And so it begins. I've thought about writing this blog many times over the past few months. This past weekend's workouts have given me the courage to put it out there. For many years I thought about trying to qualify for the Ironman World Championship. I actually thought that I might have the capability of doing so. Even two years ago, when I made it to Kona through the Legacy program, I gave it one last attempt at Ironman Boulder to try to qualify. While I go my second best age group result ever (7th place), I was still far away from a Kona slot. The biggest single reason for the fact that I've never come closer than 45 minutes from qualifying lies with the run. I won't know for another 6 weeks whether that has truly changed, but it sure feels like it right now. I also harbor no illusions as to how challenging getting a Kona slot will be, even in the 60-64 year old age group, where the competition is still fierce.
In a lot of ways, Day 1 of my "Journey Back to Kona" could very well be the first day of a three year endeavor. It is quite plausible that my ability to be competitive enough to qualify for a Kona slot won't come until I join the ranks of the 65-69 year old age group. On the other hand, my recent race performances and training experiences have opened the door ever so slightly for the next two years. My first chance to see how I stack up comes in less than six weeks at Ironman California. While one never knows how they will perform on race day, especially when it comes to Ironman racing, I'm as ready as I've ever been.
Finding myself running under 8 minute pace during the final five miles of a 10 mile run and 4 hour triathlon completely changed the way I view myself. In my age group, as in many of the age groups, ones Ironman finishing place is "all about the run." In all of my years of doing triathlons, I've never run like this. Today was my second day in a row of running 9.5 miles comfortably on a hilly course close to 9:30 pace. I expect to put in another 50 mile run week this week, and for the past six months I've averaged close to 40 miles of running a week. My body has absorbed the training and is not breaking down. In fact, I look forward to going out and running 10 miles!
This brings me to my goals for IM California. I have three. First, and foremost, to have a run PR. This means pretty much running the marathon the marathon in under 4 hours and 30 minutes, although, I'd like to set a reasonable goal of running a 4:20 marathon. Ideally, if I'm having a great day, getting under 4 hours is the holy grail for >60 athletes. If I can run the marathon in under 4 hours I will undoubtedly achieve my other two goals. The first is to PR for the race, which would be anything under 11:30, though again, my "stretch" goal is doing the Ironman under 11 hours. Any or all of these results will get me to my final goal of being on the Age Group podium (top five). Depending on who else is racing, and how they do, getting on the podium gives me a fair, albeit outside, chance of getting a Kona slot. The 60-64 age group generally has one slot, hence the winner of the age group. There are 60 year olds capable of doing this race in close to 10 hours. At the end of the day, luck will play a part for me!
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