Trinona Oly Tri THIS WEEKEND!!

This post will be broken into my thoughts on the race in these areas:

I. SWIM
II. BIKE
III. RUN
IV. MULTISPORT FITNESS
V. INJURY PREVENTION
VI. ADVENTURE
VII. TIME GOALS


I. SWIM:

I've swam 13,000 yards so far this year. That means that this race will add over 10% to my yearly swim total. Dang. By this date in 2010, I'd swam nearly 60,000 yards. And 2 of those swims in 2012 were 3,300 yd open water swims... I haven't been in my wetsuit or a lake (for an ACTUAL swim) since last August. Double Dang.


II. BIKE:

Again, not great. I'm over 260 miles outdoors so far this year, and in 2010, I was over 460 miles with a LOT more time on the trainer too. Oh, and did I mention that this race is known for it's 1.2 mile hill in the middle of the bike that's around 9% grade? (It tops out at nearly 11% in a number of areas.) Check this out:

It took strong biker and pro-triathlete DKT over 6:00 to "get up the bluff" last year, and it took better-biker-than-me race buddy Chad May nearly 7:30 to get up the hill. Dang. Let's see if I can keep it under 8:00. (Who knows.)


III. RUN:

OK, I can NOT complain about my running this year. I hope this carries me a bit during the race. I've logged over 460 miles this year, which is GREAT for me. In 2010, I was around 380 miles at this point. However, I've heard that Trinona has a nice flat run. That means it should be fast, but I do pretty well on the hills (as shown by my surprise 1:20 half marathon PR 3.5 weeks ago on a pretty hilly course). My running endurance is good, mainly thanks to all of my runs with Henry. I'm not too worried about the 10K at Trinona.


IV. MULTISPORT FITNESS:

Scary bad. I've only done 1 short duathlon this year, and 1 SUPER short brick workout to help get me ready for that duathlon. Again, I've been running more, so my "multisport fitness" isn't what I'm used to at this point in the year. (At this point last year, I'd done 2 decent length duathlons, and 2 duathlon relays.)

My lack of swimming and biking should REALLY put the hurt on my later in the race. I'll be POOPED when I exit the lake, and my legs will be FRIED after the bike.


V. INJURY PREVENTION:

I've been wearing the "night splint" every night for the past 5-6 weeks. My heel got a little achy after the New Prague Half Marathon, and the ache DIDN'T go away after a few days. It still lingers. I'm hoping my legs have enough "run endurance" in them to keep my running form good over that final 10K so that I don't end up injuring myself. I want to count my strides at least twice during the run to make sure my turn-over is fast enough and I'm not heel-striking too bad.

The downside to all of my running (and racing the MDRA Grand Prix series) is that I haven't done an actual run "workout" since before the half marathon (over 4 weeks ago). I've been keeping that injury at bay while racing a lot. (Going weekend-by-weekend starting the last weekend in April, I've done a 10K, a duathlon, a half marathon, weekend off, a 5K, Hillfest bike race, and then this weekend's race.) So quite literally ALL of my runs during the week have been easier recovery runs or easier pre-race runs. My body is looking forward to a little rest for a week or 2 after Trinona this weekend!


VI. ADVENTURE:

Let me give you some details... My wife works this weekend. Trinona is about 2 and a half hours from the Cities in Winona, MN. We have a 1-year-old son. I'm mentioning this because I'll be picking up my wife's cousin Grace on my way to Winona with Henry, and she'll be spending Saturday night in a hotel with us so that she can watch Henry during the race on Sunday morning! We're both looking forward to it! It's going to be Henry's first night in a hotel, and I'm a little freaked out that he won't sleep well. We'll see what happens.

You may remember this photo that I showed of Grace and Henry on Thanksgiving last year:

My 5.5-month-old little dude!

Here's Grace with Henry and another cousin from just a few weeks ago:

And finally, here's me and Grace (and her brother) taking a chilly dip in Lake Minnetonka about 10 days ago on Memorial Day Weekend:

(Yes, I wear my pink plaid "Pinky and the Brain" shorts at family functions....)

If you'll be at the race, look for Grace and Henry and say HI! If you have a moment, try to entertain Henry for a bit to give Grace a bit of a break! :)


VI. TIME GOALS:

I've never been to this race, so I'm not sure what all lies in store for me. IF I HAD TO GUESS, I'd put my splits right around here:

- SWIM: 27:00 - 30:00
- BIKE: 1:14:00 - 1:20:00 (18.6 - 20 mph)
- RUN: 37:00 - 39:00
- TOTAL: 2:22:00 - 2:33:00 (which includes 4 minutes of transition time added in)

But that's just a TOTAL shot-in-the-dark guess. I'm don't have any real goals that I feel like I NEED to hit for this race, so I really just want to have fun!! And really, if I CAN post something around a 2:30 finish with my perceived lack of training, I need to quit my bitchin. Seriously.


Back with more as the weekend progresses! Stop back to see what's going down. And if you haven't seen yesterday's CamelBak giveaway, scroll down (or CLICK HERE) to check that out and enter!