A look ahead

With the big race looming on the horizon, today was just about getting some blood flowing and things loose. After waking up, I went to the hotel parking lot and set up my trainer, getting a good 30 minutes in. I changed shoes, and knocked off a quick 15 minute run. The terrain here is constantly up and down, so I got to practice a few hills, and things felt really good. We'll see how they feel after a 3+ hour warm-up. Bikes had to be checked in the day before, so I went to the race site, turned over my ride, and went down to the lake for a quick swim. Ten or twelve minutes in the water, some sighting practice, then I towelled off and got in the car to drive the bike course.

Last night we attended the athlete's welcome banquet. Good food, and we had a few speakers address the crowd. The theme of the evening seemed to be: hills. Apparently, they have lots of them around here. The scouting mission of the course bears this out. As a training ride, this course would be a blast. For a race, this could be a long day. There won't be any records for the 70.3 distance set tomorrow. Speaking of hills, they found a way to add one to the swim. From swim exit to the transition zone is a 300m run straight up a hill. It's not part of the 1.2 miles of the swim, and they don't subtract that from the half-marathon. No, it's just a bonus. Aren't they nice?

I've abandoned any time goals for the day. With the extra 4km on the bike, along with the hills on the bike and run, and a swim exit that could take 2 minutes, there's no real point. Roughly speaking, I want to find a good set of feet on the swim, and swim comfortably hard (instead of hardly comfortable). I'll hit the bike and keep my HR between 135-145 bpm, going up towards 150 on the tougher hills. 150 bpm will act as a hard cap. I had been thinking that I may be taking it too easy, but knowing how much gas I'll need for the run, I'd rather take it a bit too easy than a bit too hard. The run will be when I bring out the "hardly comfortable". The weather is looking pretty miserable, with rain all night, hopefully letting up in the morning for a few hours. It's just going to be a battle out there, so let's suit up and get to it.

For those who are looking to keep track on IronmanLive, I'm #84. That's a low, pseudo-pro number, eh? My rack is right beside the elites. Of course, I won't see any of them, since they'll be long gone by the time I arrive. But at least I'll get to see them on the beach before the start.

See you on the flip side.