Ironman 70.3 Musselman is just under five weeks away.  This is an ‘A’ race for me, so it is important for me to start thinking about the race in detail, and to make a race plan.

I did this race last year, so I have experience to call upon.  The first thing I did for planning, was to compare this year’s course, with that from last year.  The course is similar, but there are some differences in the swim, the bike and the run.

The swim starts and ends in the exact same place as last year.  This year however, the course does not go directly away from shore and back again.  The swim route stays much closer to shore, and is more triangular in shape.  I don’t believe the course change will make much of a difference.  Being closer to shore, it might be a little less choppy than last year.

The bike course also has some changes.  I will drive the bike course ahead of race day, but the changes look like they have been designed to remove roads with poor surfaces.  There were some really bad roads at the southern section of the course last year. Those roads have been eliminated this year.

Finally, the run course is also subtly different.  The changes shouldn’t make the course any easier or harder. Running through the campus of Hobart and William Smith College should however, be nicer than pounding the streets around it.

Having reviewed the course, I can now make a pretty good initial race plan.  I can use my experience from last year as a great starting point.