A Journey of a 1000 miles starts with a single step

Chilly Duathlon Castle Coombe - Nov 2006

My intention was to improve on my time from the September Mid-week duathlon if I could, but certainly faster than the last time I did the 'Chilly' in 2005

Nice and clear after rain overnight held promise of a good day out. I did not cycle there, which I had done for the 2 summer ones that I had done, saving my energies for the race.
I met up with a friend, Chris, who was also taking part. He had a cold and had not done any training since cycling halfway back from China in September. He was also using his cycle back from China bike
He was a faster runner than me, but I thought I had a good chance of catching him on the cycling.
I kept Chris in sight for the first mile or so around the perimeter of the circuit, and he had left the transition area before I got there at the end of the first run.

Finishing the first run

For the first 3 laps around the circuit I kept passing and repassing someone with Chippenham Wheelers top,

Going down the straight in an early lap

but he pulled away from me over the last 2 laps.
I left my bike on the smaller chainring which was probably a mistake, I thought that changing to the large one might cost bit of speed/time. In retrospect I would have made up any time quite easily because on the slight downhill stretch past the starting area I was pedaling at a ridiculously fast cadence.

Silhouetted on the straight

I was not sure if I had managed to pass Chris on the bike, I thought I might have done
I started off on the last run lap with legs feeling more jelly like than I remembered from previous times, the wind must have made more difference than I thought.
I set off in pursuit of any runners I could catch and did pass a few before the now familiar sight of the Chippenham Wheelers top came into view. I eventually caught up and passed him to finish a few seconds in front.
The time shown at the finish was 57:20 as I crossed the line, which I was disappointed with because I had failed to improve on either of my summer midweek duathlons but I had been faster than my 2005 'Chilly' Duathlon.

Finishing the race

Chris had finishd in 54:??. So the bike I passed was not him and he stayed in front of me for the whole course.
I still believe that the area I can make the most improvement in is the cycling, so with this in mind I'll be taking my bike into work for lunchtime rides.
There is another duathlon in March at Castle Coombe, so we'll have to see how effective my cycle training is.