It’s been a while since I have raced. 6 months is not that long, but a week out from the race and it feels like it has been forever ago. The nerves struck me today, this is why you do the early season races.

Theme: Early Season Race

It’s all practice. I’ll still get plenty nervous, but I need to get used to that too. The temperature is forecasted to be nice but nice in FL in March is scorching for someone who really has not run in anything over 40 degrees in months.

Going in

It’s been a crazy offseason. I had Covid. I took some time off. I dug myself into a training hole. I think I got out? This week has been some good training. For this time of year I feel a little slower than last year… but oddly I feel better too. This year is long with more A races than normal. So feeling good is better than being fast for the moment.

Travel

Going to fly down to my dad. He’s going to take off from work (thanks Pop!) and travel with me to the race. We have a place 25 minutes from the race, it looks amazing. That should allow for a nice early dinner on the night before. We will need to pack up early in the morning or the night before, perhaps. But that is ok. Better than waking dad up 3 hours early for the race.

Pre-Race

Swim almost every day? I think that works best for race week. My Kona swim remains my best swim. I won’t be anywhere near that level but that is ok. Swimming each day will help. The bike shakeout will be good. It also stinks, never really feel great for this shakeout…. but as soon as the bike feels dialed in. I’ll be good to go. I’ll jog the day before, but I don’t think running does much for me at that point. A run warmup is fine. But I’ll do a few takeouts as warmup.

Race Plan (still changing)

Swim

It will be a wetsuit legal swim. The day should not be too hot. I have a new tri-suit so it will be the break in for that. The wetsuit is getting long in the tooth. I think I may lose a bit of the leg this race. It’s been an awesome wetsuit (Orca 3.8) and I’ll probably just get another one. Anyway, for this race I will start with a bit of effort but not too much. Catch some feet unless they are too fast. After just a few minutes if there are no feet then I will settle in. The second half has to be thinking about form. Not a lot of swim base in there yet this year and the swim fade will be real.

Bike

Road conditions are all over the place. If it is raining then grip will be a concern. While I’d probably like the rain if it is in the 70s or higher… it will punish the strong cyclists as we will need to slow down for all the turns. Several of the turns are at the bottom of hills at that. So, take it easy. The early season bike legs have been good but a touch fragile if I push up over ftp for long. There are 3 hills that will probably take me to over ftp and I’ll be cautious for them.

Run

Take it easy for the first 2 miles. Smile! Settle in and make sure you are eating. It should be mid 70s and kinda wet. 2-8 miles pick it up a bit, slightly uncomfortable. At 8 miles check for food, hydration, heat status, because it is pick up time. Sugar, anything goes from here.

• half
• Race Plan