Dorney Lake Duathlon Series Race 2 21 February 2010

So, race 2 of the series. The last race was HARD. Duathlons hurt, there's no two ways about it.

It didn't help when we woke up, looked out the window and saw the rain. The temptation to roll over and go back to bed was almost too much to resist but we'd talked JC into her first multisport race so out into the rain we ventured.

So we picked up JC and drove up in convoy to lovely sunny Dorney Lake.

It didn't seem too rainy when we got there, and unlike last time we got there with plenty of time to spare, register, go to the loo, put the bikes together, go to the loo, rack the bikes, go to the loo, show JC how transition works, go to the loo and get ourselves sorted out.

And then the rain started to really come down. So in between going to the loo the rain jackets went on.

It was pretty cold when we started and did I mention that it was raining? No? Well it was. It was the same course as last time, and I still think that the track was harder than ordinary tarmac. I'd love to describe it as a rolling romp through beautiful countryside, but its pan flat for miles around, it was cold, grey and drizzly. I was running with a grin on my face.

Eventually I rolled into T1 and with all the rain coming down I thought “well, ok, its raining, I'll take my time, keep my feet dry and get out on the bike”. Somehow I managed to take 1:18 to change my shoes and put my helmet on, I think I could have had a coffee and a sandwich too!

Of course all that time carefully keeping my feet dry did no good. 30 seconds into the ride my feet were soaked. In fact I had so much water in my shoes that I thought if I got the cadence right I could set up a feedback loop that would make the whole thing a lot easier – it didn't work, but thinking about it did make it all a bit more fun.

I had my pretty new aerobars on Jezebel so we were enjoying it all the same. It's a bit difficult getting the balance right so there was a few wobbles, and I forgot to set my speedo so I had to count laps. Counting isn't my strong suit so I was a bit uncertain coming into the last loop if it was my last one or if I'd already done 6. When in doubt do the extra loop. I passed Mel and she was on her penultimate loop so I'd done it right.

Pulling into T2 my feet were numb, my hands were numb, and the rain was still pounding down. Apparently it was so cold the lake had ice all over it.

I've discovered that numb feet don't like running. I would have thought that numb feed wouldn't feel the road, but they do, and they hurt. I couldn't decide if there was something wrong with my socks, shoes, the road or with my feet. Eventually I got passed by someone after trying to sort it all out so I decided it was time to HTFU and just get on with it. It was a good decision, by half way my feet started to sort themselves out and I finished the race in a time of 1:18:56 – which would be a PB, except I'm pretty sure they shortened the run course, even on the flat there's no way I can run a 19 minute 5k!