Taper week is flowing. Still had to work around the floods in Atlanta this week so Tuesday only got 45 minutes on a stationary bike instead of 70 minutes as planned. Wednesday had 1950 meters in the pool and a 38 minute run with 18 minutes at a high exertion rate. The sun came back yesterday and the heat and humidity have skyrocketed, so the run was a good sweat. My HR was a bit higher than normal, but finished well. Today I was able to get in an easy 45 minutes on the bike outside, which is what I was scheduled to do. Only a swim tomorrow and a short (20min) ride Saturday with a run of about 5 minutes to keep the blood flowing. Then Sunday is race day.
My goals for the race are now set. I will be ecstatic with anything under 5:45 for my first 70.3, and I have a set goal of 6 hours even. I won’t be disappointed with any time, as long as I finish feeling well, but 6 hours is about what I expect to hit. My goal times are:
SWIM: 1.2 miles, 30 minute goal. I should be able to hit this swimming with a current, and in a wetsuit. Main goal is to get strong about after about 5 minutes and never feel like I have too much exertion during the swim. If my HR gets high enough to loose my breathing pattern I am going too hard.
T1: 3 minutes. Not too sure what to expect with 3400 racers, but my time group is in the first 30 minutes of start waves, so I think 3 minutes should cover it here.
BIKE: Based on the course reviews I have read it, looks to be a fast course with the capability of causing you to hit it too hard and loose your legs for the run. I am going to go conservative and shoot for a 3 hour 15 minute ride which would work out to 17.2 mph average over the 56 miles. The bike is going to be the part where I may be able to shave off some time, so a secondary goal would be 3 hours even which would be 18.6 mph average. If I can hit that mark I will be in a good spot. My main goal on the bike is to take it easy for the first half, and keep the HR in my Zone 3 (of 5). Somewhere close to the 2 hour mark I will let my HR get a bit higher as at that point the perceived exertion is not as hard in the higher Zone 3 and lower Zone 4 areas. Look for some speed at this point, and since the last 7 miles are mostly downhill I can get my average up without burning out.
T2: 3 minutes
RUN: 2 hour 5 minutes for 13.1 miles. That would be a 9:32 pace. Based on my last official runs being in the mid 8 minute range for a 10K, if I take it easy (close to 10min/mile pace) for the first half then slowly pick it up over the second half I should be OK with this time. If I can have negative mile splits from miles 7, 8, 9 and 10 and hold it there to the finish I will hit this time. Last two miles I want to make sure that I have left nothing in reserve at the finish.
TOTAL TIME BASED ON GOALS: 5 hours 59 minutes
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment