OK, I'm really late on this one. Time flys by.
Last "peak week" behind me. Now time for final taper, rest, recovery and getting mentally prepared to kick some a**. I've going with the slightly overconfident but still somewhat realistic. Hey, why not dream big. I'm just testing my fitness and don't have much to lose. I'll post more on my race strategy below.
By the numbers:
Swim: 3h16m, 13,950y
Bike: 7h32m, 164mi
Run: 4h34m, 36.5mi
TSS: 1106
Overall a solid week. A lot more quality than volume. Legs felt pretty tired running but pretty good cycling. Swimming got a bump as the air quality was a lot better. Maybe too little too late, but I'll take it. I'm still looking to supplement some swims by using an outdoor lap pool at a private residence.
Kansas 70.3!!! Its' here. Les than 4 days away. Its' what I've been training towards since December. My first "A" race. My ultimate goal is IMWI, but this is a major stepping stone. It's where I get a change to in a sense fire a "warning shot" and prove that I've arrived. The 2 guys that will be my primary "known" completion at IMWI will be there. Its my first chance to pace based on power, successfully execute (was not successful at Pigman last year...GI issues) a good nutrition plan, and see what my legs can really do on the run. I felt like in the 1:17 open time I put down 3 weeks ago, while ideal conditions, was hillier than Kansas, and I held back quit a bit the last 10k. I think I had another 1 minute there if I paced more evenly and really pushed it the last 5k. I also was a little undertrained for that intensity, and I felt it in my recovery the following week. This time I'll be a little more fit, and a LOT more rested.
Race Strategy:
Transitions: I want to talk about these first. I had excellent transitions at Trizou and I want to repeat that. The difference will be remembering to grab all my "crap" in T2. I have to put on socks, visor than grab my number belt and GPS watch. I'll have my Garmin 500 on my bike set to autostop, but I'll have to start-up my 405 otherwise the battery won't make it.
Swim: Find some fast feet. It will be hard to stay there with lap traffic. But I think a 27:xx is possible if I sight well and get in the right pack. But I'll be happy with another 28:xx swim same as Pigman. Conditions should be good. I feel pretty confident at this distance. My training hasn't been great, but then I look at my Trizou swim and realize that the speed is there, but I can't practice it in my warm pool I train in. SO I just have to roll with it.
Bike: This is a bit of a wild card. I'm really happy with my aero and overall bike set-up. I think a 2:18-2:19 is possible on about 255-260NP. I need to remember to really watch my efforts the first 20 miles. Lap traffic should be heavy. It will thin out a bit I think after mile 40 or so, but then I'll be passing faster riders and will probably start to hit some of the "packs". I just have to remember that I'm not going to "win" the race on the bike, but I can ruin my race. Trust my training, stick to the power targets. My nutrition plan is 1 bottle of my custom mix in my torpedo BTA bottle, and the same in a aero bottle on my downtube. This will also be my "back-up bottle". I plan to take a hand-off as soon as I empty the first bottle, but if I miss that this bottle will hold me until later in the ride. With warm temps and humidity expected, I'll plan to drink almost 3 bottles total. I'll also eat 2 Power Gels, one every 40 minutes or so. That will put me right around 300-320 calories per hour. Eat bottle is 160 calories, plus a bottle of Perform is 200 calories if I drink it all. The temperature will determine how much I drink.
Run: Time to take care of business. I want to throw caution to the wind and commit to a 1:21 early on so 6:10 pace, but stay over 6:00. that's 5' slower than what I think I could run on the same course in an open 1/2. I'ts going to hurt, really hurt after mile 6 on.
The good news is that it's a 2 loop run and the section around the campground is "out & back" so my family can see me 4 times, plus in T1, T2 and a short walk away, they can see me 2 more times on the start of the 2nd lap at near transition. Looks like it should be well shaded for most of it and really, good crowds to give you a boost. Lap traffic could be heavy and some aide stations might get congested and tricky to navigate at a nearly 6:00 pace. I remember that last 4 miles at Pigman being a matter of sort of putting my head down and just driving the pace. I didn't even want to look at the other competitors going the opposite way.
We'll see how the race plays out. But my current, optimistic and slightly over confident prediction is 28:00/2:18/1:22 = 4:11 (3' transitions). That could be good enough to win the age group... or it puts me in 4th. Hard to say. the competition will be pretty good up front, but I don't see any super studs that can go well under 4:10 on the bib list on this course.
Honestly, one of my major goals was to just go under 4:15, and I think that' a very, very realistic goal if I execute well and don;t have any major issues.
Can't wait!
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