Pre Race Pondering

Great googly moogly!  My last race of the season is at hand.  I feel remarkably calm and confident going into this race.  Don't get me wrong, I have a healthy respect for the HIM distance and the requisite amount of butterflies, but I'm feeling very Zen about it all. 

This week's weather forecast is rain, rain and more rain which may or may not render a muddy race course (story of my life).  I am hoping the sunny days of Friday-Sunday will dry things out.  Sunday is predicted to be partly sunny and 65˚F (fingers crossed this holds true).

This race is unique in a few ways: It is not an Ironman branded race, the bike course is 58 miles, the run course is 13.2 miles, the swim is two circular laps of the course, part of the run is on trail, the bike and run course are flat, there are mutlitple events going on (sprint tri, sprint du, aquabike half, aquabike sprint, half distance du and half tri...phew!),  and there are only about 46 women total for the half tri, maybe 10 in my AG.

My thoughts about all of this? 

Swim:  From the few race reports I could find on this race, I am led to believe that the swim is clockwise around the buoys.  This is good news for me as I am a right side breather.  Two laps? Whatever, the distance is the distance.  I'm debating whether to use my bib john wetsuit or full sleeve one.  I'm leaning towards, full sleeve, but I don't know....the air will be cool in the AM, the water temp could be low to mid 60's...bring both?

I found this little ditty about he lake:

Bassman Half Iron Triathlon, Absegami Lake, Bass River State Park, NJ. Man-made lake that is only open to swimmers during the event. The water is shallow and the whole swim is spent with weeds wrapping around arms & legs. The visual is even worse – all the stumps of the trees the cut down sprawl below you in the murkiness and look like giant creepy spiders. It’s a positive that you can stand at any time during the swim – until you run into someone who is standing in a swim lane catching their breath. It is also a very strange sensation to drag your hands on the bottom during a stroke. After the race, police officers forced people out of the water that were trying to cool off. I reiterate – they don’t allow swimming in this lake except for the event. The beach is actually fenced off. It seemed like they were hiding something. Also google Absegami Lake, NJ and read the Sasquatch stories.

Sasquatch?  Seriously? (ok, I don't like the visual of 'creepy spiders', I already have irrational fears of lake monsters) Well, it looks fine to me.  I also happen to know that it is an open swimming lake though the summer.  It may be off limits to swimmers after Labor Day.  Sasquatch be damned! (Maybe this is the catastrophe of Biblical proportions I was talking about?)

Bike:

Flat lollipop course done 2x.  There is a bottle exchange at mile 28, but the word on the street is that they use Heed....blech!  I'll be packing my own liquids to last the ride.  Flat and fast is what I understand.  I like this.  I hope it like me.  Steady as she goes.

Run: This concerns me a little.  Yes, it is partially on trails that have been described as soft, sandy dirt.  This is not what bothers me.  This is what bothers me...

I cannot make heads or tails of this run course.  I just pray to God that they have volunteers who know what the hell they are doing and point us in the right direction.  Why is this a concern?  Because of all the different events going on at the same time.  The technical aspect of this course on a turn by turn basis will either make the run seem to go more quickly or it will be frustrating beyond the point of seeing red.

Transition:  In the sand.  'Nuf said.

The jury seems to be split on this race.  Either folks have loved it or hated it.  I am not letting that sway me either way.  This is my race to do with as I see fit (barring any unforeseen circumstances).  I plan on racing steady, getting my hydration and nutrition right, working hard to beat my Mooseman time (7 hours..yeah, I think I can do that) and also enjoying the hell out of this last race.

Side note completely unrelated:  So clearly what we have learned from Saturday's post is that no one can make jeans that fit a woman's body or at least an athletic woman's body.  I see great opportunity here....except that I know squat about designing clothing.  My favorite pair of jeans, correction, my only pair of jeans are a pair of second hand Lucky Brand I found at the Salvation Army for $5.  And really, they are baggy in all the wrong places, but I love them because they are so comfy, but my husband gets his panties in a bunch when I wear them out cuz it looks like I am carrying a load in my pants.  I guess that is why he bought me a pair of skinny jeans.  It is almost laughable; me in skinny jeans....actually it is laughable!  And somehow they manage to fit in all the right places, maybe a little too much fit; Twiggy I am not.