Minneapolis Duathlon

After doing the Apple Duathlon, the Minneapolis Duathlon was a very different experience. In its first year, it's already the largest duathlon in America. Nevertheless, it was very well organized, and a pleasure to do.

It all started downtown on the river at the Plymouth Ave. bridge, so I biked down there with my stuff in the messenger pack that they gave away instead of a T-shirt or something. This pack is going to be very useful actually. The plan was to throttle it back more on the first run and the bike to leave something in the tank for the second run. This plan seems to have worked well. I fell back into maybe top 20 on the first run, but didn't let it bother me.

The bike was a very different experience from the Apple Duathlon, which was a qualifier for nationals or something. It was something like a sprint triathlon, with every level of cyclist out there. Fortunately we had the whole West River Parkway to ourselves, so there was plenty of room for passing. It was scenic and cool, and very enjoyable to bike! Very safe too, and Dan Casper was out in fireman gear keeping us safe.

The second run was much better than at the Apple Duathlon; I felt great and strong for the run! Unlike the first run, I didn't get passed except twice, so I pretty much held all the gains I made on the bike. With numbers on the front and no body markings, it was hard to tell who was in my age group. I have no clue how I did, but I felt strong and learned that holding back a bit at first is a good strategy.

Results and pictures should be out later tonight. I highly recommend this race to anyone considering multi-sport and is not into swimming! I only wish it wasn't on the same day as the state championship road race.

Results:
8/73 age group
22:05 (7:07) Run 1
51:13 (21.1) TT
23:39 (7:37) Run 2
1:41:16 total