Next Sunday I will be racing my third triathlon of the season. Originally it was supposed to be my second, but a couple of weeks ago, I participated in a very small triathlon called Melon Man. It was a reverse sprint triathlon similar to the Ordinary Mortals Triathlon back in May.
Sunday I will be in Boulder for the Sunrise Sprint Triathlon. I've done some version of the Sprint or Olympic version of this race several times, the last being back in 2014. That year I did the Olympic Race which took me just under 2 hours and 40 minutes. It's actually been several years since I did the Sprint (2010). According to Athlinks, I completed that race in 1:43:55. That was actually my second triathlon ever, and while I may not PR at this upcoming event, I do plan to improve on that result.
The Sunrise Sprint is a done in a regular order for a triathlon. The swim is 750 yards, followed by a slightly longer 17.3 mile bike ride, before finishing with a 5 kilometer run. This is pretty much the standard Sprint course for most of the races at the Boulder Reservoir.
The Swim: I've been doing a fair amount of swimming this year (at least in terms of frequency, if not volume) but I don't expect to see a huge change in my performance from other years. This will be my first swim in a wet suit this season and I've recently changed to a DeSoto Espresso wet suit. Other than a trial run at the swimming pool last week, I haven't really had a chance to use it. It was definitely more comfortable than my full suit, but I don't expect to see a huge change in my performance. The last time I was in the reservoir was for Ironman Boulder. Given that race wasn't wet suit legal, I suppose I could be a touch quicker. I'm going to go conservative on this one: 15:00 minutes or 2 min/ 100 yards.
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| New Wet Suit this year (well new to me anyway!) |
T1: The transition from the reservoir up to the bike area is a bit longer so I would imagine that will take me a bit more time. I'll give myself 3 minutes here.
The Bike: I just haven't put as much time into cycling this year. At least not outdoors. I have managed to get over to the YMCA early in the morning for some fairly intense sessions on the spin bike. The bike course for this race consists of some climbing at the start, followed by a long downhill, before returning to a more gradual climb at the end. In the last couple of races this year, I've averaged somewhere around 19-20 miles per hour. These races have been reverse order however. On the one hand I've been able to go a bit harder because I've only had a short swim afterward. On the other, I've also been coming off of a fairly intense run. I would be pleased to ride somewhere between 19-20 miles an hour on this one, so that would put me in somewhere between 52:00 to 55 minutes.
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| How will Spin Bike Sessions translate to the upcoming triathlon? |
T2: With a shorter transition, I should be able to get this one done a bit quicker. I'm going to say 2 minutes tops, but would love to do it much faster than that.
The Run: Other than a slight hill at the start and a bit before the finish, the run course is relatively flat, but there's also no shade. Depending on the day, it could be fairly warm (current forecast is around 88 degrees for a high). Coming off of the bike, I don't know what kind of performance I can put in for the run. I'm going to go a bit conservative on this one and estimate 24:00 minutes.
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| Did I mention I got some new kicks for Father's Day? |
Putting all of this together, my total time for this sprint race should be between 1:36:00 and 1:40:00. Based on last year's results, that would put me right in the middle of my age group. If these things come together, I will consider that to be a good performance.
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