My friend Dave has been training for a duathlon and I’ve always wanted to do one, so I signed up to join him. It’s called the Out for Blood Duathlon and is on April 16th, just over a month away. The duathlon consists of a 5K run followed by a 20K bike ride. I can complete both of those on their own so I just need to increase my fitness to be able to them together.
I found a decent 4 week program online, which I’ve adapted to create my training program:
| Sun | Mon | Tues | Wed | Thurs | Fri | Sat |
| Run 20 easy | Rest | Run 40 | Cycle 35 easy | Rest | Run 20 Cycle 45 |
Cycle 60 |
| Run 25 easy | Rest | Run 50 | Cycle 40 easy | Rest | Run 25 Cycle 50 |
Cycle 70 |
| Run 30 easy | Rest | Run 55 | Cycle 45 easy | Rest | Run 30 Cycle 60 |
Cycle 80 |
| Rest | Run 40 | Rest | Cycle 30 easy | Rest | Run 20 easy | RACE |
* All numbers are minutes.
My goal is to finish under 1:20:00 1:15:00 which is doable if I run 7 mph and ride 14 16 mph. (I found some 2004 riding data showing I consistently rode over 16 mph on my mountain bike, so adjusted my goal. If I hit those paces, I’ll have 2 minutes to spare on the goal time, which will be needed at the starting line and for the transition.) I better start training!
Nick's Blog 
Good luck! I’m training as well to run my first 10k this summer….
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Looks like a good lead up from the training…
cheers
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You’ll be able to ride a lot faster than 14 I think. I do 16-18 on the rail trail without pushing too hard. 7mph running is fast for me. I run about 10:30/mile right now but should be a little faster during the race since I’m running more than 5K in my short runs now.
I looked at last years times for my age group and there were finishers with times shorter than I think I can do the ride in. Should be fun.
What are you doing for a bike since I stole yours?
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I’ll be riding my mountain bike which is slower than a road bike, but I never really liked the road bike, so that’s fine by me. I signed up for the mountain bike division. I’m doing about 15 mph on a stationary bike in the fitness center here and if I remember from a few years ago I usually rode 14-15 mph on the rail trail out to St. Charles with the bike I’ll be using. I think I’ll be able to do the run faster in the race because I’ve been able to do that pace or faster on the treadmill. I need to start running outside to learn to set my own pace though.
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I was wrong. Found some old emails from 2004 when I was riding 13-15 miles at 16+ mph on the mountain bike. 1:20:00 should be cake so I better adjust my goal. Looking at last years results I may even be able to contend for the mountain bike division. 🙂
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My math was a little wrong on being able to contend.
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I take it Run 20 means run 20 minutes, not run 20 km? Otherwise, you are already in incredible shape 😉
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Haha, yeah that’s definitely minutes!
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