Sorry for the dump on to Facebook all of a sudden, I learned how to post my blog to Facebook not realizing it was going to take all the previous entries and post all of them at once.
back to the strengths......
So I think the swim is going to go OK. I know about 10 mins into the bike I will get passed by a billion people. If the past is any indication of the future, the run will be a grind. But having said all that I think the one thing I have going for me is perspective. I know I am not going to compete for a Kona slot this year. So as long as I can improve over my IMCDA time I am ok, and even if I don't go faster than IMCDA I might be OK with that assuming there was extenuating circumstance like flat tires, excessive heat, you get the idea.
(For those of you who aren't aware, the Ironman Championship held in Hawaii every year is made up of the top age groupers and professional triathletes from the previous Ironman held throughout the world. To qualify for Kona you have to be anywhere from the top 5-10 age groupers in your age bracket at a Full Ironman Branded event, there are 8 in the US and think 25 in the world. Each IM offers approximately 50 IM championship slots. Unfortunately my age bracket 35-39 usually has age groupers being the first to hit the tape. In order for me to qualify for Kona I would have to probably to do sub 10 hours, which ain't gonna happen.)
Back to perspective, I know enough from my previous races not to get to low and if I am feeling low (cruddy) its usually because my hydration or food is to low. I am a pretty happy racer, I figure I am the one who put myself in these situations I might as well have a good time. And by happy I mean I am nice to the volunteers but I am not a huge talker on the course. You might think that I would say just happy to here (here being the IM) but I am not doing the IM just to finish, that statement might come across my lips when IMTX is 100 degrees, I've had 4 flats and I forgot a shoe for the run. I am doing IM to go as fast as my body, mind and training will take me.
Many might say that they just want to finish, and for some that might be accurate, but in my opinion people don't just want to finish they want to utilize every ounce of training they did leading up to the IM and make use of all of it on game day. And if they feel like they left to much training on the table or didn't do enough training or bogeyman got in their heads, (yeah hes real, I've shook hands with him many of times) then it can be disappointing. So for me the goal of just finishing even for my first IM wasn't really something I concentrated on. (That's not completely true when I first hit the sign up button, all I wanted to do was finish but after the first month of training I realized I wanted more.) Because in reality, that meant I could have done a 2H swim, a 9H bike, and 6H run. Don't get me wrong finishing is a great, and we all know the last to graduate from Medical school is still called Doctor same goes with the IM (you all become doctors, you should for the cost of the race). But I put to much time and will be putting in to much time to just finish. While I am writing this I have a very foreboding feeling.......
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