This will be year #2 for TriFest. It's a full weekend of racing for the triathlon enthusiast. It's sponsored by our local triathlon store, VO2 Multisport and organized by Headfirst Performance. These two companies play a huge part in keeping the multisport community strong here in Louisville.
There are a total of three races this year. A Sprint distance, Olympic distance and a Half Ironman. Last year I did the two races on Saturday (Sprint and Olympic) - you can see those race reports here. This year, with another Ironman on the schedule later this year (less than 100 days away now), I decided to skip the shorter races on Saturday and do only the Half on Sunday.
I've done this exact Half-Ironman course twice before, in 2010 and 2011. I'm excited to see if I can set a PR this weekend. The unknown at this point is my left foot. I'm still not 100% recovered from the Peroneal Tendonitis that has been bugging me for over a month now. I have only run on the road once since April 17th and that was the 6.2 miles of the Rev3 in Knoxville two weekends ago. All other running has taken place via Aqua Jogging in the pool. I could probably get out on the pavement and be okay with some short runs, but after the injury I told myself that I would only Aqua Jog until TriFest...so I stuck to the plan.
This 70.3 mile course is challenging for a number of reasons. After a 1.2 mile swim in a chilly Taylorsville Lake, the 56 mile bike course is very hilly and doesn't give you many opportunities to just zone-out and pedal. The 13.1 mile run is 4+ mile out-and-back course that is repeated three times...which is very challenging mentally. Here are my times from the previous two races in Taylorsville:
2010
Swim - 46:50
Bike - 2:56:08
Run - 2:10:33
Total Time - 5:57:38
2011
Swim - 36:28
Bike - 2:45:26
Run - 1:54:47
Total Time - 5:19:46
I honestly think that my fitness is the highest that it's ever been. My times in the pool are faster, my bike workouts feel more productive since I started using a power meter - resulting in my FTP (Functional Threshold Power) increasing over the last few months, and I've set PR's in every running race that I've done this year. So if my foot pain stays away, I'm hoping for big things on Sunday...maybe even breaking 5 hours.
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