Kicking It Up a Notch and .... a Family Duathlon?

Definitely NOT me.

Snow and ice storms can't stop us!  Training is really starting to intensify in our household.  My wife is now less than 2 weeks from her first duathlon, and so am I ..... well sort of, more on that after the jump.  The last 4 days have seen Angelia and I both tackle a treadmill + plyometric workout, my longest bike ride in 3 months, and her first bike/run brick.  The remainder of the week for us has the normal runs, swimming for Angelia, plus a variety of cycling intervals for both of us.  Oh, and the return of the hill repeat route I used to prepare for the Livestrong Challenge last autumn.  Phew!

Angelia is progressing nicely towards the TMS Duathlon.  Her run distance has been steadily increasing and will be capped off with her first 10k this weekend.  She's also entered the world of data analysis (after all SportTracks is licensed for 2!) which has revealed some useful information regarding her pace consistency inconsistency.  Strangely, her confidence isn't as high as I expected.  After all, she's run further and cycled further than her duathlon distances before.  I truly think she's going to have a very successful event and to help her see that I pointed her to Joe Friel's (of The Triathlete's Training Bible fame) blog about confidence.  It's a good read that can apply to more than just endurance sports.

So earlier I mentioned I was also less than 2 weeks away from a duathlon, sort of.  Originally, I had planned on doing the TMS Duathlon as a relay seeing as my run training was just beginning.  However, an old event flyer on the website led me to believe there were no relays allowed.  Bummer.  Then when Angelia went to sign up online she noticed an option for relay teams.  I ended up contacting Jack at Ironhead Race Productions to get clarification and relays are indeed allowed!  It seems relays at this event are new this year and Jack was very responsive and quick to resolve the discrepancies that led to my confusion.  They're also willing to let a 9-yr old participate ---- kudos to Ironhead RP!  End result is Julian and I will be tackling the TMS Duathlon with Julian doing the two 2-mile run legs while I handle the 15-mile bike leg.  This should be an interesting event!