Any duathlon advice?
Nutty,
Enjoy, and welcome to the Dark Side.
Just don't be afraid to run twice!
Seriously, take the first run a little easier, don't try and set a PR on the first leg.
Good Luck,
Darrell "Legs 'n Lungs" Lenkner
in West Chester, Oh.
Check here for Images of us.
I'm doing one next weekend. Although mine is even shorter.
Don't wear a wetsuit on the first run leg...there will be no water.
I've only done 1 du and it was hard holding back on the first run since usually once I'm away on my feet I'm heading to the finish so I want to push. Be sure to keep the bike in mind throughout the first run leg and don't kill yourself there like greyhound said. GL
Hey Nutty! I suggest what I always do at Du's...start slow...and taper off! ;)
Du's are great, usually no punching or kicking at the start...but I think they are harder than tri's.
Like the Greyhound...take the 1st run easier than you might normally and remember that the back side run will feel harder than the first, even though you might be going slower.
Best of luck and let us know how it goes...
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://agingsuperhero.blogspot.com
I actually just did my first du yesterday in the Bronx (2.8 run, 20 bike, 2.8 run). Before the race I would have said I agree with everyone above about holding back, but I spoke to a super experienced marathoner/tri-guy I know last week and he actually told me not to be too scared to push it on the first run. Granted I wasn't trying to PR or anything before T1, but I wasn't holding back that much and was running between my best 5k & 10k paces.
I suppose you might want to hold back a little more if the bike course is hilly, but I did not have any problems getting into a groove on the bike portion despite my pace on the first run.
When I got off the bike my hamstrings were on fire, but within the first mile the rest of my legs were back to normal and I was able to ignore my hamstrings for the most part for the rest of the race. Make sure you increase your cadence a little via shifting to an easier gear in the last mile of the bike to get your legs warmed up for the run. I have also heard that some people like to stand up out of the saddle to stretch out your legs, but I did not try that.
I'm no Du-pro, but I'm just letting you know what I did on the first run...which didn't end up hurting me in the end.
Good luck!
As everyone has said, try to hold back a little on the first run. You don't want to jog the first run either, but just don't be on the verge of puking after the first run and you should be ok. After the bike, you legs will feel dead, but they have gotten a little break from being on the bike and you will feel like you are running at about half your normal running pace, even more so than in a tri when you are first off the bike, you will be fine and will see you are actually moving along at close to your normal running pace. Have fun out there.
My only advice is to wear socks, and you might even want to wear cycling gloves for the whole race just to make the bike that much more comfortable. That's a huge advantage of duathlons is that you don't have to swim, so you can dress for success without wasting precious transition time.
"The melting point of wax means nothing to me": Thrice
Thanks for the advice guys. It's looking like this weekends race wont happen. The girlfriend is graduating from college and the race will be at the same time as the ceremony. The advice will be used though, i definitely want to try a du (hehe) this year since the swim is by far my weak point. Just gotta find one thats a little more convenient.
-Alan
My fancy new blogitty blog.
http://therunningfridge.blogspot.com/
Looks like I'll be doing a du in July with my girlfriend. She watched the race sunday and now she wants in.
Another one comes to the dark side ;-)








Im thinking about doing a short(5k, 20k, 5k) duathlon next weekend. It will be my first event sans-swim. Any advice from people who've done them?
-Alan
My fancy new blogitty blog.
http://therunningfridge.blogspot.com/