Steelhead 70.3 Ironman – July 31, 2010

I’m racing this Saturday in Benton Harbor, Michigan at the Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 Ironman . This will be my second 70.3 Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) in three weeks. After this I’m taking some time off. We’re going to accompany our daughter Christie to London in early September – she’s restarting her fashion education at the Central St. Martins College of Art & Design – so I won’t be racing again until after we return.

Here is what I did at the Musselman 70.3 Triathlon and my goal for Steelhead:

                                   Musselman                 Steelhead - Goal


Swim                                41:43                         38:00
Transition                           2:50                           3:00
Bike                               3:07:26                     2:58:00
                                      (18.0 mph)                 (19.0 mph) 
Transition                          4:07                             3:00
Run                              2:25:34                        2:05:00
                                     (11:07/mile)                  (9:32/mile)
---------------           --------------------               ------------------- 
Total                            6:21:40                          5:47:00

I’m ready for the race. I’ve had some good training sessions especially those early morning group bike rides with Craig Strong when I have to get up at 4:30 to make it to the group start. I’m getting very good at riding in the dark.

Now I know I can finish a half-Ironman so this time I will try and be more aggressive on the swim and bike. The swim course is more or less a straight line so there’s a pretty good chance I won’t get lost this time.

And the run course is reasonably flat – no cliffs to scale like at Musselman – and the weather should be cooler. There’s a fifty percent chance of rain, but I’d settle for cool and cloudy.

I will report on the results next Monday.