Training for my First Duathlon

Two years ago, I started running and now I call myself a runner. Less than one year ago, I started road cycling, and now I call myself a cyclist. The next logical step is to do both sports I love in a single race.

Last fall, I was toying with the idea of adding swimming to the mix, and go for the trifecta that is swimming, cycling, and running. I had plans to buy a membership to my local aquatic center and pick up the third sport, my nemesis, swimming. But of course, that hasn't happened (yet!), so I am sticking with running and cycling for now. Triathlon will probably be in the cards, but this year isn't the year for it. And I'm okay with that.

I started looking for multi-sport races to register for this spring. Since I will be riding across the country all summer with the 4K for Cancer, I only have until the end of May to race. There are limited options, and although I prefer a longer distance race, I decided to register for the Hagerstown Sprint Duathlon on April 12.

The race is a 2 mile run, 10 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. It's a small field with about 150 participants, and so far, only two other females in my age group (21-24). The training I'm doing for this race works well with my 10K training with some biking thrown in.

Here's a rough idea of my weekly training plan:

• Two speed workouts (interval and tempo)
• a long run
• At least two bike rides/workouts 

I have four more weeks left to train, and I'm excited to do my first multi-sport event!

Have you ever done a multisport event?

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I Rocked St. Louis!

I ran my first half marathon, the St. Louis Rock n' Roll, last Sunday, October 21st, and I rocked it! I had so much fun and I felt amazing!

So when I first signed up for this race back in June, I registered with my friend and we were going to run it together.At the time, I had no expectations for myself, I just wanted to finish. I started getting into running after I registered, and started training pretty consistently throughout the summer. I definitely saw myself improving, getting more fit, and running faster. At the peak of my training, I was running about 12 mile long runs at a pace well under 9:30 minute/mile. At that point, I realized I could run this thing in under 2 hours, and I was determined to do it! However, my friend was running a lot slower than me, so I was torn between running with her, or trying for my best time.

However, things get in the way of training. Such as school, midterms, getting sick. Two weeks before the race, I didn't train at all. I didn't even put on my running shoes or go for a walk or anything. Come race day, I was nervous about not having run at all in the past two weeks. I decided to stick with my friend, to take it easy.

Milling about in the corals before the race 

Waiting for the race to start. We were both nervous and excited!

Crossing the starting line, I was bursting with energy, and I just wanted to run as fast as I could. My friend helped me pace, and we got into a good pace. It was very easy, and felt almost effortless, and we gradually picked up speed. About halfway through, my friend was getting tired and started slowing down. I still wanted to stay with her, so I slowed down as well, even though I wanted to run even faster. By mile 11, I knew I wanted to put in all my effort by the time I crossed the finish line, so I decided to run ahead and meet my friend at the finish. I wasn't tired at all, since we ran at such an easy pace, and I zoomed ahead. I really booked it the last few miles, and really gave it my all in the last stretch. I sprinted across the finish line and it was the best feeling in the world!

I ran so fast that my friend couldn't get a picture of me in time. I'm in the very right corner crossing the finish line.

Although I didn't make my goal of sub-2hrs, I had a great time and have no regrets. Okay, maybe a little, since I knew that I could have gotten a lot better time than 2:14. However, I don't want to let numbers get in the way of just having fun and running my first half marathon with my friend. I don't want this sport to become so serious that I lose sight of the important things.

We both did it! 

After running my first race (ever!), I am hooked! I want to do another half, so I signed up for the GO! St. Louis half in the spring. I am excited for it, and will definitely try my best to achieve my sub-2hr goal.

Edit: I was looking at my previous posts, and in my very first post, I listed two goals that I kind of forgot about: 1) make it across the finish line on my own power, and 2) cross the finish line with out puking, passing out, or making a fool of myself.
I did both, so mission accomplished :)

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