Chaska River City Days Triathlon Preview

My second race of the year is just a couple of days away - the Chaska River City Days Sprint Triathlon (whoa, that's a mouthful).  Of the races I have planned this year, this is the only one that I've actually done before.

The foot is feeling much better now.  There hasn't been any real pain to speak of for a couple of weeks.  Sometimes I'll be 'aware' of some tightness, but now the tendons are relaxing on their own.  Hopefully all the unpleasantness of the last month will soon be a distant memory.

The only real issue I have now is some, um, 'tenderness' in a very special area.  In hindsight, I should have applied some body glide to this area prior to my ultra long run on Sunday (15.5 miles in 2:25, thankyouverymuch).

For those of you wondering where my raw soreness is, well, is halfway between my...

and my...

Let's leave it at that now, shall we?

Moving on.

The swim for the Chaska Tri runs at about 1/3 of a mile, the bike is a quick 16 miles and the run is a 5K.  It's a fun course, and you're almost guaranteed to negative split the run - the first mile is straight uphill, the second mile is flat and the third mile is a screaming downhill back in to town. 

It's not an 'A' race by any stretch.  It doesn't even really fit into the training plan all that well, but I had so much fun doing it last year, I had to give it another go.

I plan to push the swim harder this time around.  My heat is one of the last to take off, so I'm hoping to go out harder than usual and pass as many people as I can.  The first few miles of the bike head uphill, so I'll try to push it here too.  I'll try to put it in cruise control once the course flattens out and then give my legs a little bit of a break on my way back into town in preparation for the run.  Again, I'll push it as hard as I can up the long hill at the beginning of the run, cruise through the 2nd mile and then get down the long downhill as quick as I can safely move.

Time wise, I'm aiming for swim splits under 2:00/100y.  On the bike, an 18.5mph average sounds about right. Finally, if I can keep my mile splits in the 8:45 range, I'll be thrilled.   In the end, an overall time between 1:20 and 1:30 would be great. 

On another note, I'm also prepping my body for the race.  Usually, I'll re-shave my legs.  It's a nice little ritual, and the smooth skin that's left over helps me feel faster.  This time around, I talked The Wife into giving me a proper leg waxing.  Now my wheels are just as smooth as when they're shaved - but this time the effect will last up to a month.  Score!

Ooohhh.  Sexy!  Plus, I'm rocking some awesome tan lines!