I am on my way to Lubbock to race at the Buffalo Springs 70.3 (Half Ironman). I am sitting in the passenger seat typing up a blog post while my good friend Mike Young drives. We have my new Element loaded up with 2 bikes and the rest of our gear. The new bike rack works great in the back and we have some good tunes going on the Ipod.
The only unfortunate thing about the weekend, is my family is at home and I have been gone all week with work. I hated to leave this morning, because I really miss them when I am gone.
Two seasons ago I had a lot of fun racing only 1/2 IM’s. I started off 2007 with my first age group victory at Galveston and went on to race at Disney and finished the year at the USAT Long Course Championship race. I managed to finish 5th at the championship earning a spot on the USA team. I had no Ironman races that year and really enjoyed the training and the racing at the 1/2 IM distance.
The 1/2 is such a great race, because you get to ride and run fast, but you still have to have endurance to get you through the 5 hours. I have learned to ride fast, but not too fast where I cannot run. At Disney in 2007, I had my fastest bike split ever! The problem was, I imploded on the run. I learned that you have to hold just a hare back so you have legs to hit the 1/2 marathon at the end. If you don’t, it is a long 13 miles.
In 2008, I started the year out at the Lone Star 1/2 Ironman with a good bike split, but a great run. The run gave me my fastest time ever of 4:28. That day came together, because I paced the race perfectly.
Buffalo Springs is a tough race because it is hot and windy (It is 99 degrees right now) I am excited to race there, because it will be similar conditions to what I will have in Kona. Buffalo Springs will give me a good test of how my body responds in these conditions. My last few races have been in cooler temperatures, so I need to use this to be sure I have my nutrition dialed in for the big day in Kona.
My training volume has been really high the past 2 weeks, with 5+ hour rides and 2.5 hour runs. I have not rested much at all, so I don’t expect a lot of speed, but I hope to feel strong.
Mike is shooting for a sub 5:00 race and he is in awesome shape to do it.
Stay tuned and I will provide an update after Sunday’s race.
I want to take a minute and thank my friends at Bike Lane for setting me up with my Powertap Zipp 808 race wheel. They have taken good care of me this season and I have raced well thanks to their support.
timothymonk.com 