Taylorsville Lake Triathlon Preview

Last season by training was broken into two segments. The first was leading up the the Taylorsville Lake Triathlon, the second was leading up to the Cardinal Harbour Triathlon - both Half-Ironman distance races. I went through a complete cycle of periodization for each. A Base Phase, a Build Phase and then a Peak Phase leading up to the race.

This year is different. All of my training is building up to the Ironman in August. I am currently at the end of the Base Phase and will start the Build Phase of my training next week. While this is not ideal for leading up to a race of this distance, I think I'll be fine. I feel like I'm in better shape this year than last and after some good long rides and bricks over the last few weeks, my confidence is pretty high.

Tomorrow's race will consist of a 1.2 mile swim in Taylorsville Lake (which is currently 37 feet above it's normal depth), a 56 mile bike ride with some serious hills around the lake and then a 13.1 mile run of rolling hills through the state park. The water temperature will be at or below 70° F, so this will probably be the only race this year where I will squeeze into my wetsuit. 

Here's a closer look at the bike course:

So as you can see, it's basically just a big loop around the lake - with an out-and-back at the halfway point. The real fun on this bike course is the hills. There are very few flat spots, so you are constantly shifting gears...making fueling a challenge. Here's the elevation profile:

 

I use a heart rate monitor literally every time I train...but I've never used one in a race. That will change tomorrow. The goal on the bike will be to keep my heart rate at aerobic threshold (around 140 bpm). It will get higher than this on some hills, but I'll try not to let it stay there long. If I can successfully keep my HR in check on the bike, then I should have enough energy left to avoid having to shuffle through the last half of the run like I did last year. I'll keep my HR at aerobic threshold on the run for the first 7 miles or so, then I'll open it up if I have anything left. The last 2 miles or so will be has hard as I can go...should be fun!

Last year's times:

Swim - 46:50

T1 - 2:49

Bike - 2:56:08

T2 - 1:15

Run - 2:10:33

TOTAL - 5:57:38

So with another year of training under my belt, I feel like I should improve on all of these times (maybe not the transitions). If I am able to do that, I'll be happy at the end of the day. My secondary goals look like this:

Swim - 41:00

Bike - 2:50:00

Run - 1:52:00

TOTAL - 5:27:00

Cutting a half hour off of my time is a monumental task, but if everything goes as planned, it can happen!

I just picked up my race packet and I'm racing with #166...my lucky number is 6 and I always seem to have good races when my race number has a 6 in it!

T-Shirt looks pretty awesome too. The design is by a local artist named Chad Waits.