Race Preview - Egg Hunt Tri

The second triathlon of the year coming up the day before Easter. Admitidly I was not super stoked by my last performance. Sure I met my overall goal but... I just want to do better. It's hard not to compare myself to the rest of the field. I think of it as motivation, keep getting out there, figure out how to get faster, keep getting better! This tri will probably be the last sprint before my first Olympic distance in June. Besides a 5k and walk for the cure in May, that month will be focused on bringing bike mileage up, maintain my run base established over the winter and getting the swim leg settled.

Race Info
The race is at CB Smith Park, I've never been there, but I've driven past it many times, so, if that means anything :)

The swim is a triangle in a lake - the nice part of this over the last race is that it means there has to be buoys :) The potential downside is crowding at the turns, and possibly running into people who are just getting started. The last few swims have felt good, so I expect that I'll be able to get out there and settle into a good pace.

The bike is another two loop course, covering 11 miles. It's a little different than the last race, there are two loops making up half the distance. So really it's four little loops. I am skeptical to say the least. I'm looking forward to it though, my last few bike workouts have been good - I'm planning on transitioning that into some leftover energy for the run.

The run in also a two loop course. It's advertised as a 3.1 miles, overall my goal is to try just a little bit harder to stay the course on this one. Hopefully nobody I know will pass me again, there's also my honor at stake since my sister whooped me on the last run, I must avenge!

Goals
My "way out there" goal is to improve drastically. My "based in reality" goal is to perform well on the bike leg, but still have enough gas left to perform on the the run. Overall I'm hoping for a comparable time, the distance is longer, but I'm going to do my best to adjust the time.

	Previous	Goal
Swim	6:58	6:30
Bike	31:44	34:00
Run	28:21	27:00
Total	1:10:54	1:12:30

It's a longer course, but I've sped up the bike a little, and kept the same run and swim goals. I think it's doable, my last few bikes and runs have been good.

I threw five minutes in there for transition times. My time are pitiful, and five minutes is still an eternity, but I can't tell from the maps how far the swim is from the run. All of the races I did last year had a quarter mile beach run from the swim exit to the transition area. If it's shorter than that I'll beat five minutes, three minutes would be good for me, but since I'm not focusing on it, setting that goal is almost meaningless to me :p

Closing Comments
I'm feeling great heading into this race training wise. Last year at the end of the year a 15 mile bike really wiped me out, and I couldn't finish a three mile run without stopping. Now 15 miles is the easy mid-week bike, and four miles is the easy mid-week run. Add some swimming in there... and I'm hoping it spells success. Plus I want to head into the next month of training feeling like I've got a great base.