Race Preview- Mini-Musselman

Just to set the record straight, sorry I haven't posted more recently. My 2 teenage cousins drove 600 miles with my mother to hang out for a week. Being on summer vacation, I have a lot of additional free time on my hands, which I had planned on training and blogging. Daily, the kids would ask, "What are we doing today?" This question comes with some expectations such as: I actually plan on doing something or the thing that I plan on doing is of interest to the teenagers. In most cases, I'd be wrong on both assumptions.

The week has been changed from blogging and training to sitting and eating. So far, we have gone to a Fireman's Festival, amusement park, Baseball Hall of Fame, and a minor league baseball game. None of which seem to offer swimming, biking or running (with the exception of the amusement park, which had a water park portion, but that's not the same kind of swimming). All of them offered copious amounts of food. Since I am a pig, eating has been done in epic proportions. With the big race quickly approaching, this might be the best time to take it easy and the worst time to be gaining weight. Take the good with the bad I guess and their visit has been mostly good. Since they are finally taking a nap, I have a smidgen of free time.

The Race
Tomorrow, I will toe the line in the mini-Musselman Sprint Distance triathlon. It features a 750 swim, 16 mile ride, and a 5k run. The swim is a bit special. Most triathlon swims start on a beach and feature large, fluorescent buoys to guide your way. Not the MM. Here we line up in a river channel with, awesomely, the current at our back. There are not many buoys in the channel. If you go off course, you should notice it quickly as the river is not that large. Although I haven't tried it much, but I think that swimming in reeds and in the muck near the shore will not improve your swim time.

Upon exiting the channel, transition is just a short jaunt away. The bike course is a single loop with a couple of nice inclines on pristine upstate NY country roads. Portions of the course overlook beautiful Seneca Lake, one of the 11 Fingerlakes in western NY. If you get the opportunity, check out the website (link above). Race Director Jeff Henderson, who has a habit of putting on high quality events, did a great job with the interactive maps. Here are some excerpts from his site. This should be the minimum standard for posting information of courses. Maybe then, we'd all know the course without any issues.

Bike First Half

Bike Second Half

Following the lead of the rest of the triathlons in Western NY, the run is almost completely flat. We have lots of hills in the area, yet none of the races send you up an incline. The most challenging slope is a 4.2% 'climb' over a rather short distance. My guess is that particular gradient correlates with a section of the course that forces you off the street and onto the sidewalk. The uphill might be the curb.

I'm using this race as a speedwork/ tune-up race for IMLP. I don't think I'll be wetsuiting it for the swim. With only a 750, current aided splash, the wetsuit won't really gain me much. The bike and the run are going to be in upper Zone 3 and 4. The Wife has informed me that we will be going shopping at the outlet mall upon completion. Should be fun for us both.

I'll write more on this race later. The kids are waking from their nap which means it's time to eat. I am trying to find the motivation to do a bike and a run workout today. Tough to do on a full belly. If I miss this feeding, there will be another one in a couple of hours. Wish me luck (with both the race and the food).