Buzzards Bay Triathlon Goals

Many of you know that I am racing in the Buzzards Bay Triathlon this weekend.  What you may not know is that it is a sort of homecoming for me.  The bike course goes right by two of the streets that we grew up on!  My sister is also racing it.  My parents will be joining Rob and Harry to be our official cheering crew.  It will be great to race with such support!

Our bikes resting on Hix Bridge overlooking the Westport River.

Truth be told, I've been looking forward to this race for a long time.  I grew up swimming in the ocean, and as intimidating as it may seem, I love it.  I miss it.  I want to race in it.  And the bike course is awesome.  It's relatively flat with beautiful rolling farmland on country roads with ocean views.  It is promising to be a gorgeous day and this course is the perfect way to spend the day!  And the 5K in the park?  It won't be my hardest run ever.  With all my cheerleaders out there, I'm sure to enjoy myself.

So what kind of goals do I have?  

My "A" goal is to soak it all in and have a great time.  I do this because it is fun.  Training with friends and racing with family...what could be better?  I hope to leave my nerves at home and just enjoy the experience.  I have always thought that the hardest part of doing a triathlon is getting yourself to the start line.  Once you're there, you just have to swim, bike, run.  And then celebrate the accomplishment.

Time Goals:

Swim:  this is a 1/3 of a mile ocean swim.  It is wetsuit legal and starts in the water (as opposed to running from the beach).  The wetsuit, the ocean swim and the type of start are all new to me.  I don't really know what to expect time-wise.  At Iron Girl in 2010, I swam the 1/3 mile course in 12:22.  I did the 1/4 mile swim at the Douglas TDD Triathlon a month later in 9:49.  I've also been swimming long distances in preparation for the Cranberry Olympic Triathlon, in which I was supposed to swim .9 miles.  That race was canceled due to Hurricane Irene, so I didn't end up racing the distance.  But I do think that all that training will benefit me in this race.  So my goal for this race is 13 minutes.  I think I'm in better shape then I was at Iron Girl last year.  I think it's do-able.

Ready to swim in Douglas.

Bike:  it's 15 miles.  At Iron Girl, I averaged 17.8 MPH on a flat course.  At the Douglas TDD, I averaged 14.02 MPH on a very hilly course.  I averaged about the same on the bike portion of the Danskin Triathlon in 2009.  So I'm hoping to beat it back in 1 hour.  That would give me a 15 MPH average on a course that has a couple of rollers but no major hills.  **Fingers crossed for no flat tires.  I still don't know how to change a flat and that would blow everything for me.

Official photo from Iron Girl

Run:  the dreaded run.  A 5K that goes uphill on the access road out of the park and then downhill back into the park to the finish line.  I've been hovering right around a 10 minute mile on all my training runs this season.  I haven't done many races, but I tend to run better in a triathlon then I do in a stand alone running race.  I think it's because my heart rate and breathing are all in control by the time I start the run during a triathlon vs. just starting off in a running race.  So what's my history here:  Iron Girl was done in 31.34.  Douglas TDD was done in 36.29.  I anticipate being somewhere in the middle of those times.  I'll shoot for a 34:00.

So factoring in some time for transitions, I'm hoping to beat 1:55.  With a smile.

Wish me luck!