Competing in races has always been very motivating for me. I know that if I put a race on my calendar, tell the world I'm going to do it, and then I PAY for it, I will force myself to train. So I decided to do a duathlon: 3.1 mile run, 18 mile road bike ride, 3.1 mile run.
Honestly...I did not set up the TEXAN behind me!I have gone from running to riding to running many, many times in my adventure racing career. However, I have never done a true duathlon until now.
Running is definitely NOT my thing. So I "shuffled" my way through the first 3.1 miles and fell behind most of the pack. :)
But when I got on the bike, my body got happy again and I passed a bunch of folks. Some of them twice....hmmm, not sure how that happened.
Cool thing was that I had a fan in the crowd! When I finished the bike, I was transitioning to the run when a Marine said, "Are you Bernice?" I nodded and he said, "I've seen you on TV!" And despite the dread of my upcoming run, I forced a smile and a "nice to meet you" and I shuffled away.
I really had to talk myself through the last 3.1 miles! But I did and I was able to complete the entire race in 2 hours and 8 minutes!
I'm finding out that returning to my pre-pregnancy fitness level is way harder than I imagined. I have to keep reminding myself that I trained very hard for 6 years to be that fit. So I can't expect to be anywhere near that level at only 6 months post-partum. I just have to keep registering for races! :)
