The Plan

I thought that today I'd share my plans and goals for Sunday's race. It's always nice to have these things in writing before the actual race and ideally, what I hope will happen and what actually happen will match up come Monday when I look back on my race experience.

Before each of my races, I like to set 3 different overall goals, each involving a different level of success. Considering my past history of severe cramping, asthma attacks, and impromptu, post-race trips to the hospital (all in one race), my first goal is always to finish the race without needing medical attention. For a 140.6 mile race, I’ll definitely be content with completing this goal. My second overall goal is to finish the race in around 13 hours. I figure that if I finish the swim in 1.5 hrs, the bike in 6.5 hrs, and the run in under 5 hrs, that should put me right around my goal time. If everything going according to plan and I don’t die on the run, my third goal is to finish in under 13 hours. This likely will come down to my performance on the marathon and I honestly don’t know if that will work out. I’m by no means a fast marathoner as my best time is only 4:15, so I hope that I can stay within 45 minutes of this time after a 114.4 mile warm-up.

2 days and counting!