Dambuster Duathlon

I know its a tiddly liitle thing by the standards of some of you lot, but it'll be the furthest I've ever raced - anyone else doing it?

Comments

  • If it was closer I would.sounds like a great event.....hope you enjoy it image

  • I am -  although I think I will be bringing up the rear - think there will be lots of fast people there wanting to qualify. I have been assured that normal people like will be there thoughimage

  • did it last year - good race but too cold for me on the bike - running events only for me until late april  image

    length of the race is nothing to take lightly - you go hard on the run, harder on the bike then flat out on the run again - i got a 10k PB last year image

     

  • oh, I am not doing the duathlon - I am doing the dambuster tri. D'oh - need to read more carefullyimage

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭
    I'm in. Rutland Water looks pretty.
  • Doner - noted on the cold - I'll need to watch for that! Thanks for warning.

    Mathschick - I saw it was a qualifier for just about everything this year - one reason why I didn'ty try and enter. The other is that I've never swum 1500m in open water, which puts me at a disadvantage!

  • tfktfk ✭✭✭

    i did it a couple of years back. nice area. flat run and undulating bike. still the std distance is 2 hours + for most people...more than a walk in the park. also i think it is this years national champs so the AG Kings will be in there as well....a good event to see how you compare.

  • Talking of Age group deities........ I shall be making an appearance and signing autographs  ;-)

  • I will be honoured to bow at your feet, my lord...

  • well you may have to wait for me at the finish.........  and no chucking up on me plimmies   image

  • hehe, I know how I will compare to the AG kings at the dambuster tri. But a friend and I are doing it, should be good fun.

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    This could become an expensive ambition but I'm hoping to get a World or Euro AG qualifier out of this.  At least the GB tri/gimp suits have come down to a reasonable price.  image

  • Good luck with that! My aspirations are a little more modest - like actually finishing the thing upright, particularly if its anything like as cold then as it is round here at the moment!

  • ooooh, exciting PhilPub. I actually know three people who qualified and went to Aukland this year (tri not duathlon). One of them has her sights on Dambuster Tri and qualifying again.

    paperman, like you, my aspirations are to finish and enjoy. Times just aren't important to me (although it is nice to see improvements but I haven't done Dambuster before)

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Cheers all!  I'd like to pretend I'm double-hard but I too will be hoping for pleasant weather. I can manage running in the cold but cycling, let alone transition pfaffing, is another matter.  By all accounts the weather for the Winter Ballbuster in November was relatively tame but I was bliddy freezing at the start of that... Also I see that both the guys who beat me in the V40 category there are signed up for Dambuster.  Best get my cycling form looking respectable.

  • Phil dont forget to register the fact with the BTF that you are intending to try to qualify..... they do like like thetre money's worth from you

  • I'm in, the run is short for both, so PBs don't countimage

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Plum - Thanks for the reminder.  Does anyone know when we're likely to hear about the Euro age-category duathlon, and if indeed there will be one?

    SARQ - I'm glad you said that.  I thought some of the run times looked a bit tasty!  image

  • Being the event that I'm using to move up from sprint distance to Olympic, I'm not going to complain if its a nudge shorter. Just hope Racetime Events can't hear you...

  • Unsure about the std dist ETU champs. I've thrown my ??10 in the hat for the ETU sprint du.



    Plum has already qualified for Aged group!
  • How did you get on guys?

    FWIW there is no standard distance ETU champs this year, so I hope you were fast today Phil.

     

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Well I did NOT enjoy that weather, but I think I did OK.  Thought I might finish a bit higher up the age rankings but in hindsight, the field was very strong, and to be fair I didn't really know what to expect beyond stalking previous results, cos I've never done a duathlon at this level before.

    Time: 2:04:40, 51st overall, 11th 40-44 (Winning 40-44 time + 6%! image)

    Full report in the Middle Ground training thread

  • well done PP, i did it last year and can vouch that it gets bloody cold down that A47, mind you i didnt do quite as well as you, (2:28) but enjoyed my first dualthlon anyway. Also did the dambuster tri - again the swim was cut short because of the chop and cold, excellent course but too early in the year to be 'nice'

  • Well done Phil and DK.

    Nice report. I see you've mentioned The Chef; is that Alan Murchison? He blasted the Althorp Worlds/Euro du qualifier the weekend before. I've seen him guest at our local XC league once or twice. I'll also be racing with him at the ETU sprint du champs.

    Racing at a Worlds qualifier is an experience. Expecially when you have stalked results from other races and see how much people were holding back!

    I did a warm-up race at Dorney a month or so ago, and did the whole lot in a set of cheap Karrimor running gloves - easily warm enough for the run and bike. Socks are a must for these weathers too.

    Ottawa is a fair distance away, so you may find that you get a roll down place. I missed out on the 115% at Althorp as the overall winner was a 35-39 and the course record fell by about 3 minutes!

