Hel of a Du

On Saturday, i headed down to San Antonio with my buddy Chance to race the Hel of a Duathlon. The race was extremely difficult hence the name. The course was 3.8 mile run/25mile bike, 3.8mile run. The Course was very hilly and challenging and with a windy forecast i knew it was going to be tough. I had a good week of training, hitting it pretty good all the way up to the race, because i wasnt expecting there to be too much competition. I was surprised when they offered comp entry's to a bunch of good duathletes and cat 1 cyclists to try and make the race fast. Well i traveled all this way so in the end i was happy with them bringing in fast athletes. I should have known better that a town of 1million and a near town of Austin many athletes were going to come.

It was quite the experience. A 4.5 hour drive turned into a 9hour arrival time. With the Big 12 game between OU and Missouri being held in San Antonio traffic was a mess with everyone heading south. Not to mention we hit Friday rush hour traffic going through Austin on 35South.

With a good early start i was a little tired getting out of bed after the drive but i quickly woke up. My strategy of the race was to run 5min mile pace for the first run and hope no one went with me. I took it out hard and one other runner came with me, i tried to surge a few times, but the last mile of the run was ridiculously hilly and my plan sort of worked against me. Me and the overall leader separated ourselves from everyone and came in to T1 together. I had a quick transition and was out on the bike in first leading for a little while. The whole 40k i was being blown everywhere with my choice of a race wheels i used. I rode at a good hard pace, but eventually late in the bike course the guy i was running with took over. I faded a little bit in the wind and the hills but came into T2 probably 1minute down. Going out on the second run i had a few stomach issues and i felt like laying on the side of the road and curling up in a ball. I ran okay but it was a tough race, i ended up finishing second 16seconds behind from the leader. I could have won the race but i ran the last mile extremely slow. I am sure if my race suit didn't have a zipper in the back i would have pulled over to have a quick bathroom stop. But i toughed it out biting my lip. IT was a great scenic course and a fun off season race to do. Next year i will take it a little more seriously with my preparation and race strategy, if i decide to go through that hel of a du experience again.

The way home there where even more stories than the way down. Besides the pain my legs were in it was a great trip.
Not much else to chat about, i am happy to say that i got a Sponsorship from CompuTrainer on Friday i am excited to start training with that system this winter and improve my cycling. Not too much going on this week a little bit of running and a very fast half marathon on the weekend in Dallas. I am getting excited to go back to Canada for some down time and Christmas festivities. However it was 80 here yesterday and i rode in shorts so i am not looking forward to seeing the cold and snow.
Cheers