The A Race

Most triathletes have many races each season, but only one "A" race, a race that is more important than all others and gets the most priority. When I ranked my schedule at the beginning of the year, my coach defined an A race as peak, B as fairly important, and C as training or fun. While I classified New Orleans as an A race, I really only have one A race this year and that's Ironman Wisconsin. I realized today that having a race that important changes everything. I'm racing tomorrow and once again, don't feel an ounce of nerves or anticipation. It's just another day and I'll get up, go out there, do it and love it.

One of the best things about having a blog is that I can go back in time and revisit my feelings and experiences. I looked at my pre-NYC Triathlon blog from last year and it seems I was pretty relaxed and excited. I had been incredibly nervous leading up to it but felt as prepared as I could be. However, I had a different sort of anticipation than this year. This year it's my last race before the big day so it truly is for fun. But beyond the fun, I do have some goals so here they are:

Swim - 21:30
Bike - 1:22:00
Run - 49:00

I think the swim and bike are doable, though I may be close, and the run will be a challenge. My 10K PR is 49:49 and that didn't include a swim and bike before it. NYC has notoriously long transitions. I spent about 10 minutes between the two last year so this year I'm aiming to cut it down to eight.

I checked in yesterday and in the strangest of occurences, I have the exact same number as last year - 1896. Here is a photo from transition last year:


Here is a photo from today:


I'm waiting to hear if friends who did the race last year ended up with the same numbers as well. Perhaps they do that for repeat racers. Or perhaps it's the strangest coincidence ever.

After check in I did a decently long workout - an eight-mile run and 4,000 yard swim. The swim made my back feel like someone beat on it, but otherwise it was good. It was at my Ironman race pace, which is generally slow, so it was easy. The run went well and that made me feel good after struggling so much last week. I think my legs have finally recovered from Rhode Island.

Today was supposed to be a 1.5 hour ride followed by a three-mile run, but I ended up riding just over 40 miles so I decided to skip the run. I rode straight to bike drop and completed the check in process so the rest of my evening can be spent relaxing and getting my gear ready for tomorrow. It should be a good day.

Running (Friday)
Distance - 8 miles
Time - 1:09:37

Swimming (Friday)
Distance - 4,000 yards
Time - 1:20:18

Biking (Saturday)
Distance - 42.77 miles
Time - 2:50:24