This was the second year that Stockton had hosted a Duathlon and the entire of the waterfront was closed for the event as the local council had done a great job of throwing their weight behind the event.
We stayed in a 'Lenny' overnight, and with an 11.00am start time and free parking in Stockton we were able to get to the venue nice and early and there were no warnings for late racking for me today.
It was windy (13mph) and a bit chilly with a threat of rain in the air, so when I did rack my bike I did so with shoes on the floor but under an upturned tri box to keep them dry. I know that I should have them on the bike but I just didn't trust the blinkin' weather ! Following that, there was a bit of warming up before a race briefing and then it was straight out onto the main road for the start !
I tried to judge where I should start and think I got it just about right as I didn't hold anybody up as we were set under way. I remember thinking that I was going very slowly but looked down at my watch to see 6.20 at one point late on in the first mile, so not so slow- no wonder that it felt like such hard work! we were soon at and over the bridge and making our way back across the other side of the River Tees. It felt like back wind here and I really had to dig in to keep consistent. The third mile was really difficult as we had a further bridge to negotiate and I felt done in when I got to transition with a time of 22.05.
I messed around in T1 (0.57) and should have been 20 seconds quicker but was pleased to be out on the bike course for some bike action. This was my part of the race and I loved the feeling of just smashing the bike ! The course was a long one - 25km - however did not suit me as there were so many roundabouts and dead turns to negotiate ! The three laps came and went, and I was only overtaken the once which was pleasing. There was plenty of headwind on the bike today and with that, my time must have suffered and I came back into T2 with a time of 38.26. T2 was quicker (0.44) and then it was time for the second run.....
OMFG ! Where were my legs - having a real go on the bike had meant that I had destroyed them and I was glad that it was only 2.3km for the second run. It was all I could do to put one foot in front of the other over the two bridges and I was so, so glad to negotiate the second and put in a strong finish in the last 200m or so.
That was it, the whole event over in 1.13.06 and I wait now to see if that has got me any closer to qualifying. It felt like an improvement over Clumber but until I see the results I will not know.
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