70.3 Switzerland Preview

My next race is a big one! Exactly a week from today on Sunday June 3rd, I will be racing the 70.3 Switzerland in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland. This will be my third venture into the half ironman distance.  Last year at Vineman and Vegas Worlds, I had great swim and bike legs, but basically bonked on the run.  I partly attribute that to inadequate nutrition on the bike and basic lack of run fitness.  Leading up to both of those races, I was battling shin splints which prevented me from putting in the solid long runs I needed.  Right now, I think I have figured out my nutritional needs (I guess I'll see if I am correct), and I feel like I have built up a solid training base going into this race.  I'm also excited for a change of scenery from the Los Angeles chaos that I live day-to-day to something more calming and scenic like this:

I expect there to be cows wearing berets all along the bike course.

Here are some thoughts I have going into the race:

Swim - Looking at the results from last year, there did not seem to be any super fast swim times in my division. So, unless last years results are skewed because of some lake monster slowing everyone down or if some superstar swimmers end up racing this year, I expect I can finish the swim at or near the front of my division.  My only concern right now is the water temperature in Lake Zurich.  Europe had a nasty winter and I have read that the lake is colder than normal for this time of the year.  I guess there is nothing I can do about that other than just deal with it.

Bike - The bike course consists of two loops with about 300m (1000ft) of climbing each loop.  That's a decent amount of climbing, which I like. My plan is to just get into a groove and push it.  That's about it.  Oh yeah, and make sure I take in enough calories so that I don't bonk on the run.

Run - The run is fairly flat other than a section of stairs that the race calls "The Stairway To Heaven".  Watching videos of previous years, there were cheerleaders at this section of the course.  Not your average high school cheerleader, but more like the cheerleaders from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" video. I hope the cheerleaders are on the run course again this year.  I'll need the motivation.  As I mentioned earlier, I have bonked on the run in my previous two half ironmans.  I think I have figured out how to avoid the bonking, but I guess I'll soon find out.  I rarely make goals before races other than to race fast, but I think I am going to put a goal of a 1:25 half marathon for this race.  On fresh legs I'd have not worries of meeting that goal, but at the tail end of a triathlon...we'll see if I can do it.

Once the suffering race is over, I plan to take several days and venture into Northern Italy while my body recovers.  Haven't decided exactly where I will be going, but thinking of exploring the Piedmont wine region and visiting Cinque Terre.  Once I feel my legs have recovered, I plan to head back up into Switzerland and do some riding through the Swiss Alps.  I have read about many great rides, but the one that I am looking at riding includes the Grimsel-, Furka-, and Sustenpass.  Here is some of the scenery along the route:

And some more scenery:

Those photos were taken off of the internet.  Hopefully I will have my own photos to share when I get back from my travels.