Buffalo Triathlon, Here I come...

Realizing that it's been a long while since I've updated, I can only say that my absence has been due to Rebel Mission's I've involved myself with throughout the Galaxy. I won't comment on any of my experiences, other than I did have a leave of absence to participate in The Tinman Triathlon earlier this April in Morris, MN.

That didn't go too well. The weekend previous to that race Minnesota was experiencing the warmest weather this year. Temperatures as high as the 70's, but come race day on April 24th, Morris, MN experienced a blizzard with over eight inches of snow!
I got a t-shirt for showing up, but no race ever transpired.
So for the time being I am not a Tinman.

Meanwhile....

Tomorrow is the day!

The Buffalo Triathlon in Buffalo, MN will be my first attempt at an Olympic Distance race and now that the time is upon us I'm way more nervous than I ever thought I'd be before the race. Being sick with a sore throat and cold this final week before the race has a lot to do with it, but
Yoda was so right when I told him, "I'm not affraid!" and he shot me down with the cold yet all too real, "You will be, you will be..."

The trickiest part of the race will be the swim. I don't have a wet suit and I'm afraid I may get sick from the cold water during the swim all over again. I'll just have to do the best with what I've got. (I've heard that the water in Buffalo Lake is expected to be a few degrees warmer than the English Channel).

Other than the cold water swimming without a suit, I feel pretty confident I can do this race.

My goals this race are:

1. Complete the damn race

2. Complete the race without stopping for rest during any of the events (no treading water, no walking my bike up a hill and no walking during the run. If I'm in a crash, wipe out or just plain drowned it doesn't count.)

3. Swim goal of 36 minutes. (I'm afraid I might be as much as ten minutes off because I'll be so cold and unable to breathe in the water, but I'm still gonna tri-my-damndest)

4. Bike goal of a 3:15min/mile pace.

5. Run goal of 8:00min/mile pace.

Learning my limits and knowing my capabilities from my past five months of training have really helped me determine my goals for this race and on a perfect day I know I can meet all five of them, but I also know that the final three goals are set pretty high for me this early in the year.
Yesterday I did my final workout on the bike in the form of a critical mass bike ride through Minneapolis with hundreds of other cycling enthusiasts. I can't think of a better event than taking over the streets with bicycles during rush hour and leisurely riding through Downtown, Uptown, The Seward, The West Bank and Dinkytown at a nice and slow thirteen mile/hr pace. Having squad cars on the tail of our peloton "woop-woop"-ing and bike cops riding with us throughout the ride acting all surly and macho only adds to the excitement. One bike cop kept riding to the left a group of cyclists and attempted to keep them in one traffic lane. He was telling everyone they needed to, "Stay right, stay to the right!"
But when I pointed out to him that, "If we always stay right, does that make you always wrong?" to which he gave up and sped ahead to be with his other cop buddies.
It's an honest question.