Upcoming Triathlon!!

I guess it's time for my yearly triathlon so I can keep calling myself a triathlete.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I always INTEND to do more, but then the summer gets away from me, and then it's September and I'm wanting to fit in a triathlon yet. Oh well.

As I've been very "run focused" lately, I don't have many specific triathlon goals. I'd say by biggest goal is a generic one: just place as close to the top as possible. I've done this race the last 3 years in a row, and I've placed 2nd, 3rd, and 3rd as I noted in a post-race blog entry last year. If I can finish near the top, that will mean that I had a good push and did decently (and finished!).

My second goal would actually be to bike hard. Yes, I've really focused more on running lately and let some of my bike "workouts" slide, but I still want to put in the effort on the bike. My last 2 months (August and July) have been my 2 biggest months of biking since Ironman training 17+ years ago, so how will that play into my race pace? (And 3 out of the last 4 months have had my top 3 bike miles over the last 200+ months!!!) Last year, I noted that I had over 1,000 miles on the bike that year leading up to the race, but this year I'm over 1,800 miles!! When I'm swimming for less than 15 mins, biking for around 50 mins, and running for around 18 mins, it's clearly the easiest to take off the most time on that longer ride. I don't know that I can get a bike PR at this race, but I'll be pushing for that! I've taken a minute off each year I've done this, so can I keep that streak up?!?

As for the swim, I need to find the right speed for the first 150 yards. If I'm too fast, I might have to stop and calm myself down (like I had to last year). But if I go out too slow, I can't make that time up. It's a tricky event for me.

And on the run, I'm just going as hard as I can. The last 2 years, I descending every 1/2 mile of the run (in 2023, I did the first 1.5 miles in 9:21 and the last 1.5 miles in 8:29; and in 2022, I ran 9:29 and 8:49), and I killed it last year with an 18:08 5K. Yes, I'm very "run trained" right now, but I'm not saying that means I'll kill that run and go sub-18. I want to go nuts on the bike, and then the run "is what it is." I'm HOPING it's fast and I feel like I'm flying, but it might not go that way.

One other big difference from last year is that last year I made a point not to look back at previous race splits. I really just wanted to push hard, and not ever fall "trap" to any thinking like "well, this was the pace I was at last year, so let's hold this and be happy" when I maybe could be going harder. But I've looked back at the last 3 years I've done this race, and I know how they stacked up. I'd LOVE to shoot for an overall race PR, but I'll just be hammering hard and seeing what I can do!

I went out yesterday for my typical pre-race easy run with 3 pick-ups for about a minute each:

Spot the pick-ups.

Time to race! Back with a race report shortly!! (There might be updates on Instagram post-race....)