Yesterday (Sunday 15 September) I completed Challenge 9 - the London Duathlon!
This was probably the only event where I knew what to expect as I took part in the event last year. The only difference this time were the weather conditions.
Last year it was probably one of the hottest days of the year with temperatures around 30c, yesterday, although it was a beautiful morning, temperatures struggled to get in to double figures and then there was the strong wind which happened to be mainly going in to you regardless where you were on the course.
Despite that I managed to beat my time from last year by just over a minute which doesn't sound much but given the fact that Mo Farah and Jonny Brownlee were both beaten yesterday by a second a minute is quite a lot in these events.
Although I wasn't due to start until 10:30, I set off from home about 6am, so another early start while the rest of the house slept.
I got to Richmond just before 8 and had a 25 minute walk through Richmond park to the events village.
The advantage of getting there early meant I could get my bike racked up and I could visit the toilets at least half a dozen times before the start.
As the clock ticked down towards 10:30 the number of people congregating by the start pens grew, they let us through about 15 minutes before the start and I was lucky enough to be in the first 25 to go.
I say lucky, it was not that lucky when you realise that the people passing you in the first few miles were actually in the groups that started after you!
Anyway I set off in to the head wind which was pretty grim. The route was pretty simple a 10km loop (red line) of the park followed by 4x11km loops(blue line) on the bike than a cheeky little 5km loop(green line) to finish.
After about 5km on the first running loop I finally had the wind behind me which certainly helped to recoup some of the time I lost running into the wind.
I reached the first transition and felt ok, I had a quick change into my helmet, cycle shoes and ate some jelly beans, then it was out to cycle 44km.
Now doing the event last year has some advantages but I was also able to remember the steep climb that I had to do not once but 4 times!
You would of thought that taking on the Welsh hills and the Pennines would have helped me but no I still struggled up the hill!
Fortunately the last section of the cycle route was both downhill and with the wind behind us, which meant you had just enough time to recover before taking on the hill and wind again!
I finished the cycle section about a minute slower than last year but the difference this time was that my legs felt ok and not like they were going to cramp up.
So I racked my bike, changed back into my trainers, took on more fluid and jelly beans and I set off for the last leg and the cheeky 5km.
I had the usual jelly leg feeling associated with changing from cycling to running but this cleared just in time to take on a hill less than 1km in to the run.
Unlike last year I actually got stronger as the run went on and I was able to kick on up to the finish line.
The 5km run was actually just over 3 minutes quicker than my time last year and only 4 minutes slower than my PB for the distance.
It's amazing the difference a year makes as although I was only a minute quicker, I was able to walk away straight after I finished back to my kit, where last year I felt like collapsing in a heap!
So that is it I am now a Duathlete!
Richmond park is a beautiful setting for an event like this and it's great to see loads of deer roaming freely as you run or cycle by.
There were a few lucky escapes with some rogue deer running across the road, however fortunately there was no sign of Fenton! (Check out YouTube Jesus Christ in Richmond Park: Original upload - Brilliant)!
With the bike now being tucked up for the winter there is now only 3 events between me and completing the whole challenge!
Snowdonia Marathon, Winter 100 run and 42miles on a rowing machine!
Bring it on!
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