My turn: Race WWYD

[emilyj]

I had planned to do my first 70.3 at the end of April.  For a myriad of reasons (work, work travel, injuries), my training has been utter garbage.  I am confident I can pull off the swim and bike portion fine (not great, but fine) but right now I'm scared I would DNF the run.

Looking ahead, I've got several things that will still get in the way of my training - two weeks of travel, namely.  I was under no illusion at all that I would run the whole 13.1 to begin with.  

Here are my current options:

A. Go ahead as planned.  Do the best that I can with training. Do the 70.3. Run the worst 13.1 leg in the history of 70.3's. 

Option B would be to not do that one.  Register for an aquabike and/or an olympic tri the same weekend as the 70.3 instead.  I found a 70.3 right by my parent's house in Connecticut that I would love to do on 6/22, HOWEVER - if I register for that, I'll be on a cruise the week of 6/9 - 6/15, which would be a hell of a taper week.  

I think I know what the smart answer is.  

[sassystace]

You still have all of March and most of April to train, right? I think it is too early to give up on your training. Can you not run at all when you travel? If you'd just rather not run, I'd switch to another race that weekend.

[emilyj]

I can run when I travel. I fully plan to. Running in Central Park? Hell yes!

To put this in perspective, I am struggling to run a 5k straight right now.

[Susie]

I think most people walk at least some in the run of a 70.3.  I definitely did.  I think my run split was around 2:25 (I had done a 2:07 in a standalone HM during my HIM training).  So don't skip the HIM just because you think you'll have to walk some.

That said, will this HIM in April be fun?  Do you really want to do it?  Do you feel prepared in other ways besides run mileage?  Will you do it in a way that would make you want to do it again later?  

I am absolutely certain that you will not really run the worst 13.1 leg in the history of 70.3's, no matter what.  But it's hard to tell how prepared you are (or aren't) in general.  

Which HIM in CT are you looking at for June?  I'm wondering if I know it by reputation.

[emilyj]

Mar 3, 2014 13:02:18 GMT -5 Susie said:

I think most people walk at least some in the run of a 70.3.  I definitely did.  I think my run split was around 2:25 (I had done a 2:07 in a standalone HM during my HIM training).  So don't skip the HIM just because you think you'll have to walk some.

That said, will this HIM in April be fun?  Do you really want to do it?  Do you feel prepared in other ways besides run mileage?  Will you do it in a way that would make you want to do it again later?  

I am absolutely certain that you will not really run the worst 13.1 leg in the history of 70.3's, no matter what.  But it's hard to tell how prepared you are (or aren't) in general.  

Which HIM in CT are you looking at for June?  I'm wondering if I know it by reputation.

I do really want to do it, but I want to do really well on the swim and bike because the course will lend itself to that (the swim is all down river with the current), and I don't think right now I will do as well as I could, so I think I'll end up really disappointed with that part.  I can handle the swim/bike, but I'll walk away knowing I could have/should have done better on those 2 legs.  Does that make sense?  

I was originally looking at the 70.3 at Lake Quassy, and then I found this one: teammossman.com/events_mighty.html  I want to do that one because that is where I grew up - like, I used to ride my bike around the first 13 miles of that course when I was a kid, I grew up swimming in the Sound as a kid, my parents would be able to see me.  I think it would just be really neat to do.  I think it's a newer race.  

[Susie]

Mar 3, 2014 13:27:10 GMT -5 emilyj said:

Mar 3, 2014 13:02:18 GMT -5 Susie said:

I think most people walk at least some in the run of a 70.3.  I definitely did.  I think my run split was around 2:25 (I had done a 2:07 in a standalone HM during my HIM training).  So don't skip the HIM just because you think you'll have to walk some.

That said, will this HIM in April be fun?  Do you really want to do it?  Do you feel prepared in other ways besides run mileage?  Will you do it in a way that would make you want to do it again later?  

I am absolutely certain that you will not really run the worst 13.1 leg in the history of 70.3's, no matter what.  But it's hard to tell how prepared you are (or aren't) in general.  

Which HIM in CT are you looking at for June?  I'm wondering if I know it by reputation.

I do really want to do it, but I want to do really well on the swim and bike because the course will lend itself to that (the swim is all down river with the current), and I don't think right now I will do as well as I could, so I think I'll end up really disappointed with that part.  I can handle the swim/bike, but I'll walk away knowing I could have/should have done better on those 2 legs.  Does that make sense?  

I was originally looking at the 70.3 at Lake Quassy, and then I found this one: teammossman.com/events_mighty.html  I want to do that one because that is where I grew up - like, I used to ride my bike around the first 13 miles of that course when I was a kid, I grew up swimming in the Sound as a kid, my parents would be able to see me.  I think it would just be really neat to do.  I think it's a newer race.  

I would never pick Quassy as a first HIM.  Have you seen the elevation profile?  Somebody mapped the bike leg on mapmyride here:  www.mapmyride.com/us/middlebury-ct/rev-3-quassy-half-ironman-bike-route-70176526  That's why I was asking, since I thought it might be that one.  The other one you posted, I am not familiar with.

April and June are far enough apart that you could do both.  Without knowing more about your training it's hard to say what I'd do in your circumstances.

[emilyj]

Both? Hmmm. I never thought of that. I thought 2 that close would be a bad idea. 

Utter disappointment to redemption? I kind of like the sound of that...

ETA: My training prior to the past couple of weeks had been fairly on schedule.  My run has been struggling, because of a nagging achilles injury.  Swim has been fine.  Bike has been fine, albeit slow.  Longest ride so far has been 40 miles. The past two weeks it's been nonexistent thanks to last minute work meetings, getting sick, weather.  I went out the other day to run, and could not run a 5K.  That's when I started panicking.  I'm losing 3  days of training this week due to work and travel, and will have to work training around days of a conference and 1 day of travel next week (I'll be able to only run).  Then I'll have essentially 2 uninterrupted weeks, another week of travel and a conference (which usually ends up being easy to work in training at the beginning, then impossible to do by the end), then 3 uninterrupted weeks until race day.

I'm doubting myself hardcore on being able to do the run.  That's my sticking point right now.