Johnny Hall's Travels and Travails

Today was the last of Glentress Duathlon of this winter season - the long race.  I've had mediocre results at the medium and short editions (wholly due to lack of fitness) but I was hoping to run a bit better this time, although I was expecting the cycle to be hard work, since I've barely cycled this year. This proved to be the case.  The cycle was a struggle for me - the start went up the fireroad and my legs couldn't generate enough power to keep up with the leaders and then I got stuck behind slower riders on the singletrack.  The field spread out and I kept my position, finishing just under an hour for the ride. My running legs were with me today though, despite having run 100 miles in the last 2 weeks and 15 miles yesterday.  I overtook a few people running up the hill and felt pretty strong.  I kept this going back to transition for the second loop but it all went wrong shortly after that.  The course wasn't very clearly marked at one point and I ran off course with another runner - straight down a great big steep hill.  Brilliant.  At the bottom we realised we were screwed and plodded back up to meet a bunch of other who were lost too.  We found the course and scaled a wall to get back on to it. I was very annoyed and had a wee burst of adrenaline which lasted about five minutes before my legs packed in.  The last section was very hard work but I managed to keep my position despite someone breathing down my neck.  I finished the run in about 59 minutes again and the whole race I was under 2 hours. I think I lost at least 5 minutes but there's nothing to be done about it.  It wasn't an important race for me.  I got out of it what I wanted - confirmation that my running is improving. Update:36th out of 100.  I was 36th coming off the bike and had gained a handful of places, maybe 6, losing 2.  So, I reckon I would have been 32nd or 33rd.  Hey ho.  Disappointing but not the end of the world.