Ironman Goals

“What are your goals?”  I get that question alot, and usually I turn it into another question.

“What do you mean my goals?”

“For the race.  How fast do you expect to go?”

This is the rub.  I honestly have no idea how fast I am going to go.  Its my first race in more than 15 years above a sprint triathlon.  Sure, I know how fast I can swim 2.4 miles on average.  I also know how fast I could do a 112mile bike ride on a good day.   I have a ball-park idea how fast I could complete a marathon if it’s not hot out.  So one could add up those times and come to a “goal”.

But that would be stupid. That’s not to say I haven’t done that exercise in my head many times, especially as I was hitting the peak of training.  I was trying to figure out if I’d be in by the time the Packers/Bears game starts.  Would I make it by sundown? Where would I be versus other people’s first times?

I’ve hit my moment of zen now.  Having this cold has helped strip away alot of the ego-driven need for a time goal.  I don’t know how strong I’m going to feel on race day after being sick for 15 days running.  I might feel awesome – I might feel like I’ve been sick for 15 days.  Who knows.  What I do know is there are a few things I can control:

1. I can bike at such a power level that I am set up to have the best run possible for me on that day.  Assuming I’m feeling decent by race day, I’m going to take the first 25 miles at 190ish watts, and kick it up to 200 for the remainder.  My guess is my pre-cold goals are a good 10 watts higher, but I want to give myself a margin of safety.   If I feel good at mile 90, great! I’ll bank that energy for the run.
2. I’m not going to let my race ego make me blow my day by spiking up the watts to keep up with Mr. buck-thirty-five mashing up the hills on the first loop.  I’ll either pass him when he tires, catch him by the end of the run, or he has better fitness than me.  It’ll be revealed as I run my own race.
3. I’m going to use walking through the aid stations as a tool to make sure I run the rest of the time.   I’m not going to be fast, but I’ll be running.  And my conservative bike strategy will make sure of that.
4. Ideally, I get stupid in the last 6 miles to the point that I don’t think I left anything out on the course .  Seriously, I’m shooting for a good final 6 miles – if I can keep p the pace there, I’ll know I executed well.

So when people ask me my time goals, I now say “I’m just looking to finish the race running rather than walking.”  And I actually mean it now.