Wattie Ink. Elite Team Official Sponsors

Wattie Ink. Elite Team Official Sponsors
Wattie Ink. Elite Team Official Sponsors

Friday, April 4, 2014

Countdown to Florida 70.3

So here I am...one week before I make the long drive down to Florida for my first triathlon of the year. It's also the first race I can really represent my new team...Wattie Ink and all of our sponsors. What a kickass group these guys are! I feel very lucky to be a part of this crew. Hopefully I can do them justice and not embarrass them or myself at Florida.

I will say that for the most part, my training has been as good as it has ever been leading up to a tri. Flanny (Black Dragon Racing/Central Virginia Endurance) has given me great advice and great workouts leading up to this. About a month ago, I ran the Shamrock Half Marathon and used this as a test to see where I am. I was shooting for a sub 1:29 (previous PR was 1:29:20), but Saturday night pre-race, Flanny told me to go for 1:27. This was definitely out of my comfort zone, but I said F it and decided to go for it. Ultimately, I missed getting a 1:27, but still had a nice PR of 1:28:09. I doubt I would have been that close to 1:27 had Flanny not given me that goal. Maybe I could have found 10 seconds somewhere on the course, but I think that was pretty close to all I had that day. With all of that said, it helped boost my confidence as I continued to prep towards Florida.

The only portion of the race that may be of concern is the swim. As in previous years, I've allowed myself to slip and miss some swims along the way. Two-a-days have been tough for me. My wife is prepping for Boston (oh and she only ran a 2:58 at Shamrock - 7th woman, 2nd masters - to former Ironman 70.3 champ Joanna Zeiger...not bad...) so trying to actually spend time with the family and train I've allowed myself to miss a swim here and there. That said, my biking and running have been on point for the most part. As long as I don't die in the swim, I'm excited to see how I'll perform.

With all of that said, I wanted to lay out my goals for the race. First/small goal is to PR the distance and go under 5 hours. As long as I avoid mechanical issues/flats like I dealt with at Raleigh, there's no reason why I CAN'T do this.

Bigger Goal: Sub 4:50. This might be a stretch, but I'm going for it. Broken down as follows:

Swim: 30:00
Bike: 2:35:00
Run: 1:38:00
Transition: 6:00

This puts me at 4:49. I'd definitey be pleased with that! There are no guarantees, but I'm going for it.

Bib # 1156. Start time 7:26 AM.

BOOM! #rocktheW

2 comments:

  1. Awesome goals! Can't wait to track you come race day. ROCK that W! ;-)

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  2. Nice O, there will be a burrito waiting for you upon your return. If you suck, then no burrito! j/k man... kick butt bro!

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