The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

Looking out of the window as I come to write about this morning's exertions it seems to hard to credit either the title of this article, or the weather in which we raced.  Summer it is not, it is currently snowing.  Thankfully rather more pleasant conditions awaited me when I arrived at Pugneys Lake this morning.  I was really nervous about going as I didn't take part in any of the club's summer series last year, I was pretty much certain I'd be last and I wasn't entirely clear on the route for the cycle course - apart from that I was fine!

Today's race was the standard duathlon, comprising a 1.6 mile run, followed by an 11.2 mile cycle and then completed by another 1.6 mile run.  I'd been out in the car on Friday trying to ensure I knew where the bike course went, I clearly wasn't quite correct as a glance at a marked map when I arrived this morning showed me.  Oh well, at least I found out before the race began.

Both runs took place around the lake, with the full circuit of the lake being a handy 1.6 miles around.  We took off anti-clockwise to the sound of an air horn in surprisingly clear and pleasant conditrions.  It was certainly cold, but not horribly so.  Considering the forecast was for snow I was feeling decidedly fortunate.  As per usual for me when faced with a duathlon, I watched the other competitors run away from me at the start.  However, although I was at the back from the beginning, there were a couple of people who weren't too far ahead, at least I could still see someone else.  I felt my run went well.  I was pushing myself and ran it quicker than I would have been able to until recently.  I was pleased with my time, I was managing under the 10 minute mile mark again.  For me that's a real sign of progress.

The bike course headed out from Pugneys and up and up and up towards West Bretton.  West Yorkshire really is very hilly.  I kept pushing the whole time, I was breathing heavily and making sure I made an effort at all times.  That was the first race pace work I've done on the bike for a while.  Thankfully another competitor was just in front of me on the cycle route and was kind enough to keep checking that I knew where I should be going.  Maybe getting lost in the race just before Christmas has earned me a reputation!  I hope he wasn't waiting for me, it did seem that he was hanging back to make sure I was okay.  Whatever the case, I very much appreciated the directions and won't need them another time as I now know for sure where I'm supposed to be going.  It was a very hilly route, with practically the whole thing being either uphill or downhill.  Again we were pretty lucky with the conditions and only at the very top of the hill was the wind a problem.  It was chilly but not too bad.  The worst bit was zooming down the steepest bit of the hill - major wind chill factor.  I tried my best on the bike, despite a period of abdominal discomfort.  Still, it passed away as the cycle went on and had completely gone by the time I got back to Pugneys.

I was obviously already last when I got back to the lake and got ready for the second run.  However, I could see the second to last runner, so I wasn't a million miles back.  Anyway, once again I ran a pretty good time for me and was pleased with how it went and how I felt.  My legs did feel heavy running off the bike, but I did still feel able to run.  I felt I gave it my best and was very pleased with my overall time of 1:17:30.  I know that isn't a time to set the world alight, but it's a good time for me.  For me to have managed two times that are good for me in two consecutive weekends suggests to me that I am really making progress at the moment.  That's all I want, to better myself.  To beat my previous times and find out a bit more about what I can be capable of.  I'm really glad I went.  Thanks to Wakefield Triathlon Club and I'll certainly be there to have a go at some other races as the summer series progresses.