The moment of truth has come. I managed to get some sleep until 4.30am on Sunday when I woke up due to the nerves as heart was beating at more than 100 beats a minute. It was good adrenaline pumping to start the day. I tried sleeping again but didn't really succeed so the time until 7am when the alarm clock went off passed very slowly.
After checking that I had everything packed including many extra pieces of layering apparel, and putting the MTB on the car, we were ready to go. I had a great entourage of supporters with me: Franca, Matteo and Ksenija, while the other supporters were waiting in Pijnacker (Seka, Iva, Alec). Unfortunately my Father could not make it as he was in the plane at that time.
After checking that I had everything packed including many extra pieces of layering apparel, and putting the MTB on the car, we were ready to go. I had a great entourage of supporters with me: Franca, Matteo and Ksenija, while the other supporters were waiting in Pijnacker (Seka, Iva, Alec). Unfortunately my Father could not make it as he was in the plane at that time.
We were off to Pijnacker where we arrived some 45 minutes later.
The 21st edition of the RunBikeRun Pijnacker
The 21st edition of the RunBikeRun Pijnacker
race course will be over 5km run, 20km MTB, and finishing with 2.5km run.
Run consists of loops of 2.5km, 50% on hard surface and 50% on soft. The bike portion was 80% off road and the rest of a public road.
My target time for the race, before knowing how heavy the off road portion really was, was 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Having arrived there the nerves were gone. It felt good. Got my starting number (078) and the timing chip.
Shortly after I went to set up my transition zone. On the way to the zone I had to get my bike and helmet approved which went pretty fast. Once in the transition zone, where only competitors can enter, I got the MTB shoes out, placed the bike in position and got my PowerBar gel out so I don't forget it after the run to bike transition.
Next it was time to warm up a bit....warm up for me was a short and easy pace 400m run. Once the heart was pumping I was ready, and we were all called to gather at the start. I nicely positioned myself among the last starters as I knew I would not be able to keep up the pace of the fast runners.
Run consists of loops of 2.5km, 50% on hard surface and 50% on soft. The bike portion was 80% off road and the rest of a public road.
My target time for the race, before knowing how heavy the off road portion really was, was 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Having arrived there the nerves were gone. It felt good. Got my starting number (078) and the timing chip.
Shortly after I went to set up my transition zone. On the way to the zone I had to get my bike and helmet approved which went pretty fast. Once in the transition zone, where only competitors can enter, I got the MTB shoes out, placed the bike in position and got my PowerBar gel out so I don't forget it after the run to bike transition.
Next it was time to warm up a bit....warm up for me was a short and easy pace 400m run. Once the heart was pumping I was ready, and we were all called to gather at the start. I nicely positioned myself among the last starters as I knew I would not be able to keep up the pace of the fast runners.
The race started and before I was even across the starting point, the fast runners were already passed the first corner. I any case, my objective was to the pace (below 6min/km) I knew I could run remaining below the 170 heart rate.
After some 300m my pace was well under the estimate at 5:20. The 1000m of the course was on asphalt, which was then followed by hard ground which for some reason was muddy even though weather conditions were excellent and there was no rain for the whole prior week. It felt great running in the mud, and getting shoes dirty. Towards the 2km mark, my trusted supporters Franca, Matteo and Ksenija were cheering and encouraging me. The other supporters were at the end of the loop cheering!
Second loop went well, and I entered the transition zone in split ranking of 100 after 00:26:25, and average of 5:25 per kilometer. My PB…!
Run to Bike transition was smooth, and after changing the shoes I was off to the mountain biking…where I could put to test all the skills I recently learned during the Fiets Fit clinic in Alemere (Hennie and te rest thank you!).
In all honesty I thought mountain biking was going to be easier. As mentioned earlier terrain was very heavy and muddy…not something you would expect after one week of no rain. That meant that it was going to be lots of cadence on a very low gear…or is it high gear….don’t know.
Course started off on flat soggy grass with many zig-zag turns, then off for some 2km on a public road, and off to a hilly part of the course with pretty much single tracks. On the hilly part of the course we had to make 2 loops each of some 5km. First loop was hectic as the fast competitors all wanted to take over, while on the second loop it felt more comfortable and I even managed to pass a few riders. Moreover, there were a few nice ups and downs, paired with muddy surface leading to regular rear wheel spins as I was not getting any tracking due to the mud sticking onto the tires.
After the 2 loops, it was back on the public road and the soggy grass to the transition zone. Cycling was done in 1:13:37…a split ranking of 85.
I will let the photos speak for themselves.
the bike....
After the last shoe changes I managed to get some energy drinks and a few cut bananas....
and I was off to do the last 2.5km. My legs were heavy and I started to feel the muscles around my knees, while the other leg muscles started to cramp a little. Luckily the cramping was over after the 1km…and I managed to run to the finish line in 00:14.07, an average pace of 5.6 min/km.
With a big smile on my face as well as big smiles of my supporters I finished the first duathlon in total time of 1:58:24, for a 87th place overall out of some 97 competitors. In my age group 20-39 I finished 33rd out of the 41 racers.
The almost 2 hours passed very quickly...must be the concentration levels were high.
The day after things are running smoothly and there is hardly any muscle ache.
Last but not least, here come the GPS tracks of the event
5k run GPS track
20k MTB GPS track
2.5k run GPS track
Overall I am very pleased with the achievement and looking forward to the next one!
The day after things are running smoothly and there is hardly any muscle ache.
Last but not least, here come the GPS tracks of the event
5k run GPS track
20k MTB GPS track
2.5k run GPS track
Overall I am very pleased with the achievement and looking forward to the next one!
Well done!
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