On a very cold morning three Ful-on Tri members took on the not inconsiderable physical and mental challenge of the Ballbuster duathlon.  The race consists of five loops of a circuit round Boxhill that culminates with the climb up Zig-Zag Hill, the first and last loop are on foot, the middle three under pedal power. I hoped to build on my somewhat inauspicious results in the event to that point: DNF (did not finish) and DNS (did not start).  The pre-race build-up consisted of Nick Malynn and me relentlessly talking up the other's chances in an effort to relieve any pressure on ourselves, and Freddie Leatham waking up in a cold sweat at the thought of running up the final hill. 

I had made the decision beforehand to play to my running strength and go with the pace on the first lap if it seemed reasonable.  This turned out to be a bit of an error, I got into a pack of about half a dozen going down the hill and the whole group got dragged along by the strongest runner at a pace that was a bit too quick.  My legs started to tighten here, and given we hadn’t even started up the first of the day’s five hills I realised I could be in for a long day.  Aside from a very quick Frenchmen leading the charge who broke clear away from the group, everyone else slowed down up the hill and I was second into T1.  Here my late footwear switch, to lace-up trainers rather than elastic equipped racing flats, cost me a lot of time especially with cold hands, so I managed to leave transition already down to 7th. 

Worse, once on the bike I was really feeling the effects of the run and couldn’t get much power on.  Nick Malynn shot past early on looking strong.  Overall it was a valuable lesson in how it’s one thing to race up Boxhill to the coffee shop in the middle of an easy ride, quite another to reel out laps on tired legs.  In the event the run had given me enough of a buffer not to get swamped by proper cyclists and I only dropped about half a dozen further places. 

However the difficulties of the bike ride were quickly forgotten once the screaming agony of the second run began.  The best comparison I can give is that it felt like the last miles of one marathon I did where things really started to unravel at the end.  My legs hurt everywhere, the only thing that kept my survival shuffle upright was that all muscles were cramping in equal measure so they sort of evened out.  To my surprise I actually made places up though.  I’ve rarely been so pleased to have finished a race, taking 7th, two places behind Nick M who had also suffered badly on the run. 

Despite recording a strong 28th position, at the end Freddie wore the harrowed expression of a man who had just fought his final hill demons, and the demons had run out as comfortable victors.  However it appears that his efforts gave Ful-on a victory in the UK national tri league.

If you do decide to take on the challenge, here are a few practical tips.  Being that the race takes place in February and November it’s likely to be pretty cold.  This does make it tricky to decide what to wear as you get far warmer on the run than the bike.  After running in a long-sleeve and leggings, far more than I would in a straight running event, just putting a cycling top on was enough to generally stay warm, but pay attention to your hands and feet.  My unguarded feet got very cold leaving them numb at the start of the run.  Another tip for the cycle, remember that the hill doesn’t finish at the café, it actually continues to climb at a lesser gradient for a way beyond this.  On a dull organisational note, take heed of their advice about parking at the top car-park, it you use it you will be boxed in by other cars and may not be able to leave for a long time after the race.  If you need to get away sharpish then park elsewhere, like the car park at the foot of the hill.

I’m actually still not sure how you should pace this race.  I was half a minute a mile slower on the second run than the first, which can’t be ideal.  My feeling is that had I held back on the first run the legs would have been a bit better on the ride, but whether this would have helped on the second run I’m not sure.  The top three in the race were also significantly slower on the second run.  A couple of competitors ran very even run splits and were faster than me the second time round, but I’d taken about four minutes out of them the first time so they didn’t catch me, perhaps then there’s something to be said for making hay on fresh legs to begin with.

For days afterwards my legs were still unable to negotiate stairs without desperately clutching the banister for support.  So while I was pleased with the end result I would honestly say that of my three attempts at the event the DNS was by far the most enjoyable.  However it's certainly satisfying to have knocked off a tough event over familiar territory and with two runnings of the event a year there's no excuse not to give it a go, once.