Since my last post, which I have been putting off for sometime now, I have ramped up training headed towards my season. I completed the Papa Johns 10 miler, which is the last leg of the Triple Crown of Running here in Louisville, the Derby Festival Marathon, a couple sprint triathlons, and last weekend, Tri-Fest- at Taylorsville Lake State Park.
     Tri-Fest is an entire weekend of fun- camping, racing, friends, and good food. The crew at Headfirst Performance www.headfirstperformance.com always put on a good show. Cynthia Heady cooks up great stuff every time! They have 3 races- a sprint and Olympic on Saturday and a half Ironman on Sunday. I chose to race the half iron distance for a couple of reasons. 1) I wanted to see where my fitness was in relation to last year and 2) test out my new bike and wheels on a 56 mile course. The bike course changed this year, adding more climbing while decreasing the amount of traffic. The old course was faster (2:46 PR) in 2012 but more traffic is not a lot of fun.
   My swim was very average :46 minutes. I wore a wetsuit, which I am not a fan of them. Mine is a TYR Hurricane, I love the suit and it fits great but being compressed in rubber just doesnt allow my lungs to get the air they need. My pool times for the 1.2 distance had been around 1:48/100. So I know I can swim faster...
The bike was great- I felt powerful and my legs were in tune. I finished with a 3:00 split- but everyone was slow- when I checked results. My friend Kevin, who finished with a 2:43 said it was harder and he raced to a 5:17 split at Ironman Louisville last year- so I know my bike fitness is good....which leads to the run.
    This course is mean and will spit you out on the run if you are not careful. It begins with a .75 mile climb out of transition. Ouch! Then is rolling the rest of the way. Add heat, which it was 90 degrees, sun and very little shade and you have a tough finishing 13.1 miles.
     My run became a walk midway through. I will admit, this is my weakness. When I can knock out a solid run after a decent bike split, I will know that I have put it all together... So my finishing time counting transition was 6:38, with a run of 2:38. Not my best at all but going in, this was a training day for me. However, I still placed 4th in my age group, which is good considering the difficult course- much harder than Ironman Louisville in my opinion.
     So, looking at the season so far, I am about where I want to be with my fitness. I would like to drop a little more weight over the next two months and that will come off as I ramp up my miles. Looking ahead, I have some great races on my schedule:

June 1 Race the Bridge Olympic Triathlon
July 12 Ironman Muncie  70.3
August 24 Ironman Louisville
September 13 Buffalo Trails OlympicTriathlon
September 21 Landsharks Olympic Triathlon
October 26 Ironman Miami 70.3

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