The Swim: I did the open water race in 1 hr. 10 minutes, so I should be less than that. It measured longer than it was supposed to be and I swam horribly off-course. If my time is worse - I either got beat up in the water or had a panic attack.
I plan on changing in transition both times - I figure if I am going to be exercising for HOURS - I want to start the bike and run in dry clothes. I don't want to putz in there, but don't expect real fast times either.
The BIKE: I will probably be between 6:45 and 8:00 hours. Depends on wind and how much I try to stay with the 1500+ people or so that pass me. I am not a fast biker, and I am okay with that. I am competitive though, so I sometimes push harder than necessary just to try to keep up. I know that pushing hard on the bike means I will pay for it on the run. My plan is to watch my heartrate and keep my legs spinning. I don't want to worry about my time so much - besides watching that I am eating and drinking enough.
The RUN: this ALL depends on the temperature/humidity and how much I blew up the bike. The slower the bike - hopefully, the better my run. A dream race would be to hold about a 10 minute per mile pace. I plan on walking the aid stations. I can run faster, but I don't think that's a good plan after all of those bike miles. I will again watch my heartrate.
Overall time - if I finish at 7:30 or earlier -- I had an absolutely lights out dream race. Everything went WAY better than planned. I know better than to expect this though. I'm not even aiming for it. I think that if everything goes so-so, I should be done by 10:30. I should think I would finish in the middle of that 3 hour range. Honestly - I will be okay with finishing at 16:59 -- the course closes at midnight (17 hours). I might be disappointed, but if I am that late, something really broke down and I will be happy to crawl across.
This truly has been quite the experience. I don't remember the early weeks - it seems I have been completely consumed by training/racing/planning for the past 2 months. I think I am at a point that I am ready. Not really nervous, just want it to be here. I'm sure that will change come Thursday when I go down to "athlete check-in". I am still obsessing. Watching the weather -- which right now by the way would be a PERFECT race day! Keep your fingers crossed for me! I have trained in hot and humid this summer - pretty much all summer. I have trained in the rain. I started in the cold months of winter. I had surgery on my ankle. I swear I did a race in tornado force winds early in the season. I am ready for what the race gives me. I also know that there is going to be things that I am not expecting. I am trying to "expect the unexpected". I am extremely blessed to have had so much support this past year. I think I did a pretty good job of balancing the training around the kids. Just a couple of days where I heard - "Mom - are you going to be gone ALL DAY?" I especially have to thank Rob for his support and guidance. It helped that he had done it before. The couple of times we rode together were fun - except the time he kept riding circles around me. I look forward to trying to do that more next year as he trains for Ironman Mont Tremblant (IMMT). His blog is: chasingmailboxes.blogspot.com
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