Bike Power?

This Saturday is the Minnetonka Triathlon. This was my only win last year and I'm looking forward to another battle with Brett Lovaas. Brett had issues last year mounting his bike and with a rogue water bottle that may have made the difference in the outcome. While racing is racing and all of it counts I would rather have had an epic race to the finish line like I had with Josh Blankenheim the year before, rather than winning due to technical difficulties.

This will be my first triathlon of the year so I'm a bit nervous as usual. I have done a couple of road races and duathlons to tune things up a little. One thing that has concerned me is my lack of bike power. This could be attributed to two things. Lack of road riding and seat position. I moved my seat back last year for IM Wisconsin. Since then my power has gone downhill. Since the Apple Duathlon I've put quite a bit of time in finding a better seat position. Since I'm no expert I'm doing a lot of guess work. However I believe I have found a better position on both my training and racing bike. Do to increased avg mph on the road I believe I'm nearly dialed in.

The bonus is I've been swimming with a masters program since last fall and am seeing huge improvements in efficiency. Hopefully that will translate into faster swim times or at least more energy for the bike. Having said all that my running is what is really come a long way in the past few months. I've really found a good stride and am averaging around 5:50 one mile splits whine I do 6 x 1mile repeats on 1 min rest. That's the fastest I've ever been able to run that workout.
Transitions however, have made the difference for both Brett and me in the last two years. For me it was sloppy T1 and T2 and for Brett was mounting the bike last year. Being a sprint transition times make a huge difference in the outcome of the race. They must be fluid but fast. Easier said than done.

I am looking forward to my new daughter seeing her first tri and second race. I'm planning on mom coming as well and I usually have a few other friends and family check this one out as well. I just hope for a fun race and to gauge where I am at this point.