The Passionman

I want to write a quick post about the Passionman Tri before I move on with my posts. I truly enjoyed this race this year. I didn't quite hit my goals, but that tells me what I already know: I need to keep training. As I put in a previous post, I placed 9th. My goal was certainly to win the race. In most races I will be aiming to win my age group.

Lets start with the pool swim portion. I can officially say that I hate pool swims to start a triathlon. In the case of the Bucknell Tri (mostly due to time of year) it would be impossible to move the swim outdoors. However, the pool swim throws off you rhythm. We were forced to flip backwards and under the rope every other time. The backwards could have been avoided but I wont go into the specifics of how that could be done. The other problem is with people passing or being held up. No matter how hard you try, you wont seed perfectly for the swim. That being said, I still enjoyed it. Pool swims just shouldn't be you first choice, even as a beginner.

The bike course is, without a doubt, one of my favorite courses! (However, this may be because I designed it last year :) I felt I really did well this year on the bike course. I was somewhere around 42min for the 13.4miles. my goal had been 40mins but not to bad. I really enjoy the rolling hills on the course and the back country roads that they are on.

Finally, it was time for the run portion. When I started triathlons, I HATED running. I still hate running, but every once in a blue moon I find some enjoyment out of it. I think the reason I dislike running is it takes me longer to get there and back. As I run faster, running becomes more tolerable. This is nice because as I get better, I enjoy it more, do it more, and get even better faster.

Again, for those interested in the race blog and the results posted there visit http://passionman.wordpress.com/

1 week until my first event

In 6 days, I will have finished my first triathlon of the season. It is amazing to me that I am planning on racing soon, when it has been to cold here in Milwaukee for me to ride outside more than one time. Last year the Bucknell Passionman Triathlon was a very warm spring day and took place in the afternoon. We could not have hoped for better weather. However, this coming Sunday is supposed to be around 60degrees and will be taking place in the morning.

The Bucknell Passionman site: passionman.wordpress.com
- find the course maps and general info here

My final week of preparation will look like most other weeks of training. I will be in the pool Monday - Thursday. I plan to run a 10k today, a 5k tomorrow, and some very light 5ks Wednesday and Thursday. I'm not pushing any of my workouts hard this week. Due to the short length of the Passionman, I don't feel the need to taper into the race. At one point, the bike portion of the race was the least of my concern. However, because of the weather I have been confined to the indoors and not fully tested myself on the bike out on the road. I hope all those spinning classes will carry over well....

My goals for the race are as follows:
Swim: 650m 10 mins
Bike: 13.2miles 35 mins
Run: 3.1miles 21 mins

Last year I had to strategize where I would expend my energy. This year it will be all out for the entire course. A course of this distance requires speed and adrenaline, not endurance and strategy this time around. The real question is what to wear and how to transition. Were it to be another warm beautiful day, I would wear only a tri suit and only change shoes (no socks) at the transition area. At 60degrees and partly cloudy, I might want to look into drying off after the pool and a long sleeve jersey... That will have to be a game time decision.

I am looking forward to this race and hope to beat my goals and possibly bring home the gold metal (for non students) ;)