One week from now (I mean right now as I sit here typing these very letters), I expect to be 5 miles from T2. My goal will be to bring my hr down from about an avg of 152 to about 135, keep it steady and ready for T2, so I can hit the run and knock out the first two miles with an avg hr of 150. Try to maintain that until mile 7, then decide if I am going to drop the hammer and race hard or shut it down and cruise in. That will largely depend on two things: (1) heat; and (2) how my achilles tendon feels.
Last year I finished the race in 5:27:xx. It was my first 70.3, and in all honestly I was "running scared" for the whole race. I didn't know what to expect. I desperately wanted to finish under 6 hours, and that was about all I knew. Had done a beginner training plan to a 70.3 I had downloaded from free off the internet, but the wheels had fallen off from weeks 12-17.
This year, is a differnt story Training has been going along pretty well, as good as it can be considering my sprained ankle and tendency to eat junk food and overeat non-junk food. But I can't complain. The so-called wheels have not fallen of. I am here today based on my own action (and inaction). I've had good coaching during this training cycle, and it has really helped.
I know I am faster, stronger, more prepared this year. What I don't know is what the weather will do. Right now, weather channel says it will be mostly sunny, low in the am of 60 and high of 89. I wilt in sun/heat, so this will be interesting b/c last year's rain and clouds saved my ass.
So I am expecting (ok, so I expect to be a few minutes slower, and these are ballpark/approximates times, but this is meant to compare/evaluate temperature ranges):
8:04 Swim -- 61 degrees -- no worries
8:30 Bike -- 63 degrees -- gonna be cooold on the bike the first hour, especially b/c wet.
11:00 Run -- 71 degrees -- if it is in the 70's, I should be ok. over 80, and oh shit.
1:00 Finish -- 77 degrees... this is gonna be interesting.....
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