Countdown to Race Day

Julie and I leave for Branson in two days!  Race day is finally in sight.  I am just ready to get to the race site, scout it out, relax, and do the best that I can.  This training season has not gone exactly as planned.  Between the achilles, pool closings, and moving it has not exactly been the smoothest experience.  Chalk it up to experience I guess.

The transition back to South Carolina, a busy work schedule, and the late sunrises (compared to Arizona) combined with working late nights has really limited my ability to ride these past couple of weeks, except for the weekends.  Fortunately, I have been able to get some great climbs in thanks to being near the mountains.

I feel surprisingly good with my swim stroke right now.  That being said, my ability to swim a straight line in the open water has always been an issue.  It should be quite the interesting experience.  Last year was chaos in the water with people splashing, kicking, and dunking one another jockeying for their "lane."

I wrote out multi-level goals for the swim, transition, and bike sections based on my pool workout times and average biking speed.  The bike course in Branson makes me nervous because I have heard there are some nasty climbs.  I hope that also means there will be some fast descents to make up for any lost time grinding it out in the granny gear.

Swim goals:
A) 35:24 (1:50/100 m)
B) 37:00 (1:55/100 m)
C) 38:37 (2:00/100 m)

Without walls to push off of and lane lines to follow I figure these are pretty realistic.  I have been doing 100 m repeats anywhere from 1:25 to 1:55 depending on short course vs. long course and rest intervals.

Transition goals:
A) 5 min
B) 7 min
C) 10 min

This will depend on how my achilles feels on the jog from water to the transition zone and ability to get the wetsuit off.  I never seem to go fast in transition.  Looking at past times one would think that I kick my feet up in a recliner and take a quick nap.

Bike goals:
A) 3:06:40 (18 mph)
B) 3:17:38 (17 mph)
C) 3:30:00 (16 mph)
D) 3:44:00 (15 mph)

I sure hope I am some where between A and B.  That is where I was during Beach2Battleship last year with crazy winds, cold, and rain.  But without knowing how steep or long these climbs are going to be I have no idea.  That is why I listed a D.  I hope knowing that I don't have the run leg this year since I will be in the aqua-velo I can give it a little extra on the bike.

These goal times should have me crossing the finish line somewhere between 3:52:17 and 4:29:37.

Stay tuned for a possible race weekend pre-race post and definitely for post-race analysis.  It is time to finally see what I can do.

http://ironmanbranson.com  You should be able to follow splits from the website.