Local races are the best. There's not as much build up or stress, the travel is minimal, and you get to see a lot of the same faces that you see at other races. Sometimes you develop rivalries with people who don't even realize it. Other times you have a group of friends racing with you with friendly wagers on the line. Either way, these events are really fun and are a huge reason why I love this sport.
But.....it's still a race. That means it's going to be hard work and a ton of pain, even if I'm smiling the whole way! Below is an update on how I feel going into the race.
Overall: I'm feeling better than I have since before Timberman 70.3 last August. My fitness isn't quite what it was then, but I'm feeling good and have found a groove again in my training. It may be a bit early for some of the hard work I've done recently to really kick in for a race effort, but it bodes well for races in the coming months. If you look at the chart below, you can see that there's been some good work put in over the past couple of months. My positive training effect is about where it was for Timberman, but the performance plot indicates that I'm probably still feeling some of the effects of the negative TE to fully benefit.
Swim: I've been doing some pretty consistent and strong swim training, so this is the leg that I'm most excited to see how I do. My pool times are as fast as I've ever seen, with sustained efforts of 1:20-1:25/100yds. Of course, I usually struggle to keep a straight line and execute effectively during races, so we'll see. For the 500m, I think an 8-9min swim is realistic.
Bike: Normally a strong suit, I've let off on the bike quite a bit since last year. The results were evident at Tejas. I should see a strong rebound but not quite to what I would consider my normal standard. This is a flat and fast bike, so for the 16 miles, I'm expecting 38-40 min.
Run: I haven't been doing a lot of speedwork but I have been consistent. I'd expect a solid but not spectacular run. If my swim and bike improve as expected, I should be able to push the pace on the run a bit more too. This is a 3.2 mile run, so depending on my pacing I'd expect 18-19 minutes.
Prediction sure to go wrong: Based on last years results, I think I have reason to expect a solid placing. Overall, with transitions, I'm looking at 67-70 minutes. We'll see. This week has been a light week so I should be fairly well rested.
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