Adelaide OTU Duathlon Championships

I was really excited to have a home town race. It was set with (Adelaide Oval) as the back drop. The race featured the new foot bridge and the challenging Monteforie hill. 

It was a late start for us, 12pm. So I was able to wake up at 7am eat breakfast and head into town for a second breakfast at Sean's Kitchen. Check it out if you are in town, all class.

Race check-in commenced at around 10am. It was a serious matter. I forgot all the ITU checks. First race suit photo, then seat position check, tri bar check, bar end check, wheel depth and brand check etc. For the record Matty White and I owe Tom Currie a BIG THANKS for the ITU compliant tri suits. I was ok with wearing an SA suit, albeit a boys suit that was a bit big.

After a course familiarization lap, I really did realize the damage the hill could do and reminded myself of my race plan. I have been focusing on getting quicker at the running in the past 4 weeks, not to run a faster first run, but to run the first run more controlled and attack the bike.

Lining up as Ma and Pa Currie (literally as we were vastly out numbered by string bean whippets), Matt and I took the line sporting our SA kits. I quickly realized during the athlete call that the race was going to be hot.

We were off at 12.02pm. When I say off I mean off!  I figured I wouldn't be able to set a 5k PB as I would be wrecked and won't be able to ride so I controlled my run holding back enough for an attack at the start of the ride.

Into transition and my second tip is always have two pairs of shoes. This was even more relevant in ITU racing as once an item is used it must go in your box. This includes your running shoes. Which means that you'll have to dig them out of there if you want to use them again. 

I entered transition with Annalise but had a really smooth one (and a clean mount). I hadn't practiced that for a while so it had the potential to be a disaster. On the bike I focused on attacking the hill and punching over the top each lap. Redman has had us standing over a hill at St. Peter's recently and it was ideal for this hill. One problem I did notice was the dry heat. I drank all my bottle but couldn't get relief. I spun at around 95-100 cadence for the last k into T2 and had another quick transition. After attacking the first k off the bike I slowed up fairly hard with a stomach cramp largely due to the over hydration. Lucky for me it was only 2.5k run to home. 

I had a great time at home. I did a session with the Meteors and spent some good time with the Fuse gang. After formalities I was straight over to Haigh's to re stock for the journey back to Qld. I really think this was a great race. It was a street circuit with full road closure for both age group and elite and had a shady flat and fast run.

Thanks to Endura, Brooks Running, Compressport, no more knots, Orca, Reddog and Avanti Plus the Valley.