Am I du-ing this right?

Once the plane hit the ground back in Texas after the Clermont EDR race it was full blown track season. With my new Elite card in hand confidence was high and I was crushing workouts. Throwing in bike and swim workouts was on an if there was time and my body allowed it basis. Which is hard while posting 115 miles per week. Before I knew it my racing season was underway and had some solid 1500s and a good 5k under my belt. Lone star champs marked the end of track season, a few weeks of triathlon training down in Texas and it was time to come back to Iowa for the summer. I crushed my first week back and decided I should do Hickory Grove Duathlon.
Why a duathlon and not a triathlon you may be asking? Well it was super cold that weekend and I didn't feel my swim was ready honestly. Also after some digging of previous times I decided I wanted the course record. Bold claim for someone who just got back on the bike, but I figured people usually did the triathlon at this race.

5am rolls around and so do my 3 alarm. A few minutes pass and I'm out the door for a shakeout.Starts out a bit rough as most of my shakeouts do. Hip is still sore from track season, but no laps today so once it's warmed up and stretched out I'm ready to roll. I get back and put down my usual cereal, oatmeal, and banana mixed together and partnered with some good ol' toast and peanut butter. I shower, put my race uniform on, and we are out the door to Hickory Grove.

I arrive to a brisk morning breeze and know I made the right choice with the duathlon as the swimmers look freezing. I ride around for a bit to make sure my bike is working, setup transition, and head out on my usual warm up;  2 miles, dynamics, and a bit of tempo. Game time. I've only done 1 other duathlon before so lining up in triathlon suit with my shoes on felt odd for sure. Nonetheless when the gun goes off I take off. I chase after the lead bike on the trail that hugs the lake. Luckily my dad let the biker know that I planned to run fast otherwise I might have caught him off guard as the bike wasn't built for speed that is for sure. It isn't long before I have a gap and we reach the turn around point of the 1500 meter run. I press the pace some more (well as much as I could on fatigued legs from driving back from Texas) and come into transition at 4:39. Satisfied with the time as it was a grass and trail loop for the most part I take off onto the bike.

Run Number one...simple enough!
Even without having to swim before I'm freezing as I take off out of the park. I set into a strong rhythm, and put down an effort that I believe is fast. However, it isn't long before TJ Tollakson passes me on the bike as if I was standing still (they had a 500 m swim so were a bit behind my going onto the bike). I put up chase, but to be honest I only had so much in terms of biking on my legs the last few months and it is noticeable. I put up laps of 13:34,13:36, and 13:38 for my 5 mile splits on the 15 miles bike course. Averaging a mediocre race pace for me of 22mph. I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to be the first person to finish that day, and break the course record, but I believed in my legs.

I rack my bike and take off after TJ who has put several minutes into the run before I started mine. I set out fast because why not? The grass terrain is a bit foreign to me as I just got out of track season, but I find my grounding. Around the 1 mile marker I see TJ and begin to close the gap. It is my turn to blow by him, I speed up as I pass him and tell him "good job" before snap a rubber band between us if there was one. After that it was a matter of just maintaining a strong pace through the fields. My rhythm doesn't break as we traverse one of the most odd triathlon run courses I have encountered. Haven't had my share of XTERRA racing yet haha. My dad finds me in the middle of the gravel roads we found ourselves on and shoots last words of encouragement before sprinting off to the finish line to try and catch me finishing.

Just doing my thing
I cross the line in record time as I planned and in a 16:38 5k over a pretty rough terrain course. I stay around to congratuate the other finishers before the cold gets to me and I go get some clothes on. A cold down to warm up the body before awards was much needed. I end up chatting with Reece Linder one of my Z3 teammates and meet Maeghan Easler (Mags) another teammate of mine and my future training partner for the summer. We all freeze as the winners are announced, and disperse quickly afterwards to the warm vehicles calling our names. This was a small race to kick  off the summer, but a fun one to see where my bike fitness was at. A lot of work ahead of me....

The event winners!

Great photo dad...

Location: Hickory Grove Park, 67464 250th St, Colo, IA 50056, USA

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