Apologies to those who have already seen this.... SPOILER ALERT – I AM SLOW AND THEREFORE EXPECTING A SLOW TIME! Before my 70.3, I estimated a finish time of 6:05 – 6:45 (came in at 6:43, having beat my swim and bike times but faltering on the run). Accordingly, I have adjusted my targets so as to “race my own race” and not put myself into too big a hole that I can’t get out of. SWIM I am estimating my base swim pace at time at :08 per 100 yards slower than my 70.3 split. With calm waters and the time I’ve spent doing “stroke reset” work over the past month or so, I think I can certainly go faster (thus, the 1:20 swim which would be at a :06 per 100 yard faster pace than my 70.3 swim). BIKE I average 19.25 mph at Steelhead, yet had some major nutrition issues (starting throwing up gels at mile 45). I’ve since found a nutrition plan that works for me, but I do think my issues were also related to pushing too hard on the bike. In consideration of the foregoing, an accounting for some lingering back issues and a stop at special needs and for the bathroom, I think 6:30 is a solid target (figure 17.7 mph avg. pace with 10 minutes for stops, brining average down to 17.2 mph on a running clock). Faster or slower by 10 minutes won’t make me worry about going too hard or freak out about being too slow; just want to be in the ballpark on execution. Part of the slower split time is due to fewer long rides than anticipated (though I feel many of my 4-5 hour rides at a faster pace have still prepared me to handle this slower pace over 112 miles). Fingers Crossed. RUN (~cough WALK cough~) For anyone reading this that doesn’t know me, I won’t try to pull a fast one on you…. I am a terrible runner. Without being sick at Steelhead, I would have had no business running faster than 2:40 (heck – 2:20 is probably the fastest I think I could on a good day anyway). However, I was sick and I could only manage to run for short periods of time before feeling as I was going to get sick again. Combine that with the ability to only eat orange slices and I mustered out a 2:55 split for 13:32/mile. Too much running and I put myself out of commission for a few days, so I scaled back my mileage per run and upped my running frequency. Longest run of 16 miles was a while back, but I’m confident my running strength is still there given the extra running workouts. OVERALL I started training with a lot of enthusiasm, but that quickly went away as I had no one to train with. Training with the group over summer was great as I truly tested myself on workouts (perhaps before I was ready – but hey, can’t argue with knowing I was able to suffer through some longer workouts). After going back to my own plan, I’ve really listened to my body (too tired? take a day off – it’s not worth getting injured; mentally not with it? Take a day off so you can do each workout with a purpose). I’ve missed many training days, but at this point I’ve realized I need to stray from my “worrier” mentality and embrace the “warrior” mentality. I’ve never been the best athlete, but I’m “scrappy” and will find a way to get things done. I’m also starting to focus on what I can control: my mindset prior to race day. In that regard, I won’t focus on missed workouts (can’t get them back), but I will focus on all that I have done: 1. Lost 55 lbs since starting my “lifestyle change” in January of 2013. 2. Significantly improved my fitness from adding balance to my workouts 3. Improved my swimming (from only being able to swim 100 yards last November to doing over 2 mile open water swims this past summer) 4. Figured out a nutrition plan that, to-date, has worked on my long rides (never thought I’d be a “liquid nutrition” only kind of guy) 5. Suffered through long bike rides before I probably should have done them (Paul can vouch for this…) 6. Suffered through Steelhead 70.3 having “tried new things on race day” (note: worst idea ever, but actually makes me feel more confident going into Ironman Florida) 7. Maintained balance with life over this journey (happy wife, happy life – not worth going an extra hour faster had it meant not taking time off to spend time with her) 8. Remained injury free thus far and know that I am not overtrained. 9. Recognized that I have been strong enough to attempt something most are too afraid to start (stole that from slowtwitch) 10. I’ve accomplished my goal of raising awareness of Neurofibromatosis and raised the full $5,000 for the Children’s Tumor Foundation No matter what happens on race day, 2014 has been a great year and living a healthy lifestyle is something that means more than whatever happens over those 17 hours on November 1, 2014. Catastrophic = DNF Worst = 1:50,:15,7:00,:10,6:30 = 15:45 Base = 1:30,:10,6:30,:10,6:00 = 14:20 Best = 1:20,:10,6:15,:10,5:45 = 13:40
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 14:54:19 +0000