Raising Expectations
When I first signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene 2008, I said my goal was to finish in 15 hours. It is going to be a tough race, but given that you only have 17 hours to finish, 15 isn't a particularly ambitious goal. For me, I'm guessing it would be 2-7-6; 2 hours total for the swim, transitions, and various potty and sanity breaks, 7 hours on the bike, 6 hour marathon. Should be doable, and the more important goal is simply to finish the darn thing, regardless of time.
A few months ago, I was doing a ride with Gerald and he said something to me which has bothered me ever since. He told me, "I don't think you should train to FINISH Ironman, I think you should train to KICK ASS at Ironman."
Stupid Gerald.
He's right; this could very well be my one and only Ironman, so why not try to kick some ass? I'm going to raise (lower?) the bar a bit and shoot for a 14-hour Ironman. I think that would be an ass-kicking. Most of that will have to come from the bike. I still think a 7-hour bike would be a good ride, but maybe I can get through it with enough energy for a 5-hour marathon. Or maybe I can go 6.5/5.5. I'll have to fine-tune the goals as my training continues.
Of course, in order to do a 14-hour Ironman, I had BETTER be able to do a 7-hour half-iron in March. The Cali 70.3 has way too much (self-imposed) emotional baggage weighing on it.
posted by Wedgie @ 11:41 PM
9 Comments:
Perhaps train for performance, but no time pressure on the day itself. Just go out and execute a race plan.
Now, if only I could train to KICK ASS and actually execute on race day... Go with what Brent said...
-stupid Gerald
That's a good point. The majority of my training was to FINISH IMWI, but a few months before IM, I had that same revelation: I realized I should be training to be proud of my time too. You figured it out early. Now it's just a matter of all that stinkin' training!....
Good for you Mike!!! But don't let this competition thing with the clock fool you that "just" doing an Ironman is not enough. We will all still be FOWs regardless if you finish or finish faster.
(FOW = fans of the wedgie)
Huh. He may have a point. His idea is way more positive than my,'Train not to Suck So Much' or 'Train Not To Throw Up' plans. Good luck!
Neoprene,
a rule of thumb is your half ironman times two plus an hour will be your ironman time.
Of course, on a long day, we never know what will happen :).
I am pretty sure u can go less than 2 hr on the swim. At least u will have more time for sanity breaks.
Must do a 1:30 swim, sub 6 bike and sub 5 on the run... to be invited into the axis of evil elite group... You'll do just fine my friend, but Ironman you don't just finish, you Fuc*ing kick ass....
Why do a race that will take you an entire day to finish, if you're not going to kick some serious ass, wanna an IM tattoo better earn it!!!
Really Stupid and not so sensitive Andre
This comment has been removed by the author.
it might invite you to the axis of evil group, but not the elite.
time is relative, don't think about it. The conditions of the day can make any pre-speculations about the time you should do a bad strategy.
Ironman number 1, all that matters is to finish within 17 hours. YOU ARE AN IRONMAN. Anything else is just plain stupid to think about and anybody telling you other ways need a reality check.
Ironman number 2, time, PB and kick ass, go ahead.
A sensitive guy that thinks you should bike more and stop playing indoor guitar games.
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