Today is going to be a busy day, but really my thoughts are focused on tomorrow morning. More on that in a second.
I started this morning however with a GVP swim. I just did the dock swim and back. My arms felt kind of sore in the beginning and my sighting was not spectacular on the way back in today. It definitely could have been a lot better. Actually I don't think my sighting was the problem it was my lack of sighting. I just need to sight more often there than I do. But other than that it was a pretty uneventfull swim other than it was a slightly different group of Tri-NE folks than I usually swim with so that was nice to see some new faces and meet some new people.
Now I'm back at home and thinking ahead to tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be an AWESOME day of training and I'm very excited for it. Tomorrow is the big race day simulation workout for me. So yesterday I carb loaded with a high calorie day of quality food as per my usual routine. Today I'll be on a strict diet of bagels and peanut butter, and some balance bars and no food after 6pm. Tomorrow morning I'll get up at 4:15am in order to shower and get ready and eat breakfast and get out the door by 5:15. Which will get me to Narragansett at 6AM which will give me time to prep my bike and my run gear for the transitions. Then were in the ocean at 6:30 for the swim where I'd like to log a 1.2 mile swim and then back to the car to get on the bike and head out with the group. Or maybe slightly before the group. Tomorrow is a race simulation which means no drafting and no pacelines. At last count I think at least 12 of us from my tri club are doing the ride tomorrow. So I need to be sure and find my own piece of road. I think I'm faster than some and slower that some so hopefully I'll either get a nice clean piece of road in the middle somewhere or I'll head out just a tiny bit early and let the faster guys pass me and then I'll be on my own. I'm sure it will all work out. What I don't want to happen is to have someone end up in front of me who then gets all aggressive after I pass them and then passes me back and slows down again. I'm there to train, not play silly ego games. Which applies to me too, so mentally I have be strong tomorrow. I'm there to execute my own race and nutrition plan, everything else is a distraction I need to avoid. (which isn't to say I'm not looking forward to seeing everyone, just that I'm there to do my thing and get my training in and tomorrow is an important training day for me).
On the bike my plan is to pretty closely follow the advice of my friend Nancy as I think it makes a TON of sense. The first five miles on the bike are about warming up and starting my nutrition plan. Miles 5-15 I'll find a nice steady pace but not push it too much mostly focusing on solid foods and hydrating. Miles 16-30 are the KFR loop where I'll have to focus on the more technical part of the course with the small hills and descents and winding roads. Continueing to fuel will be somewhat challenging here but I need to stay on top of it. I want to ride a nice relaxing pace on the hills here. None of them are that long at all so hammering up any of them is going to buy me very very little time. So theres no point. I'll be stronger if I relax going up them and use them as a rest in a way.
Once on my way out of the KFR loop its time to put the hammer down. Miles 30-56 will be an all out effort on almost entirely flat or slightly descending roads. So I'll do my best to really hammer it. My goal for the bike course is sub three hours. I rode it in a relaxed fashion last week in 3:10 so I think 2:50-2:55 is possible. We'll see. The point of today's ride is to find out realistically what I can expect to ride on race day if all goes well. That way I'll have an exact pacing plan for the race.
Off the bike my plan is to run six miles although I hear some guys are doing 8 and if I happen to catch them in transition I'll join them for the 8. Pacing wise I'm going to let my legs dictate what happens. I suspect it will be my usual brick pace on flat roads. Which is that off the bike I'll be running 7'30s as the high bike cadence that I prefer leads to a high run cadence. Over the course of three miles this will slow down to my usual long run pace of 8'30s and I hope to keep it there. However if things go sideways or I don't feel strong I will allow myself to go all the way down to 9'30s if need be. And if I go slower than that then I need to reevaluate my bike pacing plan as I've clearly made a mistake. I plan on RUNNING the 13 miles after the bike.
So thats my plan. I'm looking forward to it. Should be a great day tommorrow and looks like we are going to have PERFECT weather for it. Temperature range of 60-75 degrees throughout the morning with a max wind speed of 7mph and "mostly sunny". You can't ask for much better than that! Now I just need to figure out what to wear. At 60 degrees I'll be cold on the bike. Last week I wore arm warmers and a bike jersey but I can't do that in the race. Those arm warmers are hard enough to get on when your dry. Wet they would be a nightmare. In the race my plan was to wear a tri top and shorts but I'm a little concerned with how cold that might be tomorrow. I may have to suck it up and see what happens. I need to think on that one a little more. Maybe I just need to pedal harder to warm up! This morning coming out of the water at GVP I was cold when I was wet and it was 60 degrees out. I think realistically my plan needs to just be cold and suck it up. But I'll ask around tomorrow and see what others have worn at the FIRM or other races when its cooler out.
Now I need to focus on work for the day and I'll spend tonight prepping for tomorrow. Here's hoping I'll have a great day tomorrow! I'm sure I will.
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