Feeling positive

The long awaited leap to the Olympic distance (from Sprint) will happen early tomorrow morning. My training sessions have been good, with increased duration and intensity. So, I'm feeling positive about at least finishing and maybe even being competitive in the over 50 age group.

Goals for tomorrow:

1. Finish; Still not sure what will happen physically at the full distance. As long as I don't have an injury or major mechanical on the bike I should finish.
2. Swim; It will be a close call regarding wet suits tomorrow. If the water is over 78 degrees they won't be legal for folks that are wanting to be included in the official results. It would be nice to have the comfort of extra flotation, but I should be better off than a lot of others who aren't strong swimmers. At 1,500 meters, I am hoping to finish in about 30 minutes. Based on the results from the same event last year, that would be in the top three "out of the water" - but, since cycling is my weak suit I better capitalize on the swim. Goal: 30:00 minutes
   
3. Bike; My goal will be to maintain an average speed on 18 mph for the bike. That would be consistent with my speed at the Sprint distance, but I have worked pretty hard on the cycling. Hopefully, the work will pay off. The course is "rolling hills" which means it will be tougher than the Philly course - which was basically flat along the river. Goal: 1 hour and 18:00 minutes
   
4. Run; It's hard to say how I'll be feeling at this point. 6.2 miles after the swim and bike will be interesting. If my body is willing, I'll try to maintain a pace of around 8 minutes per mile. Goal: 50:00 minutes
   
5. Transition; If there are no wet suits, the T1 should be fairly straight forward. I'll use my actual from the Philly tri as the goal here. Goal: 4:45 minutes
6. Total Goal; 2 hours 42:45 minutes. Phew!

If I can achieve these goals the result should be a solid upper "middle of the pack" finish.
I will post an analysis of the actual results by Monday morning. In the meantime, you can check back to this blog and watch "Twitter Updates" (upper right hand corner of the page) for developments before and after the event. Or, follow me on Twitter for live updates (bradkingrec)