Another 'Personal Best'

Well it is nice to report a personal best (PB), especially as I am not getting any younger and they are certainly becoming harder to come by.

On Easter Monday I was up early to compete in the Club's long duathlon event, quite a tough one - 10km run, 40km bike, 5 km run.

I wasn't planning on a long taper beforehand but my training at the end of last week didn't come together as exactly planned so I did get a good 2-3 days of light to no execise leading up to the race.

Some of the seasoned racers were absent but there were still a number of competitors that I knew would be faster than me, especially some of the younger Club stars.

I tried to keep the first 10km run at a steady pace, just ensuring 1-2 of the faster runners were in my site. My 10km time was 43:00, which I was generally happy with. T1 was not lightening fast but there were no problems in jumping on my TT bike for the 40km circuit.

I knew who I had to pass and who to stay ahead of. The bike pretty much went to plan and I moved up to 4th place
(well 5th if you include the team that was sharing the 3 disciplines). I felt relatively strong but was unsure if I was ahead of my previous 40km bike best
(for this course) and below 1:10. I later learnt my bike and transition (T1) came in at 1:09:34 - not too shabby!

My T2 was faster than normal and I shot off for the final 5km run. There was a young boy, who was part of the team racers (each doing one leg each), just ahead. His fresh legs helped me to keep a good pace as I managed to run alongside him for the majority of the 5km. At the end he put in a sprint and although I countered I was happy to give him the victory for that single leg.

T2 and the final 5km took 23:46 giving me an overall time of 2:16:20 and approx. 3-4 mins off my previous best.

I felt strong and even that there was a little left in the tank, suggesting some fine-tuning was needed on my pacing to improve yet futher.

With a PB in the bag it has renewed my interest in racing and over the last few days I have been revewing a number of events, which may be going into my diary - details to follow.