Thirteen hours and twenty five minutes. That's the average time it's taken me to finish each of my 15 Ironman races. My fastest was 11:31:59 at Chattanooga in 2014. My slowest was at Santa Rosa in 2018, which took 14 hours and 52 minutes, holding my Kona spot in 2019, all I had to do was finish. That was the year I hadn't trained, literally completing an Ironman on under 4 hours a week of training, and recovering from a cold to boot! Nine of my fifteen Ironman's have been completed in under thirteen hours. My first Ironman, Ironman St. George 2010, took me thirteen hours, eighteen minutes and twenty-six seconds. I was 50 years old at the time.
I will compete at Ironman World Championship in St. George in just under three weeks. I have a goal. Finish in under thirteen hours and 25 minutes. Considering that I'm now 63 years old and this is one of the hardest Ironman courses on the planet, that would be a tremendous accomplishment. My training has been good, albeit, not perfect, especially with my recent knee problem. That seems to have almost cleared up, which gives me about 10 days to sharpen my bike training. I can't be more pleased with how I'm entering this race from a swim and run perspective. My swimming is totally on track, and I anticipate having my best Ironman swim in years, although my only goal for the swim is to not go too hard. My bike training now totally necessitates that I don't push too hard. That's not a bad thing for any Ironman, especially one where the bulk of the climbing occurs in the last half of the bike! As always, the run will be what it will be, but I'm coming into this race with my best run fitness in years, perhaps ever. In fact, I've recently run my fastest "open" and half ironman half marathons in nearly a decade. My Ironman run PR could be in my sights. Ironically, it was set at St. George in 2012.
I used to create goals and blog about them, and I haven't done that in some time. I certainly know better than to stick too closely to goals for an Ironman, but I really feel like it's ok to put my goals out there for this race. It's a World Championship, and I'll be competing against the best in my age group. If I swim anywhere under 1 hour and 20 minutes I'll be happy. Interestingly enough, swim times do seem to drop once you hit the 60-64 age group. My swim is back on track and I'm swimming better than I have in years. I could swim as fast as 1:15 if conditions are good, but expect to be right around 1:20.
The bike is going to be a challenge. With nearly 7500 feet of climbing and a good chunk of it in the last fifty miles of the race, I can't expect too much. I'll be happy with anything under 7 hours and will be satisfied with anything close to that. If conditions are good and I'm feeling strong, 6 hours and 40 minutes is probably as good as I can do. Realistically, I won't be surprised by a 7:10 bike. Regardless, I need to leave enough energy for the run!
If I am having a fantastic day, I could start the run with 8 hours and 10 minutes already on the clock. More likely, it will be closer to 8 hours and 40 minutes. It really will be "all about the run!" The way I've been running, I'm cautiously optimistic about being able to run a 4 hour and 30 minute marathon, which would allow me to finish in under thirteen hours and 25 minutes. I think on the best of days, I could pull off a 4 hour and 15 minute marathon, and if I'm challenged, it could be as long as 5 hours. A great run could have me finishing the race in under 13 hours.
There it is. My goals are out there. Back to training...
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