I know it's been a while since last posting, I did want to write after the second duathlon but I was just too busy. I know I say that all the time, but I think we are reaching new levels of insanity. I can't wait for school to be over. Just a few more weeks, some more essays and tests, fun stuff in between, and I'll finally be done! Last weekend I actually took a bit of a break from life, heading out to a couple cottages to spend time with friends. It was awesome.
Anyways, for the second duathlon I had some different competition. The two women that had beat me last time were not there, but Ashlyn was. We are often pretty close in practice, and a race can go either way between the two of us. However, she took off right from the start and I hate going out that fast. It doesn't work for me and I usually feel stronger running off the bike. So I tried to keep her within my sights but not get carried away with the pace. My transition was solid and I think I closed the gap a bit. It wasn't huge to beign with, and I slowly caught up to Ashlyn on the bike. About halfway through the loop of the park I finally was close enough to her and I decided to try to pass. Unfortunately we both kept getting stuck behind other people and could do nothing but leapfrog each other back and forth. This was because there was a group of about 6 or 7 riders in front that were so close to each other it was for sure counted as drafting. Come on, this is age group, get off people's wheels! This was frustrating to both of us because as we would pass the other person we didn't have enough to actually get around all those other people who were drafting and would be forced to drop back a bit. Then the other of us would try passing. Repeat. Frustrating, but at least it kept us pushing each other a bit I guess. Once off the bike, Ashlyn got away and I could not pull off a fast enough run to stay with her. I finished about 20 seconds behind her, although still faster that the first week's race. Here's the link to the second week's results:
http://triathlon.mb.ca/admin/images/Seasons/RaceResults/rr_2012_BirdsHillDu2.pdf
For the third duathlon, I learned a bit more about myself and the importance of shifting my attitude. On the way out to the park I was in a bad mood, stressed out and tired. Even though I knew I had to, I really didn't feel like racing. I wandered around before the race, chatting with people, but my head was not in the right place to be racing. I was so negative about everything. I was kind of hoping Ashlyn wouldn't be there and I wouldn't have to try as hard. It turns out she was hoping for a similar thing. She was ready to give a good effort, but would be very happy if I wasn't feeling great that day, therefore not forcing her to work as hard to try to win the race either. I'm not sure what caused the change, whether it was hearing her say those things or seeing her in her yellow Manitoba race suit from the Games, all ready to go. I wasn't planning on wearing the suit but I had it in the car. All of a sudden I said screw it, I'm putting on my suit too and fully going for it today. And I did. I think I may have made her a bit mad at the time, which is understandable, but I'm glad we're such good friends we can still have friendly competition. She wasn't super excited about my change in attitude or my change in race clothing, but we were both able to give solid efforts in the end. Once again she started out hard and I didn't know if I could hold that pace, but I did. We came into transition together and I made it out first, trying to get away on the bike. I knew she was keeping me in her sights, but I tried not to look back and focused on my own pace. The woman from the first race is quite strong and once again caught me on the bike. I knew it would help if I could hold on to her pace for as long as possible, so for the remainder of the lap I used the "invisible bungee cord technique" again, staying just a draft zone or two behind. It worked and I came into transition not far behind her. As I was leaving transition, Ashlyn was entering and I was hoping if I could just hold a solid pace I could continue to hold her off with the lead I had built. I succeeded in this, as well as passing the other woman. I'm not sure if she wasn't feeling good or something, but on the hills still pretty early on I caught her and she didn't respond again. It was kind of fun knowing I was leading the race, for the women at least. It brought back memories of the first cross country race I won, the zone championships on the same course. But I was still scared of either of them catching me so I forced myself to go hard right until the end. I also always try to beat as many men as possible, to continue pushing myself. Wow, on the way to the race I never would have expected I could do that. It was just a change in suit, a change in attitude. The most important thing I got out of this race is knowing I have the ability to do that. I know I won't always feel awesome going into my races, but I need to still pull it off when it really counts. This was good pratice for that. Despite stronger winds I also got a PB for the course because my runs were both better than usual. Results for the third race can be found here:
http://triathlon.mb.ca/admin/images/Seasons/RaceResults/rr_2012_BirdsHillDu3.pdf
This is kind of unrelated, but also a confidence booster: The energy 106 radio station truck has been at the races and this week Frankie Hollywood came out and did the race. If you don't listen to that station, that's probably a good thing. I'm not sure why I do, but he's the morning talk show guy and I find him quite annoying. Apparently my dad saw him but I didn't. The next morning I woke up to my radio alarm to hear him talking: "Have you ever tried something that you thought would be easy but ended up being frickin hard? Yesterday I did my first duathlon. It was a 2km run, a 13km bike, and a 2km run. It took me like and hour and one minute to complete it!" That's right, crushed him by 20 minutes. Haha. I know I shouldn't care but I do. Just thought that was kind of a funny story. Hope no one is too offended. I just realized this comes up pretty easily in a google search. Sorry Frankie. Oh well, that's all for this week.
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