My 2007 duathlon/triathlon season has started! It is pretty ridiculous, actually, to think about how much training goes into having a half-decent race. Good thing that the training is also a fun time for me!

So my first race was a short duathlon in Ecublens, outside of Lausanne. The Duathlon du Cancer, is a 3,8 - 20 - 3,8 run-bike-run. (www.association-destiny.ch) The weather was nice, about 23 or so, and the rain decided to stick out of the way, making the technical bike course safer.

I started out the first 3,8 conservatively, averaging 3:45kms despite an annoying run course, which seemed to always be going gently uphill.

On the 20km bike, I got to test out my new Trek 5000 in race conditions. It is fairly obvious, the new position means that I will have to put in a lot of kms to get back to the speed I was at before I changed bikes. The switch from a tri frame to a road frame was difficult. Despite that, I still averaged almost 36km/h. I had a lot of trouble with the sharp turns, and was surprised that the non-draft race had many little groups moving along swiftly. I asked several racers if we were allowed to draft, and finally, a teammate said it was “allowed” in the race. The big problem with my bike, was the wrong turn I made 2/3 of the way through the first loop. I took a right instead of left. I didn’t do my homework well enough on the course, and no one was in front that I could see, as well as there not being an official to direct the athletes.

I lost about 2:10 along with some pep in my step as I had to come back up a fairly large hill to get back on track.

Onto the final run, I focused on getting my breathing under control in the changing area. My legs felt really good and not tight as in past years. I really hope that is the case from now on! I focused on getting into a rhythm and then picking off people one by one. I passed three guys in the first two and a half kilometers, trying to keep up good leg speed. I kicked it in around the track and finished the second run faster than my first one. (13:36 — 3:36/km)

If my bike had gone according to plan, I was looking at 10th or 11th place. I am happy. Here are the results.