Making Peace with the Current

Been doing a lot of thinking about the upcoming race and about the training I've been doing. A year ago, I imagined going to Canada and finishing in under 10:30. On paper that looks pretty easy. Swim 1 hour, Ride 5:30, run 3:45. Yeah, not so easy in real life. Over the last few weeks, my workouts have turned from a focus of gaining fitness to practicing execution. What I've seen over the last two weeks is that 10:30 isn't a reality for me.

I've been bummed about this. Grumpy even. And it's been taking some of the fun out of my workouts. And that is just not the point of all of this. If triathlon isn't fulfilling and fun (or at least fun most of the time) then there's not much of a point to it. It's been time for me to re-evaluate my goals and dreams.

Sunday, the long brick, was actually a pretty decent day. It was 95+ degrees and I was out for over 4 and half hours. I ate and hydrated well enough that I didn't bonk or get a headache. That's pretty significant. My avg HR for the ride and for the run was 155 bpm. I figure that 150 is my MAF or base aerobic HR and will be my target ironman heart rate. Giving myself a few beats of increase due to the heat and I was pretty good about staying at my ironman heart rates for the day. Given the paces on the day...and assuming I could hold them...I'd be looking at about 11 hours for the IM distance.

So here are the revised goals for Canada
Swim and Bike smart with a focus on hydration and nutrition
Run Sub-4 hours

Run Sub Four. That's the mission. The goal of the swim and bike is to get to the start of the marathon course feeling decent enough to make a real go of it.

Sub-4
Kia Kaha
Philip