Clark Lake Duathlon

So what do you do, when you have nothing to do, on a Sunday Morning? That’s right, you get up at 4:00 am in the morning, drive an hour and a half and run a Duathlon.  Lol 😝

This was the 33rd running of the Clark Lake Duathlon and Triathlon in Clark Lake Michigan.  The set up for the Duathlon was, a 2 mile sprint, 12 1/2 miles on the bike and a 4 mile run.  That all!! LOL.

This was my 5th Duathlon and by far the hardest for a number of reasons.  First, it was my first time back on my bike since my MS Bike to the Bay ride a few weeks back. So no bike training.✔️  Second, I ran a tough 8k race on Thursday night. ✔️   Third, I ran 6 1/2 miles on Saturday morning with some of the runners I’m coaching in the Dave’s Running  5k training program,✔️   Fourth, can you say HILLS!! ✔️  So Clark Lake is in an area known locally as the “Irish Hills” Duh!! Should have known that!!! … and I could go on and on!

I ran the 2 miles sprint in an 8:32 average pace per mile. Averaged 17.5 miles per hour on the bike. Not my fasted ride ever, but with the hills, I’ll take it. Then avenged a 10:03 per mile for the second run portion of 4 miles.  If you’ve ever done a Duathlon, you know that getting off the bike and trying to run is like, seriously the hardest thing ever.  My first mile was in the high, i mean VERY high 10’s, but over the next 3 miles, I settled into a steadily declining pace and finished with a 10:03 overall pace.  I finished in 1:45:52 which was good enough for a 4th in my age group.  They gave out these cool wooden ore medals.

This was also a TRI event.  My goal for this year was to get my feet wet (not literally) with the Duathlons and progress to the Tri’s next year. This one is on the bucket list for next year. Clark Lake is a beautiful inland lake and looked like a great swim.

So this popped up on my Garmin Insights today!  Pretty Badass don’t you think!  Iv’e averaged 20.3 miles per week, every week, for the last 12 mounts.  Didn’t even realize that, thanks Garmin!

Anyway, had a great day at Clark Lake.  Want to thank the team at Dave’s Running and Run Toledo for another great event.  Fun was had by all!

Until next time … Happy Running.

Rich.

Do you name your bikes, cars, etc?

Do you Do DU’s or TRI’s?

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