Doylestown Duathlon

In preparation for my Olympic triathlon, I noticed in an email from Mid-Atlantic Sports of a race named the Doylestown Duathlon. I thought this would be a good race for me to try out to help me to prepare for the triathlon. The duathlon is composed of a 5K run, 25K bike ride, and a second 5K run. It's almost the same distance as a sprint triathlon except it starts with a run instead of a swim. You do have to be a USA triathlon member of pay the $10 one-day pass fee.

The weather in early-April can be iffy but with the winter that we had, I felt that it should be good for this type of race. It was a cool day but certainly not as cold as the St. Petersburg race, tolerable by all means. I got up to Lake Nockamixon early on Saturday morning to make sure I left plenty of time to pick up my registration stuff and get my transition area ready. Once I got my bearing on the course setup, I brought my bike into transition and started setting up. Not really sure what I was supposed to be doing, I watched other people setting their gear up. I chatted with a few people and felt that my bike and everything were good to go. I waited for the pre-race instructions and then got ready to start in the race. This particular race had a first-timers wave so I signed up for that start and was grouped with other first-timers, people over 50, and the Clydesdale division (I think it's anyone over over 225 lbs.). The only downside was that we were the last wave to go off although I think there were only four waves in front of us. The other odd thing I thought was the race was chip-timed but there was no starting mat, just some guy telling us when to go.

I wanted to start the 5K off with a good pace but not get out too quickly. That only lasted for about a half-mile. I was in the back of a pack of 8 runner at the front of our wave. I felt the pace was too slow so I started picking them off one by one. Eventually, I got right up behind the wave leader around the end of the first mile. I could tell he didn't want to give up position as he picked up the pace as I started pushing him. Unfortunately for him, he winded himself out by the end of the second mile and I cruised past him. I kept my pace strong but I also got a little winded with about a half-mile left. For my own confidence sake, I really wanted to be the first person from my wave into the transition. I succeeded in posting the fastest time in my wave with a run of 22:41.

The transition to my bike was smooth but maybe I took my time a little too much (1:16). I got onto the bike course and started out pretty well. The course featured rolling hills so there were some good uphill sections. I have a decent road bike but I could easily see how superior some of the other bikes were as I was being passed by some people as if I was standing still. The back end of the course had a couple big hills that slowed me down as I tired from the biking. My bike time was a much slower time of 59:13, which when compared to others in my wave was 7-8 minutes too slow. I got back into transition and dropped my bike off and got out to start the last run.

The last 5K was a bit of a challenge, especially at the start. Just changing from biking to running takes some time to get used to so I tried to manage my pace until my legs were back into running mode. I know I will have to practice this as I'll be in for the same thing when I do the triathlon. My legs finally caught up to what I wanted them to do and I finished the last 5K run well. I passed several people again and finished in 24:19. After the results were all tallied, I came in third among the first-timers wave. I placed 133 out of 248 people.

My running time was comparable with the finishers ahead of me, but I got killed on my bike time. It's good to know where my strengths and weaknesses so that I can work on areas that need improving. Plus, I'm pretty new to biking so I had some ideas on how to improve my biking for the triathlon. The bottom line on this race was that it was a great learning experience and I felt that I performed well for being a first-timer to a multi-sport event.