Minneapolis Duathlon

This past Sunday was the Mpls Duathlon and while we have not spent much time on our bikes lately, I think it went fairly well.   It was not an "A" race for me by any means, more just doing it for fun and for the bling, but I think in the end my results came out ok.

I was surprised how many friends were racing too that I haven't seen in awhile so it was great running into familiar faces before, during and after the race!

My first run went ok.  I was trying to keep a decent pace without going all out.  The sun was up so not much heat on this one and the course was pretty much flat.   We got to run across the Stone Arch Bridge which I always enjoy :) Then there was an out and back section that felt like it took forever to reach the turn-around for.  I caught up to Mark's brother Michael too at the water stop.   He has been battling a crappy injury but I give him serious credit for still getting out there and completing the course.  I did get a quick wave in to our friend Steve near transition and he got a picture. 

I look happy to be done with this run :)

The bike was...well how has biking been for me lately (ca-rrapy!)  Although I think most of my problems during this race were about the course.  I pretty much vowed never to do this race again until they either changed the route or fixed the river road.  It was nothing but potholes and bumps for over half the course.  I could rarely feel safe down in aero position and all the rattling was making my arms, back and butt hurt.  I pretty much gave up any type of hard push for an average pace and just wanted to survive the race without breaking myself, my bike or getting a flat.  I was entertained though as Michael caught back up to me and we leap frogged a few times during the second half of the leg.

Steve did get another good picture of me on the bike.  Minus my snarling face :-P

I was very happy to be off on my feet although it was no impressive pace.  Plus it was getting really hot!  Same exact course as the first 5k.  After about the first mile I told myself "ok you are doing this for fun but you are hurting at this pace....why don't you just enjoy this a bit more and slow the F- down?!?"  So I did pull up a bit in my pace for about a mile or so.  When I was within the last mile I did crank it up a touch again and ended with what I'll call an ok min/mile.

My friend Jon got this one of me maybe a mile-ish from the finish line

All in all, a fun race and the free champagne and cake at Vincent's was a big plus!

So that concluded our multi-sport season for 2010 and now it's all about being on our feet.  3 months until the wedding marathon!   Birkie half and Monster Half are looking to get on to our schedules for sure plus we would like to do either the Twin Cities 5k or 10k just to work towards saying we've done all of the distances in this event.  We've both done the full and the 10 mile.   Lack of money for race fees will likely keep us from many more actual races between now and then.

The exact 3 month mark is Sept 5th (4 days from now) and we both have been feeling flabby and fat again so we are creating another 3 month diet fix plan to get us back on track and deduct a few pounds.   Initially a daily allowance of 1200 calories + calories spent in exercise.  With the marathon training we would be killing ourselves and likely deficient in calories for they day if we didn't allow ourselves to eat what we expended.  I would also like to try to reduce the amount of carbs we intake but that might be tough.  Seriously...I'm Italian, I live for bread and pasta!

Wish me luck :)

Anyone else running any fun races in the Midwest between now and December?