6.1.17 Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit!

Good morning!

5:40 - 4 mile run, with negative splits. It rained a little bit last night (yay!), so it was really humid this morning (gross!).

I'm racing an open 10k on Saturday. It's a distance I haven't raced a whole lot, and my last one was almost three years ago. Should be interesting . . .

Have a great day, BT!

Yes...I am racing on Saturday (weather permitting).  

This is my "A race" that I have been look towards since last August.  

I have been passive in my training at times doing what I have time for (i.e. can squeeze between 5:00 AM and 7:00 AM).  

I don't feel like I do at the end end of a 3-4 month training program where everything else in my life is put on hold for 3-4 months and then I take 2-3 months off after the race to catch up on everything else in life that I have been neglecting.  

I have been doing what I can which has resulted in more of a constant volume plan that is balanced with keeping everything else is life taken care of (i.e. fences built, barns build, lawn mowed, scout outings plan and attended, livestock shows planned and attended, family vacation attended (not planned I had to cut something out to make time for Triathlon).  

Anyways I am going into a race to see how well I do when the race is just one of many things in my life.  I could do great or I could find out that I have to choose between being a competitive competitor for the  AG state championship or between having a life outside of Triathlon.  Either way I am happy that I will be racing after over a year of working to improve on all the weaknesses that revealed themselves to me in my last race.

Hey BT kids,

5 mile run for the Jamester tonight. Really pretty sunset, good vibes. 3 mile run yesterday before the tum tum said naaaaahhhhh time to go home...

I had a good race.  

I got calf cramps on the swim and ended up a full 5 minutes over my goal on that leg.  Then my timing chip fell of the band during the wet suit peel which added about 15 seconds to my transition. 

My bike leg was the shining point of the day.  I got an aero helmet since my last race as well as some 2nd hand racing wheels.  The guy that I got the wheels from got a flat so he replaced the latex tube for Buna.  He also had some training quality tires.  I had tested these wheels for a week in training when I got them for my birthday 6 months ago and I was about 1/2 MPH faster on them.  A week before the race I put my Continental race tires on these wheels, put latex tubes one them, took all the extra gear off the bike that I used for training, etc.  Then I shave my legs, arms, and most of my beard (I kept some of it for fun.  I can't take Triathlon too seriously or the sport would become boring and I would lose interest).  Well all of the adjustments made me lightning fast.  I was 2 MPH faster on race day that I am in my time trials in training. I did take one wrong turn that cost me about a minute so I could have been faster.  One guy that I passed told me that he came to Triathlon from a bike racing background.  I would have felt good about him telling me I was fast on the bike but I come from a competitive running background and he passed me in the last mile of the run.  :-)

My run leg was about 2 minutes over my goal time.  That is about 15 minutes closer to my goal time than I have been on my last two races though so so I think that pretty much nailed the run.  If I had gone any faster I would have had cramping in my legs so the pace right were it needed to be.  

So a top 10% bike leg, a top 10% run leg, and a bottom 20% swim leg.  That put me just in the top 25%.  Last year I focused on my cycling and it payed off big.  I guess over the next year I need to focus on the swim.