Countdown: Six Weeks

The thing that has been an abstract idea in my head for so long is quickly becoming reality. This effing race is in six weeks. Six weeks from this very moment, I will be desperately trying to grab a few hours sleep before I rise before dawn to get a good place in the swim line. Wow.

Another century ride is on the books today. What a difference 10 degrees in the temperature can make! The day started out in the 70's, which felt downright cold. It was will into the mid-90's by the time we finished, but it still felt much cooler than last weekend. I also slowed down my pace today, which I'm sure helped me feel strong at 80, 85, 90 and the finish, unlike my last two rides. I'm still looking for that happy medium pace where I can maximize bike speed without detriment on the run.

My outlook regarding my success on this endeavor is much better. I swam 2,000 meters at Kill Creek last Monday in 49 minutes, making my swim rate 2:16/100 yds. Once I actually calculated how many meters were in 2.4 miles (> 3,900 meters), I felt much better. I had been thinking that it was 4500 meters, which made a total time being much closer to the actual cutoff.

Now, my biggest worry is the heat. If it were to be anything like last weekend, I don't think I could run off the bike. I was looking at intellicast.com for the Louisville forecast for the coming weekend and was surprised and happy to see that it was supposed to be 89-90 degrees. The weatherman was calling for 106 on the weekend here, even though Weatherbug, weather.com and intellicast put it closer to 100. Intellicast.com also had the average temps for Louisville available. In August, the average is 85. On August 26, specifically, the record low was in the 50's and the record high, 100. That made me feel a tad bit better about the possible conditions. It would so suck to be completely prepared physically and even somewhat mentally, only to be done in by the weather.

We finally got some rain here Friday morning, and it caught me while I was out running my recovery 45 minutes. I ended up running 5 miles at a 9:10 pace and still stay in Zone 2 from a heartrate perspective. I felt like I could have run for miles that morning. Oh, what a difference a few degrees make!

My running legs seem to be bouncing back somewhat. My run on Sunday was 18 miles at a 9:40 pace. Not a blistering fast pace, but well under 10 minute miles, which is my goal for the race.

Goals...dare I list them?

OK.


First and foremost: get out of the water in regulation, finish the race without too much agony.


Then, if I can get the first two done, the icing on the cake would be: I would like to do the swim in under 1:50; the bike in under 7.5 hours and the run in under 5 hours. Yikes. I wrote that out loud. My wildest dreams would be to come in around 13 hours. Now...shhhh... no jinxes.