Pre-Race Galveston 70.3

This weekend is the Memorial Hermann Sprint and Half Ironman at Moody Gardens in Galveston, TX.  Being located along the South Eastern shore of Texas along the Gulf of Mexico, you may remember Galveston was pretty much leveled in 2008 during Hurricane Ike.

Now three years later when you drive around Galveston you can still see some of the remnants from Ike but the community has done a wonderful job of restoring this little beach paradise and it is great that so many have made this race a yearly tradition because it is a real boom to the local economy.

I will be racing in the Half Ironman on Sunday but my wife, Annie, will  be doing the Sprint on Saturday morning.  She has done an indoor Tri but this is her first official Triathlon and she is going to do great.  I am a million times more nervous for her than I am for myself!  My Tri Club is volunteering at the first rest station and it is right next to transition so I will be able to cheer Annie on from some pretty good seats.  So when you are doing your Saturday morning workout please think about Annie and send some positive vibes her way!

Next comes the HIM on Sunday morning.  The race begins at 7am but my wave (M35-39) does not go off until 7:45am.  This is good because it means the port-a-potties should not have that long of a line since all the other athletes will be racing!!

The forecast for Sunday is calling for temperatures in the low 80's with the typical sweltering SE Texas humidity.  But the real fun is going to be the winds along the Gulf.  As of right now the winds are supposed to be 18mph sustained with guests up to 31mph.  AND they are supposedly coming from the SSW - this would mean a direct headwind for the bike on the out but a tailwind on the way back.  I am cool with this and hope it stays this way!

Race Strategy:

With Ironman Texas only 6 weeks away I will be using this race as a training/practice day.  This means that I will not be racing this at the normal HIM effort and will be practicing nutrition and IM pacing.  With this as the plan I have not done any sort of taper going into the race so I will be towing the line with tired legs.  This is by design so that even if I feel the "urge" to race or go hard my legs just will not allow it.  The main reason for not racing is that recovery from a HIM can be a few days long and I cannot afford to miss training days with IMTX being so close and I could not afford to taper either.  Yes, Ironman is pretty much all-consuming at this point!

My targets for the race are as followed:

Swim:

Swim - 40mins - My PR for this distance is 35:xx but that was in a calm, clear lake.  This swim is in the ocean and last year it was reported as a couple hundred meters long.  If I maintain a moderate pace, in rough waters a 40min time would be about right and this will keep me in aerobic Zone 2.

Bike:

Bike - 3hr - This number will change based upon what the wind decides to do on Sunday.  I am going to maintain my IM pacing that I have been dialing in for the last 18 weeks.  If we do end up with a tailwind back  for the last 28miles then it will probably be closer to a 2:50ish split.  If it is a cross wind then the 3hr mark will be a good guesstimate and this means I kept myself in Zone 2 the entire ride - which is the goal.  If you see me with a 2:45 split that means I deviated from the plan and became a meat-head.

Run:

Run - 2hr - The plan is to really take the run extremely easy.  If I go a little harder on the swim or bike it really isn't all that big of a deal as recovery is much quicker from those disciplines.  However, if I go hard on the run then recovery is going to be a bitch and I failed at executing my race plan.  A normal Zone 2 run for me is usually between an 8:00-8:25 min/mi pace.  If I execute the swim and bike as planned I will probably keep this pace and come in around 1:50.  If I go too hard on the swim and bike then I am going to hold myself back to a 9min/mi pace for recovery purposes.  

With Transitions and hitting my goal pacing I expect to finish between:  5:40 - 5:50.

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Fellow bloggers Jon @SwimCycloRun  and Shannon @IronTexasMommy are also going to be racing the HIM.  

Here is the info if you would like to follow us on Sunday morning:

Athlete Tracker:  Ironman.com  (Click on the Athlete Tracker Link)

Jon (Lenny) Campbell:   #234

Jeff Irvin:   #800

Shannon Spann:  #? (pull up by name)

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff