State Duathlon Championships

I think it was meant to be held at Point Walter originally... but it was changed to John Tonkin Park Reserve, East Fremantle. Anyway, they are both pretty close by.

Distance: 2km run, 30 km bike, 6km run.

The weather was a bit showery and windy. It didn't help that daylight savings started this morning either... so I actually lost an hour of my precious sleep.

6.25 am was the rego... 7.00 am was the start. Darling sacrificed her sleep too... hence, she helped me take some pictures... with my NEW tri-suit...

Ultraman Dua Tria

There were not many participants... I would say, about 50. Guess duathlons are not very popular here... remember the last one that was cancelled?

I started the run quite steadily... although I felt slightly bloated from the Cookies N' Cream Powerbar I had 30 minutes before the race. Maybe next time I should eat earlier.

There was a slight uphill at the end of the turnaround... my watch already showed 5:19. Hopefully I would pick up the pace at the downhill to meet my 9 minute target.

Run lap 1... 10.08... hmm... maybe it is longer than 2km... I'll just accept it at that.

I came in somewhere around the middle pack. Hmm... not as syiok at triathlon... where I'm normally in the front pack in the swim finishing.

Li-Ann caught a butt picture of me coming into transition...

Haiya... looks like got gain weight lah...

As usual, people started overtaking me like nobody's business. The juniors on the short course distance, who started 10 minutes later also smoked me in the very beginning... There were also some leisure cyclists who were riding the same route... and guess what? They overtook me TOO!

It was 6 laps of 5km... originally supposed to be 2 laps of 15km but some parts of the course were too wet and covered with tree branches... so had to be modified. I was happy to maintain at about 30kph average, despite the slight winds, occassional showers and the uphill at the end of each lap. I noted my timing was slightly under 10 minutes per lap... I worked at reducing the times at each lap.

Bike monitor showed 59.48 for 30.35km (average 30.4 kph)...

Li-Ann braved the rain to cheer me at each lap... she also got another picture of me coming into T2. Thanks so much, darling!

All RED...

I fumbled a bit getting the helmet off. My fingers were slightly frost bitten.

Going out on the run... there were already several people finishing the race. Yup, triathlon really more syiok lah. I managed to overtake some people... but there were also quite a few who overtook me. I decided not to eat the Strawberry Banana Powergel since I was still feeling bloated.

1st lap was 10:33. Yup, the jelly legs did get to me a bit. And it got to me slightly more on the 2nd lap... 10:39. My race belt kept on shifting its position... *mental note to myself*- need to tighten it for next race.

Last lap, I picked up the pace a bit but after the turnaround point, I felt some tightness around my left knee. Slowed down slightly... made longer strides... finished in 10.28 to give overall time of 1:42.05 including transition.

Li-Ann got me a cup of hot chocolate for my finishing... she's a real gem, isn't she?

Prize presentation... guess what? I got second place in my age group category!

Well... there were only 3 participants... and the 3rd guy DNF... but hey, I'm still technically 2nd best in the state championship! Don't play play!

The medal ribbon is RED too!

Considering that there were about 50 participants and there were about 20 draw prizes... so the chances were quite high. I got myself an Adidas water bottle.

We went looking for a place to have breakfast around East Fremantle, as it was quite nice by the Canning River. But the restaurants didn't really seem too appealling. And we weren't in the mood for buffet either.

Ended up eating at BookCaffe, Swanbourne. It's a combined bookshop and caffe... how cool is that?

Li-Ann's smoked salmon bagel

My banana milkshake and big breakfast (which wasn't THAT big). Bring on Fast Eddy's!

Overall, quite happy. Good outing... good race and good pak-tor time too!