DGTri Athlete Report - Simona Carena

1485 No Frills Duathlon – Market Bosworth Water Trust Park

Sunday’s morning was the perfect sunny spring day and any doubts about taking part in the Duathlon were immediately dispelled as I woke up and looked outside the window. I am not a great fan of this type of races for two simple reasons: I get left back from the start, and the second run hurts like hell and feels as fast as running on a treadmill the wrong way round. But I was also curious to see how things might have changed after working with Dermot for over a year, although not specifically on Duathlon.

In the last month I have been still delighted with my progress and result after the half marathon so I found myself very motivated to give it a go. Dermot’s latest training plan included a bit more cycling, an area that we left ticking over in the background during the winter. And cycle more I did in the much improved weather. The race consisted of 5k run in the park, flat and on grass or gravel surface, 21K of slightly undulating country lanes around Market Bosworth and a second helping of 5k on the same course. I was hoping for a time of 1.45, some 20 minutes faster than my last attendance at this race in a cold February a couple of years ago.

The field of participant was over 80 people with both very strong athletes down to first timers. The organization from the 1485 Triathlon Club is second to none, and they seem to be able to stage an awesome quality race at such a small cost. It was great to meet a few friends in the relaxed atmosphere and as the coach did suggest I tried to find a slightly faster athlete to pace me round and get that little bit more out of my legs. I managed to find a friend from a previous club, Gabriella, that I know is an experienced runner that paces well and faster, so we got ready on the start line for the first leg of the event with a specific run target in mind. At the starting gun a hoard of runners sets off around us, but we did not loose our head and soon got in a even steady pace. After 700 mt we start to real in the first to tire out. I felt quite relaxed and efficient, every now and then a bit fatigued but I thought the pace was spot on.

My intention was not to overcook the first run, try for a solid bike spit and avoid having to crawl around on the last leg! By the end of the first run we managed to pass a few more people, and get in transition in a time of 25:38; I have to say that I was very surprised! I quickly shoot out of transition but got stuck in the exit barrier of the park as a large vehicle was blocking the road. As soon as that was out of the way I just saw Gabriella flashing past on her shiny new fast bike (carbon envy or what!!) and I gave chase in the hope to keep in touch and may be benefit from some more pacing the second run. Alas, not today! She was out of sight faster than you can say “bling” and just a few shiny sparkles were left in her wake! What a pleasant surprise to find my legs on the bike within 500 mt. I always have struggled with cycling after running, and generally the first 2-3 miles of a duathlon have always been a big waste of minutes.

It seems that the well structured training has had a positive impact. I was so excited to be able to overtake a bunch of people on the first mile and then a few more later on through the winding lanes. I felt I was tiring out on the last 3 miles. I avoided checking my watch, but I was starting to be a bit unsure of my time as I was not feeling efficient any more. My bike split was 45:36 average of 17.5 mph. I am very happy with that as I know I have much more work to do on the bike, but it is the fastest that I ever went round that course. Transition was quick, for me, 33” and off I went round the lake again. My legs were feeling numb rather than sore and I was more mincing than running for ten minutes before I felt normal again; somehow it must have been a fast mincing as in spite of the feeling a growing sense of discomfort I was just one second slower than the first run. Total time 1:38:01, that beats my last overall time at the same event by over 27 minutes... and is way faster that I expected! I think I am now a converted Duathlete...

Thanks to Dermot! ;-)

1485 Bosworth No Frills Duathlon

Another Positive Result

After Saturday's result at the Ashbourne Duathlon I decided to take part in the 1485 Duathlon, an event I have done already twice and which I really enjoy doing. After cycling to the race venue with Bill - 34miles down the road, it was a matter of setting up transition and do a little bit of running warm up in the hope of finding my running legs as I was really sore from the previous day's efforts.

I wasn't very sure of what I was doing to be fair. I had never raced two successive duathlons and I was quite unsure of what I had to expect. The distances were 5k run - 21k bike - 5k run so plenty of running distance - not good on sore legs! I was certainly looking forward to the 21k time trial as the course suits my strength as its very undulating and there are quite windy sections at times.

