3 Days to go to first Ironman race…

This will probably be my last post prior to Ultramax. I would like to say I’m ready, but all I can really say is I’m as ready as I’m going to be, it’s too late to do anything more!I’m definitely in no condition to set a blazing pace, my previous dream of a sub-10 hour time is out of the question. Despite having achilles tendonitis since April, my season seemed to be on track and up until three or so months ago I fully expected to be ready for Ultramax. Then I came down with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome wich was a result of my Achilles tendonitis and a slightly altered stride. My weekly long run which was up to around 16 miles, became non-existant. As if a lack of training were not enough, I woke up on Friday of last week with a horrible sore throat and have had a rather nasty cold since then. Fortunately, I am starting to feel a little better, but I really need to be fully recovered on Saturday in order to complete the event.

A little bit of history: The Ultramax triathlon started 3 years ago down in Lake of the Ozarks. It is a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. That first year I registered, but it was my first year doing triathlons and I backed out of the race after doing a half Ironman and having a bad time. The following year I thought once again about competing in the full Ultramax, but then they offered a half distance Ultramax and so I entered it. This year they moved the race from Lake of the Ozarks to Smithville to be closer to an international airport.

They also added an Ultramax Championship Series which is a series of races throughout the season in which you can accumulate points to win free entry into all of next years races ($1000+ value). www.ultramaxtri.com/champseries.php I quickly saw that if a person were to compete in every race in the series, they would stand a good chance of winning the series, just by attrition. Especially since two of the races, a ¼ Ironman and a ½ Ironman were on the same weekend, I figured most sane people wouldn’t compete in both events. Seeing that my sanity has already been questioned, I decided to enter every race in the series, and to culminate the year by competing in my first Ironman distance event.

On the 25th there are going to be two races. One is the US Half Iron Distance Championship and the other is the Ultramax full Iron Distance race. They will both be competed on the same course, but the full will do each leg twice. Going into this last day of the Ultramax series, I have the lead with a score of 203.284 with the second place competitor, Mark Carey having a score of 199.926. Things get a little complicated with the scoring, but simply put, if Mark Carey wins or finishes within 90 seconds of the winner in the Half Iron Distance event, he will most likely win the series, but by only .628 points. At that point, the only way I could beat him would be to finish within 30 minutes of the winner of the full Ultramax. The full Ultramax will probably be won with a time around 9 hours, and for anyone familiar with Ironman racing, for me to do a sub 10 hour Ironman my first time out will be virtually unheard of.

I’ve read you aren’t supposed to predict your times on your first Ironman, I’m going to do it anyways. Swim: 1:20 Bike: 5:30 Run: 3:50 Total time: 10:40 The most difficult to predict is the run, 3:50 might be a little optimistic, but I always aim high. In the back of my mind, I like to think I’m going to go faster, who knows?? I’d better go to bed so I can be sure I’m healthy enough to even start…