Florida Ironman 70.3 Strategy

Today I fly south to Orlando to compete in Sunday's Florida Ironman 70.3. When I land I will frantically want to reassemble my bike and take it for a test spin. Once that is done, I can settle in and start race preparations.

Saturday morning I will drop my bike off at Ironman Village. There it will sit in my designated spot on the rack overnight. Afterward I will organize my food and clothes and try to stay out of the heat to preserve my energy for race day. I will eat, no doubt, in carb heaven--The Olive Garden across from our hotel.

I have raced this course before which is an advantage but I do not perform well in the heat--a disadvantage. Last year in 100 degree temperatures I died on the run--really, I died. What normally takes me an hour and 50 minutes to two hours to run 13.1 miles took over 3 hours I believe. I was sick from the heat, but I finished.

This year, I am competing in a new age group--45-49 year olds. Last year the 40-44 year old women went just before 100 20-24 year old men. Yes, I was swum over several times--trust me, I make sure they are aware they are making body contact. This year, I'm hoping for a better draw.

My goal is to swim a little closer to the buoys unless I get swum over. I typically swim wide to avoid being swim over. Last year I feel like I added at least 400 yards to my swim due to how wide I had to swim. Provided I get to the bike in good shape I plan to be a bit more aggressive on my bike this year. I have a lot of hill training time and this course is flat with the exception of a few small hills (where you are grateful to get out of the saddle). I want to see what my legs have in them. I'm adding salt tablets this year to help with the heat so I will focus on taking in salt and getting good nutrition and fluids on the bike.

Coming off the bike, I want to have enough legs to run at least a 9 or 10 minute mile. This may seem slow to you and it is far from my 7:38 mile time at shorter distances but keeping the 9-10 minute pace consistently is a goal given the heat.

Overall, I want to finish, I want to prevent injury, I want to feel good throughout the race, and I want to beat my course record from last year. Last year I finished the course in just under 7 hours. My half-Ironman best time is 6 hours 38 minutes. I think I can squeeze ever closer to the 6 hour mark.

Individual times I hope for:

Swim--I probably can't do much better then 42 minutes but I sure would love to. Swimming the course wide costs me in time and added distance.

Bike--I think I can finish the course in slightly over 3 hours. My best time at this distance in the heat is 3 hours 15 minutes.

Run--I want to finish the run in 2 hours or very close to that mark. If my nutrition and preparation work and if the heat does not kill me I think this is doable.

Stay tuned for my race report.