Juggling Act

Ah, the best laid plans. I had the rest of the summer all planned out in terms of racing. Just had a long talk with Coach Kiki about it tonight, and just after we got off the phone, changed everything.

I did some shorter races in the spring - 10k, sprint tri... then switched to long rides on the bike in preparation for STP. The overall goal this year was to work on my running, and rather than running long, stick to the 10k distance and hopefully get faster. So I found a triathlon in Oregon that fit the bill. End of August, with a longish bike (80k) and shortish run (10k). Perfect. Then the next week we planned a holiday in Whistler, and I figured I'd jump into the Xterra sport distance to finish the year off.

But don't you know how plans change, especially when you least expect them to. I'm not the only one who races in the house, and Jason is prepping for Kona, for which he qualified at IM Coeur d'Alene. And while the race in Oregon would be a good prep for him, the timing wasn't ideal (especially with coming home and heading to Whistler immediately afterwards for a week's vacation). So we spent some time online tonight looking at other options.

Parameters were not more than a few hours drive, mid-August, and good shopping (ok, that one was my rule). Jason's arrow landed on Lake Stevens 70.3 in Everett - a ferry ride away, Aug. 14, and near an outlet mall. Problem... I haven't been running long enough. Swim and bike would be no sweat (well, not literally), but I haven't run more than 10k since November. Do I want to gut it out and have a brutal run/walk? Not particularly. Do I want to choose to DNF after the bike or after 10k of the run? Seems odd to enter a race I'm not planning to finish.

Another glance at the race calendar, and turns out there's a women's only sprint tri in Seattle on the same day as the 70.3. A sprint is maybe a bit shorter than I'd like, but I guess I'd get to practice getting some speedwork in for real. So we hatched a plan that's a bit of a juggling act. Jason would sign up for Lake Stevens, and I'd sign up for the Danskin sprint.

Gives Jason some more training time before our Whistler holiday, I can still do Xterra, and maybe even throw in another sprint race in September before concentrating on running in the fall. The only catch is how we can each race in different cities on the same day. They're a 45 minute drive apart, so it will take some fancy footwork to make it work.

Here is our plan so far (warning: may be tweaked if we can figure out a smoother plan - feel free to send your suggestions!). Friday take the ferry to the mainland, do some shopping, and hit Jason's package pickup. Hotel near Lake Stevens that night. Saturday head to Seattle for my package pickup, do a bit of shopping, and head back to Lake Stevens for Jason's bike check in. Back to hotel. Sunday morning drop Jason off at his race start, and I head down to my race in Seattle. I finish my race, come back to Lake Stevens for Jason's finish (if I can make it on time, depending on my wave start). Take the ferry home.

Should be interesting!