First Race of 2011 Coming Up And There's Snow On The Ground!

It's that time of year again where we dust off the old tri suit and embark on the spiritual quest that is a triathlon. Unfortunately, there's some snow outside and Vancouver tends to have a difficult time dealing with what I would consider a light flurry. Even so, the hallmark UBC triathlon is one week away exactly and it's time for me to HTFU (for non-cyclists, that means harden the f*ck up).

view from my window

Having already done the coldest "summer" triathlon race is recorded history, I feel that this should be cakesauce in terms of Jens factor (see chart here). But it's always good to prep for the worst.

My game plan for the race is this: keep as warm as possible. If there was anything I picked up from racing in Banff it is that having sensation in your limbs is vital for just about everything, including trying to dismount off a bicycle (my legs caved in during the second transition at Banff, making for one embarrassing tumble). The only difference in this race is the swim. A 1500m pool swim is definitely going to be a lot nicer on the body than a 7C glacial swim so there won't be a need to completely dry off and that will save a good 2-3 minutes on transition one.

Going from the swim to the bike, I'm pretty certain I will be more drenched cycling than swimming as the weather forecast calls for a downpour.  And then running in those clothes won't be much fun; running never is even at the best of times.

The goals I have set for myself are these
swim 23:00
T1 4:00
bike 1:15:00
T2 1:20
run 45:00

There you have it. My goal is a sub 2:30:00 race, which will heavily rely on a miracle happening during the run, but until then, this week is my tapering week so here is my list of activities for the week for all those who wish to scrutinize my life even more.

Monday
2000m swim as 5x400m
Tuesday
8km run as 1km on, 1km off
Wednesday
1 hour on the trainer
Thursday
8km run paced for a 43min 10k
Friday
2400m swim as 3x800m *may change to a trainer ride
Saturday
20km light bike ride

Also, no going out until race is over