everyone comes in and out at their own pace so it was relatively quiet when I was changing my shoes
• Remembering to put my helmet on first and buckling the straps is no biggie, especially when you put it right on tip of your shoes
• Staying 3 bike lengths away from another bike was also rather easy - considering for the most part we are all riding at our own paces -- if for some reason I was coming up faster on someone, then I could choose to pass them or hang back a few seconds. 
• Clip in shoes were also easier than I expected, what's nice about a race is there is no reason to stop at red lights or stop signs (especially when they have police at every intersection) -- so really no reason to unclip -- just keep going! 

Clip in shoes! 

 I'm proud I finished and I finished faster than I expected:

Run: 32:59.2 10:38/mile pace
T1: 1:44.5
Bike: 52:45.3 14.8 MPH
T2:1:33.5
Run: 36:06.3 11:38/mile pace
Total: 2:05:09.0

Crossing the finish line....looking WAY too serious :)

Finishing a multi-sport event is thrilling! It's fun to explore new depths within my body - not forcing speed, but experiencing the beautiful surroundings and challenging myself to new limits. The Lexington horse country was absolutely beautiful!! Looking forward to planning my next duathlon in spring 2014.