Today, I’ve upgraded my status. No, not the Single/in relationship sort, but have turned from a marathoner to Duathlete!
There’s a series of duathlon races being put up for the 3-week back-to-back weekend. Only short courses category is available, and mainly targeted for the university students. I’ve picked one of the races and signed up for the open group category, mainly to gain some experience in a multi-sport event.
Today’s race is at University Putra Malaysia, Serdang. As I couldn’t make it to collect the race pack yesterday, I have to be there extra early just to pick it up before i could join the race.
Little did I know, I was probably one of the first few who arrived. I picked up my race pack without any confusing procedure, and proceed to check-in my bike at the transition area.
As the race would only start at 9am, the crowd only make their way in by about 8am. By then, I have had a little nap at one corner just to make it up for my lack of sleep.
I did some warm up just to make sure I really wake up from the sleepiness. Then we’re asked to get behind the starting line for a quick briefing and get ready to start. The Sun was up and the sky was clear…. I had the feeling that it’s gonna be a hot race.
The first run was alright. It wasn’t a big race, so i didn’t need to negotiate through the crowd within the pack. The route led to a remote trail with lots of trees cover as shades so it wasn’t to hot after all.
It was an easy run for me and I was still able to smile my way to the transition area. Then came the tricky part. I had to take off my running shoes and switch to my cycling shoes, then swap my cap with the helmet on, and put on the glove to minimise impact on my hands. I think all these have wasted me some time and took me a little while to get out from the transition area.
The cycling route wasn’t too bad. Although it’s not as shaded as the run route, there’re well balance number of hill climbs and downhills. The organiser label it as route with rolling hills. Thanks to my consistency in attending RPM classes, I didn’t find it very tough for the cycling part, except for the final hill before coming back into the transition area, where the hill climb seems to be forever.
And again, because of the shoe changing, it took me another while to come out from the transition area for my final run. by then, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, so did my body’s temperature. I pour a cup of water from the drink station as I was coming out from the transition area and dash out for an all-out run.
…. well, at least I tried to go all out. It was no joke for my body as after transitioning from cycling to running, i found that my heart rate was at exceptionally fast. I had to slow down my pace slightly to let my heart rate recover to a manageable pace. All my mind could think of was to pay attention to the pounding of my legs, my breathing, and my heart beat, all the way to the end.
A total time of about 1 hour to finish a 3km run – 13km bike – 3km run for the very first time. I’m not sure if this is a good timing, but I’m glad that I’ve completed it strong and now being recognised as a duathlete!
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