Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Mulling Things Over

So, the only race I have signed up for is the live.love.tri in August. It's an all women's sprint triathlon and should be a lot of fun. There is another race two weeks later, the Patriot, that has similarities, and one significant difference, that I'm thinking about signing up for again. At the moment I'm torn. If it was a no-brainer, I would have signed up already. But it's not.

Comparison:
  • Live.Love.Tri is reverse format: 5K run, 10 mi bike, 400 M pool swim.
  • Patriot Tri is standard format: 400 M pool swim, 16 mi bike, 5K run.
  • The same pools is used.
  • The same run route is used.
  • The bike route is significantly different. The route for the Patriot longer, and it heads out in a direction that makes it more hilly. And those hills are what's holding me back from jumping on it.
Thoughts:
  • Two races two weeks apart seems good from a training perspective. Train, then taper for first race. Race, then use recovery after 1st races as taper for second race.
  • The fact that the format is reversed from the first to second race keeps it interesting; especially important since the location is basically the same
  • I'm not a fan of hills on the bike. Really not sure I want to go 6 miles further on the bike *and* toss in that climb.
Clearly I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking it over. Patriot sold out last year, so I can't wait too long to make this decision if I end up deciding to go for it.

In other news, I had a tempo run fail this evening. It turned into a survival run. I don't know what the problem was exactly, but the 93 deg temp with mostly sunny run route certainly didn't help. I need to get serious about running in the morning again.

13 comments:

  1. 93 degrees? Yes, get up and run in the morning.

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  2. 93 degrees is nothing to play with!

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  3. 93 degrees is certainly a survival run! Well done not dying!

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  4. The big question that you need to answer for yourself is what are you expecting to get out of each race. If you are looking for fun, supported training days, do both and don't worry about the hill. Think about not even tapering before the first but training right through.

    If you are going for time, pick one and go for it.

    Be safe w/90+ degrees. At a minimum, overhydrate and yes, consider mornings. :)

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  5. Morning runs are certainly the way to go. I would do both races. Just go and have fun. 6 miles more and a hill...you can handle that easily!

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  6. I think you should go for it! Take on the challenge!

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  7. Our tri group usually does several races a year but really tries to pick one being their A race - PB overall etc.
    93 degrees? Yikes....

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  8. I love the idea of running before biking. Good luck deciding.

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  9. Yeah, hills are a deterrent, but if you get in the training you'll be able to take those on with no problems! Either way, you can't go wrong with what you choose to do.

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  10. I'm sure you could do both, no problem.

    I'd be afraid of having the swim last. I'm a weak swimmer already, if I were tired from running and biking I'd either drown or doggy paddle it. ;o)

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  11. A reverse tri sounds cool, I never done one before

    2 weeks in between races is a tough decision. Its borderline between recovery and taper, but you still have time to get a couple hard training sessions in. If I was in your shoes, I would have the same delimna as you have

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  12. 93° F... better the early morning runs!
    I am sure you can do both the races. Good luck.

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