speed matters.

Deb and I have been talking about the dream of ironman since as long as I can remember.  Deb has achieved this goal already, and I am hoping 2015 will be my year.  I know that it will take a lot of hard work and dedication to make this happen... starting with nutrition and rounding out with a really good bike base. 

As someone who is always flirting with cutoff times in just about every race I do, it's only natural to be concerned about it now.  To modify a quote from Legally Blonde, "The rules of hair care [Ironman] are simple and finite"...

My best marathon time is 7 hours and 12 minutes.  Seriously.  [In my defense, I ended up with a stress fracture in my knee during that race]  Do I think I can go faster than that?  Sure.. but realistically, I need to allow for a 7 hour marathon during ironman, even with the best of run training.  And everyone knows you plan for the weakest link.  So, I made a chart.. what swim and bike pace combinations need to happen to allow for a 7 hour marathon time?

So there you have it.. 14.8 miles per hour pretty much covers me.
[includes 15 min for each transition].

Then.. on Saturday, I met a new friend, Andrea, for a 40 mile bike ride which ended up being really disheartening for me.  So many hills, breathing issues [asthma?  or is it anxiety from the hills?  It only happens on hills..]. 12 miles per hour.  You may notice that 12 miles per hour didn't even make the chart!

seriously, look at those hills!!  And I thought the Rock Hall course was hard...

Uh oh.

It's really irrelevant to try to compare a race that happened SIX years and 20 pounds ago [seriously.. six years ago?  how'd that happen?], but just for shits and giggles, here are my times from Redman 70.3.

• Swim | 0:51:21 | 2:40/100m
• Bike | 3:47:21 | 14.8mph
• Run | 3:33:19 | 16:17/mi

Do you see that?  I hit my swim and bike numbers.. granted, half the distance, but you see where I'm going with this.  I do have it in me.  Right now I'm looking at Ironman Maryland [the selected team race] for 2015 and that course is flat [hills are my kryptonite!] which makes it more doable.

No, seriously, how has it been 6 years since this race???

The point of the comparison though is that it is possible.  It will take some work.  Scratch that, it will take a lot of work.  But I have well over a year...