After turning 40 I told myself I’d attempt an Ironman at every age between 40 and 50 as long as I was healthy.  My first one (IM40) was definitely one to remember.  Sarah and I raced Cozumel for our 15th wedding anniversary.  We crossed the finish line together in just under 16 hours and somehow managed to remain married.

Last year I went to Florida for IM41.  It was my first year to actually train with a coach and a training plan.  My fitness was solid and I managed to finish just under the 12:30 mark.

When I first started this craziness the original goal in the back of my mind was to someday break 12 hours.  Last year was close.  This year I hope to finally do it.  For it to happen I need to knock 27 minutes off of last year’s time.  So what’s the plan you ask?

TRANSITIONS

This should be by far the easiest place to gain some time.  Last year my transitions between swim / bike and bike / run were both around 12 minutes each.  If I can get those down to seven then there’s an easy 10 minutes right off the top.

SWIM

I’ve told myself that one of these days, once I’m happy with both my bike and my run I’ll start working on improving my swim.  It’s the shortest portion of the day by a long shot.  I still have significant progress to make here but it’s not yet time to go after it.  So that means I’ll be looking to swim about the same as I have in my past two races.  The good news is that this race is supposed to have a nice current to assist us.  Then again, Cozumel was supposed to have a current.  Turns out it did – on the back half.  Hopefully the current in this time will be in the right direction for the full duration.  Best case scenario is that I’ll gain 10-15 minutes over last year; my expectation is a repeat time from Florida.

BIKE

Honestly I was pretty happy with my bike last year.  I would always love to be faster, but if I had a repeat of Florida I’d be fine with one exception.  I managed to hold my power last year but I did it at a higher heart rate than I wanted.  I think some of that was due to the warm / humid conditions.  Swimming 90 minutes prior to biking was likely another contributor.  I’ll likely train at slightly higher power this year in hopes that race day I can hold the same power as last year but on a lower heart rate.  If I can do that I should be setting myself up for my ultimate goal.

RUN

While I was not disappointed with my run last year I was also not elated with it.  Coming off the bike I felt like I had a 4:30 marathon (~10 minute pace) in me.  As I started running I quickly discovered that my legs were not the limiting factor; it was my heart rate.  I was hoping to start out with it around 140 but it was all I could do to get it below 150.  I knew that if I pushed it any harder my body would quickly burn through my glycogen reserves and that a “bonk” (highly technical term there) would be inevitable.  Ultimately I wound up with right at a 5 hour finish.

In the offseason this past year I did a ton of run training.  The most run training I’ve done in my life.  The precise goal was to increase my pace while simultaneously lowering my heart rate.  That meant lots and lots and lots of slow miles.  Over time I began to get the results I was looking for.  Not to the full extent I wanted but at least heading in the right direction.  I feel like if I continue to train right for the next three months I should be able to go into this race primed to have my best Ironman run yet.  I would love to see my run time alone drop by 30 minutes.

So there you have it.  If I can gain 10 minutes in transition, another 10 on the swim, and then 20-30 on the run I should hit my ultimate goal.  I’m wanting to race at a lighter weight than ever before which will hopefully have a positive impact across the board.  My fitness level at the halfway point of training seems to be better than it was last year.  Hopefully as I start getting into some really long weekends that will continue to be the case.

In the end I realize that all of this is a best case scenario.  Some days the wheels just fall off due to weather, nutrition, bike malfunction, or any of 100 other reasons.  I’m prepared mentally to train and race as best as I can.  If I manage to hit my goal, fantastic.  If not, I’ll know that I gave nothing less than my best trying.