I have a race next weekend.  It is the Spring edition of the Mighty Moraine Man event, and I will doing the Olympic distance race. I have done this race before, but it always helps to preview ride the course ahead of race day.

The Pittsburgh Triathlon Club has organized a group preview ride for tomorrow morning.  I have a three and half hour long ride on my workout schedule, so I will do this group ride as part of the workout.

This particular bike course has lots of hills.  I am planning to use the preview ride to determine how fast I can safely ride down the hills.  The road often curves on the hills. It is critical to control speed, in order to make sure I can take any corners safely.  I want to figure out where the tough turns are.

I also want to get a sense of how hard the uphills will be.  Given it is an Olympic distance race, I won’t be holding back on effort. At the same time however, I want to be smart regarding energy use.

I will finish my day tomorrow, with a short brick run on the run course.  I do remember the run course quite well, as it is along a footpath that follows the lake.  It is flat to gently rolling, sheltered from the wind by trees, but also open enough to be in the sun. I remember it being very hot, and want to check that out.

I am excited about racing again.  It is just over a week away.