The Stay At Home Ultra Duathlon (Day 5)

I spent a bit of time making some adjustments to my bike before day 5 of the Stay At Home Ultra Duathlon got underway. I wanted to bring the seat closer to the handlebars so I could get a comfortable crouch position when I needed it. I'm sure that there's a technical term for this stuff! Anyway, it was time well spent and I start running just before 5pm.

The aim on day 5 was to run 5 miles, cycle 50 miles then finish up with a final 5 mile run.

Despite having a bit of a headache, I felt really strong at the start of the run. There was a real spring in my step as this clip from the Run Geordie Run Facebook page shows.

  

The first running segment of 5 miles was finished in 00:51:11 thanks to the best pace that I've found this week. That run burned almost 700 calories and I was very hungry when I got on the bike.

I demolished a couple of bananas and an oat bar during the first few miles on the bike. I managed to keep to a pace of 18mph for the first 20 or so miles. I stopped briefly to eat the leftover pizza from last night and was soon on my way again.

The sun set shortly after 8 pm and I was left pedalling in total darkness. Here are some random thoughts from that time.

The final 15 miles on the bike were spent in the company of other cyclists. I managed to pull in front of one cyclist, they would over take, I would overtake back and so on. I managed to keep this up almost to the end and I noticed my speed was consistently around 23mph. I was very warm at the end and was dripping in sweat. Those final few miles flew by though and I finished the 50 miles in 03:07:33.

I burned 2600 calories on the bike ride but I had bags of energy left going into the final running session of day 5. 

I felt really strong until the last mile. I was pleased to get finished in 00:55:12. The video below is my final lap with my immediate thoughts/random ramblings.

I felt I could have ran for much longer at the pace that I did tonight if I needed to. It was one of those nights where everything went right. I've seen this type of thing happen early on in my big trans-continental runs. I remember day four of the run across the USA been unexpectedly quick. Another day when everything went right. That was also the day of the drugs bust. I'll save that one for another time.

Back to today and once again my mobility after the challenge had finished was really good. The pain in my backside was nowhere near as bad either. Perhaps the seat adjustment had something to do with that.

Finally for today, I'm very pleased to repot that the amount raised for St Benedict's Hospice over the last 24 hours has almost doubled. Thank you to everyone who made a donation today. An amazing £305 has been added to the total which now stands at £630. It all adds up to some absolutely fantastic generosity which has been shown from all over the world including Spain, California, New York as week as here in the UK!

If you would like to sponsor this challenge then please visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/rungeordierun.