So at 10.30 am we set off. I was really worried that after a few minutes of running my legs would just go stiff and it would be a very painful experience, but that never happened. I felt strong all the way posting a 17.48 run split in 6th place, that's 11 faster than in the Elite Duathlon Championships 2 weeks ago. At that time I was think...... WHAT??? Quick transition and off on the bike. I settled quickly into a strong tempo and moved up the field to 2nd position. Legs were feeling good surprisingly. I finished the bike ride, including transition in 34.54.

On the last run I tried catching the guy in front but although I did close the gap I could not get him. I was later overtaken by Chris Jordan, who is a hell of a runner. In the end I had to settle for 3rd place 16sec from 1st place and 2sec from second. Still, I am very pleased with my performance especially since my overall time of 1hr 10mins 52sec is a good 4mins 30sec faster than my personal best time on the course!

So certainly a good weekend of racing, but now am really sore!! Will take a couple of days easy to recover and than start preparing for the BUSC Universities Sprint Triathlon Championships on May 1st.

RESULTS

Dermot

BUCS - British Universities Duathlon Championships

Sunday 21st November 2010

It's been a while since my last blog update. Now I have moved to the UK to do my MSc. Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University. The last couple of months have been quite hard to adapt back to the student life and get back to the books to study, but now am finding my rhythm.

About three weeks ago I took part in the Bosworth Duathlon where I finished 9th overall. Not such a good result considering I have won that event two years ago but a good effort to find my race fitness in preparation for the Univeristies Duathlon Championships. I have managed to train consistentaly in the following weeks averaging 10hrs a week of training. Certainly not my usual load of training but what do you expect when you are doing a Masters??? Not easy to find the time with all the reading you have to do!!!

We left Loughborough University at 8.30am, and it took us 2.5hrs to get to destination. The race consisted of 2Miles run, 10Miles bike, and 2Miles Run on a racing track at Chippenham - a flat course. Our start was due at 2.15pm. Johanna, who was racing for Chester University started at 2pm. This was her first multi sport race in the UK so we were both very excited. We started the first 2Mile run at speeds I have never experienced before. I haven't raced so short for quite a while and this was a big shock to the system. I finished the first run in 11.21, not a bad time considering the limited training I have been doing. On the bike I was expecting much better then the 23.42 split I produced. Unfortunately my bike seat went down and I couldn't push the pace as I wished, but still I managed to recover a few places. I finished my last 2mile run in 11.40 for a total time of 48.22. Overall I came 36th out of 250 starters. Johanna had a very good race. She finished 35th out of 75 starters with a time of 59mins 30sec.

As the first official race of the 2010 - 2011 season it was a reasonably good results. Hopefully I will manage to log in some good hours of training to push my performance to another level.

Back soon!

Dermot

Duathlon UK win on The Hinckley Times

The Hinckley Times (A local UK newspaper) issued an article (13th November) about the Market Bosworth Duathlon I won in October. As you can see from the article above there was also a photo of the start. You can see me in the Blue Ironman cap on the left. Thanks to Bill & Pam for getting me this article!

..................................................................................

Another important updated is my selection together with my brother Keith for the Malta Olympic Committee Awards which are going to be held on the 7th December. This is a big achievement for us to be selected amongst all the athletes in Malta, and it is also a big achievement for Triathlon in Malta to have two athletes in the run-up for an award. Next Sunday we shall know the colour of our award - Bronze, Silver or Gold.

Will keep you posted

Dermot

'Il-Gens' Newspaper Article by Paul Grech

This article appeared on 'Il-Gens', a local newspaper last Saturday. It is a very detailed article in Maltese about my last win at the Bosworth Duathlon in the UK. A big thank you goes to Paul Grech for not only doing this article but looking into doing a complete research by contacting the

organisers.

More Updates to come soon.........

Dermot