A mini duathlon

One of my goals for 2009 is to take part in a duathlon, preferably the National Duathlon Festival, which will be in Richmond for a second year. If you're unfamiliar with a duathlon, it's a run-bike-run race. I've gone out for a run and then biked, and I've biked and then gone for a run, but I've never done a run-bike-run workout ... until today.

I did 2 miles on the treadmill, 4 miles on the stationary bike and then another 2 on the treadmill. Everything felt pretty good, although my legs were a bit wobbly the second time I got on the treadmill. That seemed to work itself out after about a half mile. This workout is a good start to know what those transitions feel like. I like trying it out in the gym first. Eventually I'll take it outside. It was a good day to try it too since it was raining this morning.

My running on the treadmill has gotten steadily faster in these few runs I've done. It's tough to just set a speed and do it on the treadmill, so today I played around with bumping the speed up 0.1 mph every minute from 6.5 mph to 7.5 mph during the first 2 miles. On the second two miles, I worked my way up to 8 mph, bumping the speed up every tenth of a mile once I got to a half mile.

Thankfully today I remembered my iPod ... but I forgot my towel and my usual water bottle. I'll get it right eventually.