Dave Mitchinson came into the sport of duathlon only last year, bringing with him a fantastic running pedigree (including a 64:22 half marathon...). Since then he's been working hard on his cycling too, in order to be competitive at elite level in duathlon. Having crashed out of the World Champs in Rimini last year, a couple of weeks ago Dave was back competing at the Mekong River ITU Duathlon World Series Event in Thailand. Here is his diary of the trip.

Tuesday 24th March 2009 – Wednesday 25th March 2009

Having packed the day before, I decided to catch the train to Heathrow with my bike bag. I was out the door for a 20 minute jog at 5.30am, it was that or no training for the day as I would be travelling for some time! After a lift to the station I battled through the early morning commuters with a bike bag, holdall and well filled rucksack – not a usual sight, and despite drawing some disapproving looks at the amount of room I was taking up I made it in plenty of time.

I met with Ollie Mott an experienced GB elite duathlete and our team manager and former European duathlon medallist, Tom Lowe. The flight to Bangkok was a little over 12 hours and allowed plenty of time to get to know each other and watch a few films and read a book. Despite several attempts at sleeping I only managed 40 mins, but knew I'd have time to recover before the race on arrival.

Due to Thailand being seven hours ahead of UK time we arrived at about 6.30am local time, a short taxi ride and another one hour flight, followed by a longer taxi ride saw us arrive in our hotel, 29 hours after leaving home!  I got straight into bed and slept for two hours – Ollie and me were sharing a room and he did the same.

After waking I went for a very easy paced 30 minute run along the Mekong river with Tom. The pace may have been easy, but the 35 degree heat and 65 % humidity made it an effort and I could feel the heat and atmosphere affecting my asthma slightly, quite frankly it was like breathing air in from a hairdryer. On arrival back at the hotel I booked a Thai massage to ease my leg muscles after the journey – it was a great experience, a 2 hour massage for 400 baht – about £8! UK prices! Afterwards my legs and back felt great, but after an early tea I was ready for an early night, hitting the sack at 9pm and sleeping for 11 hours...

Thursday 26th March 2009.

After a great nights sleep it was onto the bike for an easy hour and a quarter to try and get used to the heat. Ollie, Tom and I set out on some of the most unpredictable roads I have been on – but a time triallers paradise – flat and very fast! If a car misses a turn on these three lane roads, they just turn around and drive the wrong way down the hard shoulder, and mopeds with five people on are a sight to behold – but also useful for a bit of drafting practice!

In the afternoon we all had a leisurely look around the local markets, although I think Ollie needs to practice his haggling skills! Later in the day day when the temperature felt like it had dropped to a cool 33 degrees I went for another easy 20 minute jog and found my breathing (if not heart rate) starting to adapt slightly.

Friday 27th March 2009.

Another relaxed start to the day was followed by a 20 minute jog at an easy pace. I prefer to run the day before a race, whilst Ollie and Tom went for a ride.
In the late afternoon we strolled down to the Mekong river to watch the run and transition of the Aquathon that was taking place. A 1500 swim, followed by a 5km run. Any thoughts I might have had about making a switch to triathlon were quickly washed away when I saw the following current these athletes were expected to swim in, they were swimming 1500 in about 7 mins! I’m sure if I'd have jumped in I have been washed way past the get out point – and never have been seen again. This after a local had told us lots of people die in the river ever year due to the strong current – rather them than me!!

On returning to the hotel Tom and I ventured out of the hotel for another easy 20 minute run prior to carbo loading on the local rice, veg and chicken the hotel served – lovely!

Saturday 28th March 2009 – Race day!

After two great nights sleep I woke at 1.30 am, and was bolt awake! I soon realised I wasn’t going back to sleep and just tried to relax and not wake Ollie. At 4.30 am I had the food I required prior to the race at 8.30 am and started to get myself hydrated. Then I had an extra bit of toast and Jam at 6.00am!
The race started at 8.30 am, and without a cloud in the sky the temperature was already approaching 35 degrees, with humidity at 65% this was going to be a hard day! I racked my bike and tried to conserve energy and keep cool by only warming up with a few strides rather than the normal hour warm up routine I follow. I used a visor one of my sponsors AVIA had given me to keep the sun off my face and continually dowsed this down with water.

At 8.30am the gun went and the race set off. It was obvious the pace would be effected by the heat and the out and back run course (2 laps for the first 10km) was exposed to the conditions, although thankfully there were water stations every 1km. The pack immediately split with 7 or 8 athletes breaking away, including Ollie and myself. After 5km the lead group was down to four, a Russian, two Aussie athletes and I. I felt in control, but was conscious I was already feeling the conditions – apparently the temperature had reached 37 degrees.

As we reached the end of the first 10km all four of us were a stride apart. Picking my bike from transition I heard the Aussie (and my French league team mate James Attard) screaming expletives – he had put too much air in his rear tyre and as it had expanded in the heat, it had burst! Luckily for him GB team manager Tom Lowe took sympathy on him, giving him our spare rear wheel, and saving his race, although he lost about 30 secs in transition changing it over!

So onto the 40km bike only three of us were together. Unfortunately I’m still developing my bike strength and had hoped to hide in a large lead group – in a group of three I couldn’t hide and after a few turns at the front the Aussie Rafael Baugh attacked and broke clear with Russian Sergey Yakolev. From this point until 10km into the bike I was on my own and cursing my decision to bike in pyro platforms rather than bike shoes, and also my decision not to have short (draft legal) aero bars on my Shorter Rochford bike. I just had to keep my head down and press on.

At the 10km mark I was caught by Attard and managed to work with him until 20km. However I lost contact just after this point, and at the time I felt a podium chance. From 20km until about 35km I was on my own and the heat was taking its toll with no chance to draft and take a breather! Luckily I was caught by a group of four including Ollie, two Croatians and a Japanese athlete at 35km who were working well together and manager to join this group for the remainder of the bike, although one Croatian broke away in the last km to gain a few seconds into transition.

I had a good transition, due to the pyro’s and exited in 5th place onto the final 5km run, probably 10 seconds down on the Croatian. The heat by this time was brutal and everyone was suffering. I was feeling dehydrated, despite taking over a litre of fluid on the bike and extra water on the first run, but was pleased to see I was slowly closing on the Croatian in front. At the 2.5km turn it appeared the first three were away and clear and that I was fighting for fourth place, however after another 1km I could see a runner moving nearer in the distance and realised the Aussie Baugh was falling apart!

With renewed energy I chased down the Croatian and swept past Baugh into the final kilometre, not quiet believing I was on for a podium finish in my first finish at an ITU World Series race (the only other start I've had was at the World champs in Rimini where I crashed out on the bike). The last 400 metres was a struggle as I realised I was going to get third and the heat was taking it’s toll. Crossing the line was an amazing feeling, although I felt so overheated it was untrue, only to be told I would need to produce a urine sample for the drug testers!! Hard at the best of times, let alone when dehydrated after 2hrs on competition in these conditions.

It took me three hours to produce a sufficient urine sample, and luckily Tom kept me company in the hot and humid drug testing room – what a manager!

The race was a great success and as a result I have a current world elite ranking of 3rd! I’m hoping i'll get the chance to maintain this position by competing at the next leg of the ITU World series at the European Championships in Hungary in May. First I have to qualify for the GB team by competing well at the British Elite champs and showing the selectors I capable of fighting for an individual medal!

When collecting my kit and heading back to the hotel I realised I’d lost my AVIA visor from transition, despite having a good look. Whilst walking back to the hotel I saw a little Thai man wearing it – I decided against trying to reclaim it. It looked better on him and showed he had good taste!