Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's Not You, I'm Just Hiding From My Triathlon

It's Wednesday. My triathlon is on Sunday.
*hyperventilates*
I'm pretty sure someone is mucking about with the speed at which I perceive time (I blame Tom, he is an astrophysicist after all).
As someone who has never run a proper race of any kind, I'm a tad smidgey-bit intimidated. I've done charity "races" which are not races at all; this is a bit different obviously, but I kind of feel like I'm defaulting to approaching this one the same way: "go out, don't die, finish, have milkshake".
My training is all over the place this week and last. Soccer just started, so I'm training with my team as well as subbing on a few others, but I'm mostly hiding from my triathlon-specific workouts (good plan, self). I suspect Future Erin will be very angry at Past Erin for this decision. At the same time, all I can think is, will run more distance run really make a difference at this point? Will practicing biking soaking wet make it any less uncomfortable during the race (an emphatic NO on this one).
Tom was in Vegas this weekend, will play rugby on Saturday, and then do the tri with me on Sunday. None of his training has been tri-specific (he trains a lot – just for rugby, not triathlons). I suspect he will still kick my ass time-wise, which makes me put on my annoyed pants.
Here's a time breakdown:

Erin – Best Times
Tom – Best Estimated
1km Swim
29:30
29:00
26km Bike
76:00
60:00
8km Run
50:15
50:00
TOTAL ESTIMATED:
2:35:45
2:19:00

Holy crap, I am the slowest turtle at turtle school. Following Emilie's suggestion of A, B, and C goals, here's what I hope to do:
A Goal – Beat Tom :P (definitely not going to happen)
B Goal – Finish in less than three hours
C Goal – Finish
I should be fine to hit the swim time. I've been consistently coming in just under 30 minutes (and frustratingly unable to get any faster). The bike is a bit of a crapshoot; Tom is a much better cyclist than I am, riding a much nicer and faster racing bike (while I will be tugboating along on my hybrid mountain bike). I haven't been training on the race route for this section because it's fracking annoying to bike it if the road isn't closed (which it will be for the race). Also it's an exceptionally boring route to train on; it's four loops up and down a main road.
The run I expect will be slower than my best time, partly because I set that time inside and severely up my turtle quotient when I run outside, and partly because it will be done after a 1km swim and 26km bike.
Seriously, whose idea was this? Mine, you say? Oh right. Can I blame my concussions?

1 comment:

  1. Actually I've found some of my best running times were after jumping off the bike. You get what's called "rubber legs" which are - pay attention - incapable of feeling pain!

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