To Louisville and back

Swim: 8200 yds
Bike: 195 mi
Run: 38 mi

I took the early part of this week pretty easy before heading up to Louisville, KY with Scott, Brad, and John to tour the Ironman Louisville bike and run routes. The race itself takes place on August 30th; thankfully I am not signed up to do it but the three others are getting ready to destroy their bodies in 8 weeks.

I did, however, take part in the last week of the Tuesday night track events put on by Charlotte Track and Triathlon Club. My plan was to race the mile and the 400 just to see where I was compared to last year when I managed a 4:56 mile (I didn't officially race the 400 but I raced in the 800 and just did 1 lap in :58 or :59). Last year I had been doing a lot more speed work and this year I have done almost zero. I just didn't know what to expect but I managed a 4:52 mile and a 55.92 400. Not bad, all things considered. I paced the mile poorly and am fairly confident I could go sub 4:50 with more even lap splits. For the 400 I was just tired from racing the mile and died a little bit in the middle before finishing strong. I was really happy and surprised that I could do these times with no specific focus on them.

We drove up to Louisville on Friday and hopped on our bikes for a 50 mile ride after an 8 hour car ride. It was pretty uneventful but my stomach felt pretty terrible so I couldn't enjoy the ride as much as I would have liked. We woke up Saturday morning for a preview of the entire course (112 miles) and set out in overcast/misty weather that would, by mile 65, turn into full-on rain. The ride was pretty good and I really enjoyed the course. It's rolling but still very fast. Sunday brought with it an 18 mile run doing 1 loop (plus a little extra) of the run course and it was really flat. That could be a fast marathon course; luckily I don't have to do it on race day. I will, hopefully, get to cheer on those guys.