Well,
this sure snuck up on me.
Here
I am. It’s 8 am on a Thursday morning. April is over, and I’m 26 years
old now. I only have 6 weeks of school
left until summer break. Justin
Timberlake and Kid Cudi both came out with new albums recently, and I haven’t
listened to either one yet. I got booted
off my parents’ health insurance, which is a major bummer. I’m almost done with a really solid
taper. And my first race is in… TWO DAYS!!!
In
truth, all of those things snuck up on me, but the one that surprised me the
most was that last one. I mean, holy
cow, where did the winter months
go? The first weekend of May draws nigh,
which can only mean one thing: Wildflower!
I quickly realized I needed to bust my ass and update my blog, because
season scheduling is one of my favorite things to talk about, and my first race
is upon me.
I
actually do get really, really excited about scheduling. It’s one of my favorite things. I schedule all kinds of stuff. I look weeks ahead in the syllabus to
identify easy patches to accommodate long workouts. I anticipate what my tax return might be, so
I can theorize about the constraints of my travel budget for the summer and
start looking at flights. I’m literally
months away from actually purchasing any kind of a flight or making any sort of
reservation. In practice, when it comes
to the actual planning of specific events – like a race weekend – I’m really,
really terrible. I usually end up
leaving at some sporadic moment and then winging the rest of it. But when it comes to big picture, laying out
a racing season, oh boy oh boy oh boy.
THAT is one of my favorite things.
So this is one of my favorite posts of the year, and contrary to what you
might expect from my blog, a great deal of thought went into it before hand. Booyahyahyah!
I’ll
give you the big cheese idea first, then I’ll fill in some details. The overall plan can be summarized as
follows: race a bunch of halves, then go big.
(If you want a quick refresher as to why I mostly race the half-iron
distance, click here) So with the help
of my coach, I chose four halves to do in the coming months, selected mostly by
location, date, personal experience/history with the event, the quality of
scenery on the bike course, water temperature, the likelihood I’ll get shanked
by my mortal enemy during the run, number of hairpin turns, preponderance of
crying babies in the finish area, crowd support of fair trade practices, wild
salmon being served at the expo, and the hope that I’ll get a sunburn. This what I came up with:
May
4th – Wildflower
I did this event last year, and it is one of my favorites. Such a challenging course, always great
competition, and a special place in my heart as it was the site of my rookie
pro debut. I made some mistakes here
last year I’m hoping to improve upon.
But mostly, this is just such a fun trip and a race unlike any
other. You get this one done and your
feel sooo good.
June
8th – 70.3 Boise
 |
| Pre-race staging at the One and Only! |
Last year this was basically an ice parade.
And I kind of hope it is again.
I’d like to redeem my terrible mental failure. Plus, if the opportunity to ride the bike in
my wetsuit ever presents itself again, I’m taking it. That could happen here. Also, home town race, home town crowd, get to
stay at home with my folks, drink at my home brewery afterwards, hard to beat. A special race for me too.
July
14th – 70.3 Vineman
 |
| This was taken by the Idaho Statesman at last year's race. Looks about right. |
This will be a new one for me, but one I’ve always wanted to try. Always a competitive field in a beautiful
area. Plus, the timing works out
well. I'm hoping to try back-to-back race
weekends this season, and this one sets up nicely with…
July
21st – 70.3 Lake Stevens
 |
| Who would want to race here? |
Up in the Seattle area, this one is close, logistically painless, and should be
pretty fun. I raced it once as an
amateur a few years back and had a great experience, although I hear the course
has changed some. Excited to see how the
body responds to consecutive race weekends, and this should load up some
chronic training and set things up nicely for a mid-season break.
So
those will all be great, but I also wanted something relatively big to shoot
for at the end of the summer, something to really max out my 8-week vacation
from school, something new and exciting.
So it occurred to me: maybe try and step up to the full ironman game and
see what that’s about. I mean, this is
probably the best training window I’m ever going to get. When else will I be able to put in the kind
of time that an honest go at a full distance event requires? So I thought about it a bunch and ultimately
decided to pull the trigger.
 |
| As nice as the weather gets up there. |
August
25th - Challenge Penticton
Formerly Ironman Canada, and covering the exact same course, this race is under new management. I
chose it for a variety of reasons I won’t bore you with, but needless to
say, I’m quite excited about it. One I
will mention though is that I’ve always heard stories of the legendary
hospitality of Challenge. They run a good
smooth race and take care of all the athletes, pros and age-groupers alike.
Already I’ve been in touch with a few of the organizers up in Canada,
and the public relations lady has already promised me a local IPA upon
arrival. Can’t beat that!
After Penticton I’d love to get in one or two more late season races, maybe in late September or October. Would be a real shame to let all that
ironman fitness go to waste. But that is
going to be largely school/finance dependent, so we’ll see.
 |
| Now this is a venue! |
That’s it for me. It’s 9 am now and I need to start my day. Stay tuned this weekend for some
hot racing action. I’ll update on
twitter with a bib bumber when I have it, so those of you who worry I won’t
make it out of the swim alive (and for good reason) will be able to check on me. Other than that… it’s racing season! Time to go have some fun!
Take
care,
Andrew
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