WI Sprint Championship!

T-minus 4 days will be Lake Mills sprint tri, which will be my first race of the season!  The running joke is that it is the "Wisconsin world sprint championship".  Most local athletes are geared up and primed to race 'the Mill'.  I always look forward to this day because everyone is so excited to get back out and do what we love.  Racing and triathlon.

In all seriousness, this race is almost always stacked with really fast people.  Last year I had my best sprint race by a long shot and (I think) barely cracked the top 15.  It must be all the beer, brats and cheese over the winter months.  All that energy needs to go somewhere...

As for my expectations, I am hoping to just beat my time from last year.  I'm very happy with all 3 disciplines at the moment and should be able to beat last years time by a considerable amount, on paper anyway.  You never know over a sprint distance.  Any mistakes will take me completely out of the pointy end.  Let's hope for some good weather!  Also, I just got the pre-race butterflies typing this up.  That's a good thing : )

If you are looking for a last minute race this weekend sign up here!  Awesome event!

Crazylegs RR

Just a quick update on my latest race - Crazylegs Classic 8k.

This is an awesome early season race that EVERYONE does.  I'm not sure how many runners there are, but its enough to warrant waves reaching ZZ.  Its well north of 10,000 runners.  The run course starts at the capitol building, winds through the UW-Madison campus and ends inside of Camp Randall Stadium, which is where the Badgers football team plays.  The venue is 2nd to none!

I was sort of targeting this race as my first speed test of the season.  Last yr I had a solid run and saw some progression compared to 2011.  This year I was expecting more of the same.  

Pre-race I met up with 2 friends who live near the finish to chat for a bit, get warmed up and figure out post race plans.  I was really excited to see how they did because it was a first running race for both of them!  They caught a ride to the start and did a very casual walk/jog for the 2 mile route to the start.

When I got to the start I met some more friends who were all in the same wave as me.  We did a bit more warm up and just hung out until the start.  The start of this race is great.  The UW band is playing and the energy is electric.  Maybe this is why the first mile is always so fast?  The first mile was somewhere around 5:40.  Miles 2-3 are always a tad slower because of some hills so this was my plan.  When it came time to dig my legs just didn't have another gear.  Which is fine.  I was coming off of some solid training so this was not a surprise.  I managed to better my time by about 1:20, but was still about 0:30-1:00 short of what I was hoping to do.  Official time was 29:33.  So, it was my first time cracking the 30' barrier for an 8k, and put me at 59th overall (22nd AG).  Not bad for a running race that is absolutely stacked with really quick runners.  Side note: the Powerbar natural fruit blends are delish.  Perfect for a pre race energy boost.  I will absolutely be using these all season long.

Mile 3.8ish.  **Almost** got a good W off.  Poor timing :P

I was really happy with my K-Swiss Ruuz.  Those shoes are light and comfy.  KS also make some great running shorts.  I also opted to wear a Wattie trucker hat on backwards.  Its not the typical race visor, which I love.  Look for more of this at upcoming races.  This is after all about having fun, right?  Notice in the pic how everyone else is not having fun ; )  But seriously, I need to get better at really making myself hurt.  Its cool that I can keep PR'ing and all, but I know I'm not running to my full potential...yet.  Only a few more weeks until the real racing begins!!!  Lots of hard work to put in between now and then.  Peace!