Next Tri This Weekend!

Well after much wrangling with my online registration, I am officially registered for the Tri for Your Cause semi-sprint event in Boulder this weekend. Tri for Your Cause is a great event because you get to fund raise money for your registration fee and then get to choose which organization gets the funds, hence "Your Cause." Naturally I am supporting the National MS Society and couldn't be more excited, though I spent more time on hold with active.com trying to get my registration figured out than I will competing in the actual event. If anyone is also doing this event, drop me a line and let's meet up in the beer tent afterwards...

The race is pretty short, and will serve as another tune-up for all the little things that you can only do in a race setting, namely: transitions, nerves, and racing in the crowd. With 500 entrants, I will be able to get more than my fair share of the latter! This will be my biggest race (as far as participants go) ever, so I'm sure the energy and chaos will be very high...

The race starts with a 500 meter open water swim, and I am very excited to try out my new wetsuit. Thanks to F2R for hooking it up and I will post a full review of the wetsuit next week. The bike is 17 miles of rollings hills around Boulder, and should be pretty similar to the course I rode in the same event 2 years ago. I am still going to try and ride the course the day before as a warm up and pysch up. For whatever reason, I have this obsessive need to have every second of every facet of the race planned out in my head in order to feel confindent and relaxed. I don't like having to guess or plan for the unknown. Kind of curious, especially since this feeling of "reacting in the moment" is what I strive for when I play music. The run is a straightforward 5K that is 100% flat on gravel, so definitely no surprises there.

A few great links I've come across recently:

-Tips for a mass swim start. Since this will be my first mass, open-water swim start in a couple years, this should come in handy. Namely, prepare and train for being in oxygen debt for the first 50 yards or so and then be able to regain a normal pace.

-Denver is getting some more bike lanes!

-Happiness is stillness is God-like. Not sure if it's possible to find stillness in a triathlon, but to achieve a more still state of mind surely has to be of help. Your event is a river and you are a drop flowing along...

Thanks for checking in and be sure to check out Amanda's food blog, which is taking shape quite nicely. Some great nutritious and delicious stuff going on over there!

'Til Next Time,
BJ