Duathlon Antics

I'm back home now but only for one week. Immediately since being home I have felt my muscles stiffen up where as in the warmth of Australia I felt great. Now I'm just stiff and training isn't as fun but it is only for 1 week so it's OK. I came back so I could play in a concert this week, so of course it is very busy with training and rehearsals and every spare minute trying to practice my violin.
On the weekend I participated in the National Duathlon Champs as it was in Christchurch and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a good hard training session as well as test all my equipment for the Ironman in 3 weeks time. This would be the first time racing a standard distance duathlon. So the first challenge was deciding just what to wear. It is A LOT colder than I have become accustomed to over the last few weeks so I didn't think wearing my usual race singlet and little shorts would be a good idea for me. So after much deliberations I decided on my KSwiss cycling top, tights and arm warmers. I was worried I would get too hot in the first 10k run but I didn't and I was still cold!! It's quite funny as in the post race report they reported that the race was held in perfect race conditions. Not sure what planet they are on, but my idea of perfect race conditions is 25-28 degrees, lots of sun and no wind. But obviously many feel that somewhere between 4 and 10 degrees, cloud and cold wind is perfect. I guess it is quite good for a Christchurch winter day.
The first run was 10k, with the first 2km or so being a hard hill climb (well it felt jolly hard to me) and then back down and then the rest was flat. Well silly, silly me. I was doing this race at the end of a normal training week. So I had done around 30 hours training that week and my muscles were tight. I should have warmed up for about an hour but I didn't and then took off at a galloping full out sprint (I just can't help myself when they say Go). I then tried as hard as I could running up then down the hill and then the rest of the race was a jog as I pulled that muscle in my abdomen again (the one everyone says is the stitch but I don't agree). So my run was 36.30 but there is no way that run was full distance as I jogged the second half and was going very slow where as at the ChCh SBS 10k race I did 36.30 and had to try very hard to do that. So I guess it was only 9.5km.
Then we had a 5 lap bike course which had 2 hills in each lap and was in total around 42km. I was very happy with my bike ride. If I tried to go really fast I just couldn't as my stiff muscles would scream at me but I was able to go at a good pace which is my ironman pace; a pace which I believe I can hold for 180k. So I was happy with 1.13.
Then we had to do another 5k run. So I presumed that my stupid stomach issue would have settled itself down and I could do a good hard run, but no such luck, so it was another jog. Very annoying as it is a complete waste of a $70 entry fee if I am just going to run at training pace, but what more could I do. So the pain has been with me for the last few days just making my everyday life a joy as I can never forget about it, it constantly reminds me while doing everyday chores that it is tight and sore. Swimming is by far the worst. But the tightness in my stomach is subsiding each day and it will be back to normal soon.
So of course it is most annoying to have not had any issues of the mystery "stitch" for the last few months and then all of a sudden it's back. But this time I think I have some answers. I have noticed that when I get tight in training I stand with a funny posture with my bum pushed out making a big curve in my back. This is due to my glutes, TFL hip flexors, and hamstrings etc all being just really tight. When I stand like this I then can feel that it is putting extra pressure on my stomach region. When tight it is really hard to run with the normal posture and if I don't know I am running with a funny posture how am I to change. So now that I know I have concentrated on changing when I run and yesterday my run felt good and 20 min was at pace. So it makes sense that in an ironman coming off the bike my posture would be bad and running at the duathlon after a big few weeks training. So now that I think I know the answer finally I have talked with Andrew who gives me my strength and conditioning programme and he confirmed that I am very tight (as did the massage therapist on Monday). So I will be doing a lot of stretches and also assisted stretches where Brett has to push me into funny positions that hurt. And of course I will be doing lots of TP therapy pushing on all the painful spots to try and release the tension. And then once I am back in the warmth in a few more days I think everything will loosen up again nicely and then when I race my next marathon I will have to focus to maintain a good posture. This is easier said than done as when I come off the bike I think I am standing up nice and straight where as the photos show otherwise. Being hunched over for over 5 hours obviously leads you to not quite understand what parts of your body are where. You have an image of yourself in your mind but it doesn't correspond to reality. So I think overcompensation might be the key, either that or I will have Brett stand on the side lines with a mirror!!
So as for my duathlon I finished second (behind Mel Burke who specialises in duathlon and is racing at the World Champs in a few weeks time) in 2.15 which I was pretty happy with as I had given myself a goal of under 2.30.  And now hopefully I have learnt some more about the mystery "stitch".