    Congrats again - I think you may get taken by the DU bug.

     

     

  • PapermanPaperman ✭✭✭

    2;37 iun my first Olympic - fairly happy with that. If I can stop myself cramping on the bike (left leg) and getting  a massive stitch on the 5K run, that time should get better. Fun, and although the weather was cold it was a lot better than the forecast (and a lot better than Sunday!)

  • PapermanPaperman ✭✭✭

    Just written up some after-race comments for my tri club, and I thought I'd post them here - may be of some use to other newbies. Those who do this sort of thing a lot, feel free to skip this one!

    Preparation - was very worried about weather - I don't do cold that well. Went for the "safe but long transition option" of long top, tri shorts under running tights, and then swapped jackets between the run and the bike, and back again afterwards. Gloves on the bike but not for running. It all worked - other than the first 2K of the run, I was fine for temperature the entire morning.

    First run - I was busy saying to myself "take it slow". I'd never done a 10K and straight onto the bike before. However, Garmin kept beeping at me saying I was doing 4:30 Ks, which was way too fast. Trouble is, there kept being people I thought I could just catch. Got back in under 46 minutes - 10K PB for me. So much for planning!

    Bike - I'd practiced the circuit, which helped a lot. Manton and Preston hills turned into a procession, and actually went up them slower than I'd done in practice - there was no space to overtake, and you just had to be patient. Once we'd hit the A47 roundabout, I knew I had about 10miles of clear road with no hills in front of me - down on the drops, get a 2 on the speedo, time to make hay. Until my left leg started cramping. Which I could have solved with the electrolyte drink that I'd decided not to bring because I'd never needed it on any of my practice rides - I'd been fine with just the energy drink. However, on my practice rides I hadn't done 10K of running before I started. It's obvious in hindsight! Ended up being careful of that leg with regular stretching round the entire second half of the bike, which I could have done without. Was very pleased to get up Ketton hill without it tightening on me, and then round and back into transition. Definitely slowed me, though.

    Second run - passed Paul doing his marshalling bit on the way out of transition, which was great - friendly face! Cramp vanished immediately, which was another good thing. However, I'd got about 400 metres in before getting a slow build up of the most painful stitch I've had in years. Was trying to deal with it any way I knew, but getting nowhere - ended up stopping at least three times on the run to try and release it a bit. It finally vanished about 500m from the finish, although looking at the finish photo it certainly hadn't gone completely. Could have gone way faster on that final run - energy was fine, legs were fine, just couldn't shake that stitch.

    Conclusions - great fun. Because it was the biggest event I'd done, I put time into the planning, and most of it - kit and bike route - came off. Time sacrificed in transition was made back in being comfortable on bike and 2nd run, so that was worth it. Need to sort my cramping problems out, and be a bit luckier on not getting a stitch on the run. Pleased with overall time - was better than I expected.

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Cheers guys!  Paperman - good work fella!  And nice report.  Never mind newbies... "Gloves on the bike but not for running."  Hmmm, yeah!  The silly thing is I was wearing my big old lobster mitts for the first run, but I really managed to convince myself that I wouldn't need them for the bike.  Ho hum, you live and learn!

    Cat - Yeah, I didn't have any illusions that I'd keep up with AM but he was my only yardstick, since he was first V40 to my third at the Ballbuster in November.

    I'll be keeping an eye on World qualifying slots then.  Of 15 registered so far I beat 5 on Saturday, so that's probably in my favour.  Unfortunately the final decision may come down to money.  I wonder if Planet X want to sponsor me?  I have bought two of their bikes!  image

  • I had a mare of a day..... can make excuses all day but I was crap, Felt like I was running in tar and cycling uphill all the way. Too many/not enough clothes, no nutrition taken on at all for the whole 3 hours didnt help but just couldnt face anything.  Maybe a visit to the docs is in order to see what is hanging around making me this lethargic. Never mind my brain persuaded my body not to quit and I wasnt last. 

    Enjoyed it though in a wierd sort of way and not having any pressure as hadnt botheed to register for qualification, as knew I was way off the pace well before hand, made the day much more palatable. 

    It is a rough old bike course even though it doesnt look hilly on paper it is pretty constant and the wind will get you somewhere out there. Done it a few times at various events and it never gets better

    Well done for all who dragged their asses round, onwards and sideways

  • As for distances the first run I had down as 10k and the bike was around 42 but the second run seemed short...  either that or I suddenly found a second wind from somewhere which I seriously doubt  image

  • PhilPubPhilPub ✭✭✭

    Plum - well toughed out. Grim, weren't it!  Just to confirm your suspicions, I made the 10k almost spot-on but the second run was just 4.32km.  Not even close!  (But if people want to scan the result and believe I managed to run a 4 second 5k PB, that's also fine!)

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