2011 Race Schedule

Happy New Year to All!

Hubby and I had a fantastic whirlwind New Year's Eve. I'll post more details and pics soon.

Today is the day that I committed to my 2011 race schedule...as I know it today.

Only about 5.5 weeks until the first event of the year: Tri U Mah Indoor Tri at the University of Minnesota on February 6th. Tri U Mah was my intro to triathlon, seven years ago. The format is a little different: it consists of a 30 minute swim in a wonderful pool (University of Minnesota's Aquatic Center), then 30 minutes on a stationary bike; then 30 minutes of treadmill running. Winners are determined by the total distance covered.

As usual, a bunch of my tri and running friends also signed up this year: Nat, Marcia, Gary, Cheryl and I will all be in the pool for the 9:10 am heat.

I love this event because it is very well run, a lot of fun and means that summer season is on its way!

New for me this year will be the Minneapolis Marathon (June 5th). I asked my Coach, JonnyJ, if I should consider an early marathon to help me prep for IM WI. (I had such a big breakdown during the IM marathon last year, I thought just getting through the distance and practicing a nutrition plan PRIOR to this years Ironman would be a good idea.). I suggested to JonnyJ that I do Fargo Marathon in May.

JonnyJ agreed that a marathon was a good idea but immediately nixed Fargo. "Too flat". He suggested Minneapolis because of the hills. Yippee.

So, I signed up for Minneapolis full and Fargo 1/2. Fargo will be just a training run for me.

Also new will be the YWCA Women's Triathlon on August 14th. I've heard great things about this event and wanted to do one shorter tri before IM WI. The event venue is very close to my house and is only a sprint distance (500 yd swim; 15 mile bike; 2.5 mile run). By then, I should be well trained, used to my new tri bike and will hopefully have a very good RACE. (Yes, I plan to actually RACE this event as opposed to my usual "participate". JonnyJ will be happy to hear that....)

There are a couple other events not listed yet: I'd like to do the Lake Harriet Open Water and Great Prairie swim events again (dates not posted yet); I'm putting my hat in the ring for New York Marathon (November) along with some other friends. If I get in great. If not, this will be the third year I've been declined, so it is an automatic "in" for 2012; I'll do some additional bike events, but none of the dates have been posted yet.

As busy as my schedule seems, it feels a little "light" to me. I have no duathons planned; a super busy June and then very little for the rest of the summer. JonnyJ wants me to concentrate more on training before IM WI than on racing, so I'm sure even though I won't be doing a lot of events, I'll still be busy!