Interlochen, pre-race expectations

This week I would like to take a minute to discuss my pre-race expectations for the Interlochen Music Festival Triathlon. I will be competing in the Olympic distance event. This is my second Oly and I'm excited to see my progress from a month ago. As some of you might recall, I had a less than ideal race in Detroit. I personally felt that my bike fitness and nutritional plans were both inadequate. I have spent the past few weeks working on both. On the nutrition plan side I have adjusted my strategy to include both Infinit and Hornet Juice. In my testing with both of these products on my long rides (30+ miles) I have come off the bike still feeling like I have some legs left. Last weekend I went for a hard 46 mile ride with extreme hills including about a 2 mile climb to finish (the last half of which was out of the saddle barely able to hold 7mph). I used Infinit, Hornet Juice and water only on the entire ride and felt good afterwards. I'm not sure I had enough in the tank for much of a run but I certainly had more than when I came off the bike in Detroit. On the bike fitness side, what can I say? I have been riding my tail off. In blowing wind and hard hills I've pushed and right now I feel pretty comfortable in that area again.

Pre-race, my goals for this weekend will be pretty conservative. This is a B race for me and only 3 weeks before my main A race for the season. I want to rev up the motor a bit and see what I've got but I don't want to blow it up either. Here are my goal times for this weekend.

Swim: goal <30 minutes
I really laid back at Detroit in the swim. I want to push this one a bit more. I really think a sub-30 swim is must. I also want to practice drafting off the fast guys in this one. This is my strongest discipline and it's hard to hold back but I still need to go easy on the shoulder a bit.

T1: goal <3 minutes
I know, very conservative. The transition area is quite a ways from the timing mat on the beach and I am going back to socks for the bike, I'm still healing from the blisters I got in Detroit.

Bike: goal 1hr 20 minutes
This course is pretty flat, a couple of rollers and if I average 18mph I'll nail this goal and should still have enough left for the run. The plan will be to ride conservative the first 1/3 of the race, check the overall feeling and if it feels right hammer it right up until the last 1/2 mile. I want to spin easy the last half mile and should be able to maintain my speed coming in because its flat and downhill. (side note, the dismount here gets interesting because you are flying in on a down slope to the transition area) If it all comes together I really think a sub 1:15 is possible without ruining my run. Nutrition wise I plan on using my Profile Design Aerodrink bottle loaded with Infinit and my second water bottle a mix of Hornet Juice and water. The goal is to finish BOTH of these on the bike and start taking in Clif Shot Bloks as I come into transition.

T2:goal <1 minute 30 seconds
It better be fast, the timing mats are at the bike entrance and run exit and it's a small transition area. Nothing special here, drop the bike, slip on the shoes and hat and off we go. Nutrition plan here? Have a pre-made bottle of Hornet Juice and water to take a swig of just before I go along with more Clif Shot Bloks.

Run: goal <1hour
Not too hard for me to hold a 9:40 pace if I have some legs off the bike. This is a conservative goal but hey after Detroit, where I walked more than I ran, this goal has to be conservative. I want to run this time only walking aid stations if needed. I want to start slow and build my intensity throughout on this one. Nutrition, just water or Gatorade if they have it.

overall goal: sub 3 hours.
If I accomplish this I'll have made significant improvement from Detroit. If things go well and I feel good through out, my ultimate goal for this race would be a sub 2:50.

Were making this a family camping weekend. Staying at the State park where the race is held with a bunch of friends who are racing and their families. On Saturday morning I'm thinking of taking my son into Traverse City (about 20 miles away) where they are having their Cherry Festival 5k and 15k races. This is a big race and if he is up for it I think I'll let him run the 5k. So, we might have a couple of race reports next week. I won't be back until at least Monday so the race reports won't be up until Tuesday or maybe Wednesday.

As a side note, we had a wonderful time in Frankfort last weekend with family and friends. I didn't train as much as I planned but sometimes we need to remember to enjoy life a little with those we care about. They put up with our training and non-stop talking about our sport so we do need to just let it go every once in a while. I got in one great ride, a monster sand dune climb, a round of golf with some pals and a ton of walking on the beach. Does life get any better than that?

So, unless I come up with something genius to say again this week, good luck to everyone racing this coming weekend and check back next week for my race report.

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Ok, where to start this week. This post will cover last week and this week due to the short holiday week. I am off Work for the July 4th holiday starting on Thursday (July 3rd) through Sunday (July 6th). This is the last big week for me before my next race. The Interlochen Triathlon in beautiful northern Michigan. This was my first ever triathlon a year ago and I have a LOT of friends doing this triathlon this year. Last year we had 10 of us who did this tri, this year we have around 20 of us that I can think of. We are planning a long weekend of camping and friendship. I will again be doing the Olympic distance in prep for my half Ironman a few weeks later. More on all of that next week.

Training, When we last left our super hero he was ruminating on his humiliating lack of fitness on the bike and vowing to make a come back to defeat the evil forces of wind and gravity. haha well maybe not quite that dramatic but hey, it is my blog and if I want to embellish I have the artistic license to do so. But I digress. I have made the bike a major focus in the past 2 weeks and I am starting to see the fruits of my labor. Saturday I took a couple hour trip west to the Grand Rapids training camp, also known as my wife's friend Tammy's house, and got to ride in 15-30mph winds over some of the hilliest terrain I've ridden in a long time. I am yet again reminded why it seems that the winners of every triathlon, I have raced, always come from the Grand Rapids area. They have the biggest hills to train on!! If I had that for my daily riding enjoyment and torture I would be so much better. I managed a 2 hour ride and only made it 34 gut wrenching, smile plastered on my face miles. I am not kidding people passing my must have thought I was on something, I could feel myself smiling constantly. It was a great test and my legs felt great afterward. A week ago I ran my 11 mile trail run around the state park. This is my litmus test of sorts. I feel like if I can run that trail run solid, then flat pavement should be a cake walk. I ran it my fastest time yet in 1 hour 48 minutes and I wasn't wiped out for the rest of the day. I know my fitness is getting up where it needs to be now.

On the nutrition front, my plans for Steelhead are starting to take shape. I'll be using Interlochen as the final test for my Steelhead nutritional strategy. So far, I've been testing Hornet Juice and Cliff Shot Blok's. Last week my Infinit order arrived and after a couple of longish rides with it I am definitely adding it to the race day strategy. It has the right mix of carbohydrates, protein and electrolytes. The flavor is tolerable and growing on me. But, most of all I am having no cramping issues during the tail end of long bike rides and I feel physically good even after harder efforts. I've had no GI issues from it as well, which is a major bonus. Next week I'll layout my Interlochen "real life" test for nutrition.

Ok, this coming holiday weekend I will be off to either a northern Michigan training camp location or back to the Grand Rapids training camp. Either way I plan on getting lots of riding and running in with some open water swimming along the way. Look for a big jump in mileage this week as it is lots of time off coupled with my last big build week before Interlochen. I'm hoping to build this week, mini taper/recovery next week before the race then train hard right off Interlochen into another week and half build with a week and a half taper for Steelhead. The next month will be tough but the week before Steelhead will make it all worth while.

So, for all you U.S. folks out there have a great 4th of July, take a moment to thank someone in our armed forces for making the sacrifices they do for our freedoms we enjoy. For everyone regardless of nationality let's all try to perform at least one random act of kindness in the true communal spirit of triathlon over the next week.

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