Duke Half Ironman Training Wrap-Up

I was feeling really good about my training until my solo effort on the bike course yesterday after work. Just under 20 mph. Not what I was hoping for. Maybe it was the hard run at Umstead on Thursday. Maybe it's the end of a tough two-week build. Anyway, I gave it all I had and came up short from what I wanted. Well, it is what it is at this point. On the bright side, I did nothing but hills at Umstead on Thursday and averaged 8:13 per mile. It gives me hope that I can maintain 8:30 miles at Duke.

So... what is my goal for Duke? Interesting question. Two years ago on a slightly-better than touring bike (Giant Ocr2) I averaged 18 mph on the course. How can I not be significantly faster this year on my Kuota with a few months of high-intensity group riding under my belt? Something I never did until this year. With that in mind, here are two goals for Duke:

1) RECENT TRAINING BASED GOAL: 5:26.
Not to say this will be easy. Roughly 35 minute swim, 2:57 bike and 1:51 run with combined 3 minute in transitions.

2) BIG DAY ON THE BIKE GOAL: 5:09.
Same swim, run and transition times, but a 21 mph average on the bike which translates into a 2:40 bike split.

I can tell you here and now that I'm shooting for Goal #2. This is THE race. My last long-distance tri. For real. Outside of an annual trip to Mission Man, triathlon has run it's course with me. It's all or nothing at Duke. I'm going to give it everything I have on the bike and if I run out of gas for the run, I'll run on guts.

*** TRIDADDY USES ONLY THE BEST TRIATHLON RACE CALCULATOR COURTESY OF PHIL

Parental Reading List

Cleaning up the bedroom, a few books were randomly placed on the armoire.

1. Your Baby's First Year
2. Off the Deep End
3. One Bullet Away

Yeah, that pretty much sums up our emotions during CB's colicky first year. I'm sure a few other parents out there can relate.

Back in the Going Long Game

No... I'm not doing another Ironman. But I am back in the long game. I'm doing a Half. The Duke Liver Half Ironman. I did this back in '06 and felt a strain in my Achilles so I walked most of the run and finished with a 6:29 or something. Steve and Thys wanted to do it this year, so I agreed. Early on, I didn't want to do the training. I bitched and I whined. Even though I work at an Endurance Sports magazine I STILL didn't have time to train. Rather than getting up at 4 am every day like I did for IM Florida, I started riding my trainer and/or running around 10pm. Sucked.

But, I also started lifting weights. I cut my running down to 1, maybe 2 times per week. I biked more. I started riding with a group. I had a pretty fast bike split at Mission Man and got all super motivated for once and started having some crazy thoughts about how well I would do at Duke. Even though my 60-mile ride today (much of the Duke course) was too slow a pace for me, I wound up getting my ass handed to me on Loop 1 of the run course.

But, I'm still having these delusions of grandeur about Duke. Where normally I'm thinking about my next event, now I'm only thinking about Duke. THERE IS NOTHING ELSE. Solid swim. Fast (but smart) bike. Then run with all the heart I have.

Because, really, when I say THERE IS NOTHING ELSE BUT DUKE. There really isn't. I have a big endurance event in mind for 2009, but it's not a triathlon. Duke may just be my last long triathlon for a VERY long time.

Yes, Tridaddy is back in the long game... but not for long.