Bill and Susan Compete in the W-S Short Course Duathlon

Team "Still Kicking"
Originally uploaded by CellPhoneSusie

Today, WakeOBX fielded a relay team in a local duathlon: the Winston-Salem Short Course race. The race was held in Lewisville, Bill's hometown and my bicycling territory. Since I can't run right now, and Bill's idea of bicycling is beach cruising, we teamed up to form a formidable team - Bill did the run sections and I did the bike portion. He started out running a 3 lap course for 3.1 miles. Then I took off on my bike and raced 14 miles. When I got back, he took off again for another 2 miles! We pulled a combined time of 1:23.01. The day turned out to be a great temperature for racing and the sun came out enough to keep it from being too chilly while waiting around.

Even though it was a nearby race, we had our usual excellent race support with Ron and Lynn coming out to cheer us on and Ron to take pictures.

It was a good event (with each of us receiving a nice technical t-shirt instead of the usual cotton issue).

Group Training Session Survives Gusty Winds

Today some of our group braved gale force wind gusts to train for the Shamrock and next week's Lewisville duathlon. Bill and I planned a run-through for next week's duathlon where our "Still Kicking" relay team plans to kick butt and take names. Bill ran the run course and I pedaled the bike course. Once our plan to practice was set, Lynn organized a training session for the group's Shamrock half marathon walkers, and other interested OBXers. We set up for all to meet at Lewisville Square at noon, hoping it would be warm enough to proceed in comfort, and not too windy.

I went out an hour early to warm up, and Elizabeth Skinner rode with me. We covered the 14 mile race course and had a nice, if breezy, ride. Then I met up with Bill, did a little race day planning, after which we each took off to practice our roles for the race. By the time I headed out to repeat the 14 mile route at race pace, the wind had picked up considerably! At one point, I was heading downhill into the wind on Williams Road, pedaling furiously, and only got up to 10 mph. That's how strong the winds had become. I still managed to complete the route in 48 minutes, which I think is a 17.5 mph rate. I hope to be able to cut this down several minutes if there's no wind and with my time trial bike next week.

While Bill and I practiced, the walkers set off on a six mile route. The group was comprised of Lynn, Ron, Carolyn, Mary H., Mary Beth and both her kids. Ron reported that they had a fabulous walk with everyone keeping pace. He was motivated by being surrounded by a group of strong walking females! He particularly noted Mary H's level of endurance since she's been working with a personal trainer. He also was impressed with Mary Beth's ability to keep pace with her daughter riding on her back!

Hopefully, we'll be able to pull together another group practice session before we head to Va. Beach in mid-March.