Sprint Tune Up

Sunday, I'm racing in my first (and possibly only) sprint distance race of the season.  This race fit well into the rest of my season and gives me a chance to go through the race motions without needing days of recovery.  Also, in sprints, you get to go fast!

As well, I convinced A that she needed to do this race as well, as a warm up to her first Olympic distance at Mass State and because it is the same course that we did our very first triathlon on  7 years ago.  In addition to purchasing a shiny, new bicycle, A recently got her first wetsuit.  We met at Walden last Sunday to put it through its paces.  Just as we were wading out into the pond, A stubbed her toe.  She soldiered on, and we swam around a bit, until I started to turn blue (seriously, why can't I stay warm?).  When we got back to home, her toe had turned purple.  On Monday, the doc confirmed that it was broken.  So here we are 7 days from her first race of the season with a toe that isn't really on board with the plan.  She's gonna make the call tomorrow about how much of the race she'll be doing.  Swimming isn't bad, biking is a little rougher, running, well that's probably out.   Total bummer.  Toes take about 4 weeks to heal.  We've got 4 weeks til Mass State.  Hmmf.

As for me, I'm using the race to perfect my race day strategy (i.e., transition area, pre-race routine, mental toughness), while going hard.  I've had trouble in the past getting the balance between biking and running just right in olympic distances (and half ironmen).  I go too hard on the bike and suffer on the run.  My coach is helping me work on this, thinking about getting faster throughout the race.  But in a sprint, well, here's his advice, "Said another way, regardless of what the numbers are saying, if it feels too hard, it is too hard.  Conversely if you feel like you can do a tad more, do a tad more especially on the bike."