Oulton Park Duathlon

Quick report on my first race of 2021 and my first race in quite a while. Both Jacky and I took part in the Oulton Park Duathlon on Sunday.

Several distances were available, but we opted for the Standard, so an 8.6k run to start followed by a 38.7k bike leg then a 4.3k run to finish. Why those specific distances? Well, it was laps of the famous motorcycle circuit which is 4.3k in length, so 2 laps, 9 laps and 1 lap.

The Oulton Park circuit

We didn’t set off until 9:45 so a reasonably leisurely start to the day, light breakfast, load up the car then a short trip down the M56 into Cheshire.

Due to Covid restrictions, no spectators allowed so it was pretty quiet at the start and all very relaxed as we checked in and got all our kit organised. Also, no mass start; after racking our bikes we formed an orderly socially distanced queue and were set off in ~30 second intervals.

I had planned to take it easy; this was a warmup race after all, but once you’re off, you’re off and it’s a race! Plus it was a bit chilly, and the first section was downhill, so I found myself clipping along at a nice pace pretty quickly.

A bit of to and fro as I overtook some of the slower earlier starters and some of the later and faster runners overtook me. But I felt good and carried on, getting a bit faster on the second lap.

Feeling good on the run!

I had been nursing a bit of a niggle all week so had backed off the training to let my legs rest up ahead of the race. However, once I started, I didn’t notice my niggle and it was all about being in the moment.

This was my first time doing this race, so the first lap was all about getting my bearings. It was more undulating than I realised. The weather was perfect, clear and sunny but quite windy. I was enjoying myself.

A fairly “relaxed” transition out on to the bike, beautiful smooth tarmac, no traffic or pedestrians to worry about and not many racers on the course so it was into as tight an aero position as possible and hammer time!

Hammer time!

Downhill section again into a sweeping left hander, that was fun, then pushing the wattage into the headwind and back up a more gradual ascent.

Kept an eye on my power meter to keep the watts up, energy drink on laps 1, 4 and 9, only getting out of the aero position occasionally to get out of the saddle. Saw Jacky a couple of time, she was clearly enjoying herself!

Another “relaxed” transition then one final lap running and it’s all over. Felt pretty good all the way through. Over the finish line. Devoured what was in the goodie bag. Great to bump in to a few clubmates and chat about the race. 

But then my niggle came back to haunt me. My right foot/ankle just seized up so collecting my bike and walking back to the car was pretty painful.

Jacky arrives at the finish, quick photo op then back into the car and home in time for lunch!

Jacky crosses the finish line!

Overall, very happy with performance, run pace and watts not great but a fair reflection of my fitness/capability at the moment, and I paced it pretty evenly, so a great way to start PROJEKT 2021! 

It’s  Wednesday evening as I write this and now my injury is already a lot better thanks to a really good physio session yesterday, so a couple more days taking it easy and I’m sure I’ll be back on it the weekend. Onwards!