Ironman Wisconsin Here I Come!

Well it's here.  The road top Kona passes through Madison, WI this weekend.   In 96 hours I'll be nearing the end of the swim.  Probably thinking WTF did I get myself into.  806!   That's the number of hours I will have trained from Sept 10th 2013 through Friday morning.  That's right around 2h15m per day on average.  That's not really so bad when you consider most Americans watch that much TV.  So there you go everyone has enough time to train for an Ironman.  It's just a matter of having the commitment and resolve to push yourself through to the get to the start line prepared and make it to the finish line.

I'm ready.  I'm mentally prepared to rub elbows the first 400y, just keep rolling buoy to buoy through the swim, nice and relaxed, execute my power and nutrition plan on the bike then find a steady pace on the run and push on through to the finish line.  While I'm interested in the position of my competition, I know that ultimately I simply have to put together the best race I can and listen to my body. While there's still that small bit of apprehension, especially the swim, overall I know I'm ready and I'm excited to see what I can do.  OT prove my fitness and see where 12 months... and really the last 4 seasons of training have taken me.

My projected splits (factoring in current weather forecasts):

Swim: 58:00-1:02
Bike: 5:00-5:10
Run: 3:09-3:20

Transitions are about 7 to 8'.

Finish time prediction:  9:16-9:40.

Yes, that's a very wide range.   But it's my first, and who knows how the day unfolds.  Odds are I go just under 9:30, but with good weather conditions, everyone else will be fast too.

I also don't want to forget that I'll by wearing my Lupus race kit as usual.  This time on my biggest stage of the year.

Thank-yous:
Huge thanks to my wife & daughter for putting up with my training this last year.
Special thanks to my friend Barb & Mark Smidt who will be cheering my on this weekend.
Thank you to Josh Madsen for being a good friend, all the support and loaning my his awesome Blue Seventy Helix wetsuit.
Thanks to fast 35-39 age group athlete Scott Bowe for racing and training advice.  He'll be in Kona next month killing it.
Thanks to pro Daniel Bretscher again for the afternoon riding the IMWI course and letting my pick your brain a little.
Finally a shout out to all the awesome athletes and great bunch of guys in the 35-39 age group.  It's really made racing a lot of fun this year with such amazing, yet friendly competition.  I know I've been "poking the bear" all summer.  But this weekend, he's the veteran that does this race 4 times before... and I'm just the Iron distance rookie.  I expect to be humbled. but look forward to the possibility of a very close race.

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend in Madison!!!