Commence crazy lady weekend
Today kicks off what I dub my crazy lady weekend.
I will be doing two, yes two, races this weekend as part of the annual Musselman Triathlon weekend.
First on Saturday is what's known as the mini-Mussel -- a sprint-distance triathlon. This is a 750-meter swim, 16.1-mile bike and a 3.1-mile run.
Then I return on Sunday for the Aquabike of the Musselman. The Musselman, in its sixth-year, is a half-Iron distance race meaning it's a 1.2-mile swim, 56 mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run.
("Ironman" is a trademarked word so those not part of the "official" series use iron-distance and half-iron distance to describe what it is. As an aside, to me this is like trademarking "marathon." To me, Ironman or Half Ironman describes a distance, not a trademarked sponsored race series. But that's just me and I respect the money and prestige of the Ironman.)
The Aquabike, which is now officially recognized in the triathlon world, consists of the swim and bike portions of the course. There are no awards but according to the race information, I still get a finishers medal.
This means I will be swimming 1.2 miles and biking 56 on Sunday, a day after racing the sprint.
Some hearty (or crazy) people participate in what's called the "Double Mussel" doing the sprint and the half iron distance. I don't qualify as a "Double Mussel" participant because I'm saving my legs and skipping the 13.1 mile run.
But I still think I'm a bit crazy.
The idea for this weekend is to look at is as a great training tool.
First, I get to race a sprint, which gives me more race-day experience. The importance of this, at least for me, is to continue to learn and get comfortable with race day. It's about managing anxiety and perfecting my nutrition and being able to have a plan, stick to the plan and understand when and how to change the plan if necessary.
The Aquabike will be a training run. It will give me a chance to swim a 1.2-mile marked course in race conditions and see how I do. Half-iron and iron distance races have time cutoffs for each segment of the course and my biggest concern is making the swim cutoff. I've gotten my head around the fact that I can swim. But can I swim fast enough?
My fears of making the swim cutoff were eased earlier this week when I saw the wave times. The swim course closes at 8:40 and my wave goes off at 7:08. I know that is plenty of time for me to make that swim cutoff and get on the bike. All that I have to do is put my face in the water and swim.
The bike will be challenging, but it's nothing I haven't done previously. Plus, I don't have to worry about saving my legs for the run. I will get the feel of what the distance is all about and have a better feel for what I need to work on in the next three months as I prepare for my official half Ironman debut at Muskoka 70.3
