2 days to go... Desert International Triathlon...

All the numbers above my computer screen... drilling them into my head
everyday for months!

40 hours to go, to be more precise, before my very first international distance triathlon!  WOOOO HOOOOO!!!  Last night, a friend asked me if I was "training to the numbers" for this race like I did for my last 2 races.  Let me explain... to prepare my training for the previous triathlons, I pulled up the split times for the top racers, for that race, in my category for the past several years... and posted them above my computer for months before each race.  I studied these numbers to determine how fast the winning racers were completing each split, so I knew how fast I would have to train to match their times... and IF I could match their times!  I know there are a ton of factors that will affect the race splits, but I figured if I looked at the times over a period of years, I could get an idea of how fast I would have to go to be in podium contention.

I DID train to the numbers for this race... which doesn't mean that several racers won't come in and blow those previous splits apart... but at least I have a threshold to go for!


Starting to pack my gear to swim... bike... run... RACE!!!


So... here they are...

1,200 meter swim... my goal was 24 minutes... my fastest in the pool was 23:27... without traffic, waves, lap lanes to control my course...

24 mile bike... my goal is 20 miles per hour... my fastest time trial (with a SUBSTANTIAL head wind) was 18.9 miles per hour...

6.2 mile run... I have only done 2 runs in the past 6 weeks due to my sprained ankle, but my goal was 10 minutes per mile... and my last stand alone 4 mile run this week was 9:30 minutes per mile...

Add in the fact these aren't stand-alone times (I will be doing each discipline behind one another)... traffic... transitions... here are my best guesses...

Reality Goals:
Swim:  25 minutes
Bike:  1 hour, 15 minutes
Run: (and this leg will tell the tale!)... 1 hour 5 minutes
Transitions:  5 minutes or less...
TOTAL:  2 hours, 50 minutes

WISH ME LUCK!  :-)