Well folks, after 18 months that saw a switch to triathlons, back to running, and then back to triathlons, the time

has come for my big challenge. This Sunday is the Ironman 70.3 Austin. It’s a Half Ironman about 10 miles east of downtown that will definitely put all my training to the test. It starts with a 1.2 mile swim, followed by a 56 mile bike, and finishes with a 13.1 mile run. So here’s what we can look forward to.

I’ve been a bit quiet on the training-related blog posts. Mostly it’s been to spare you the minutiae that surrounds triathlon training (unfortunately Ev wasn’t able to escape … love you!), but trust me that I’ve been putting in the time. In fact, I’ve done every single workout on my training plan for the last 20 weeks, ranging from 8 to 12 workouts per week. I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed ::self high-five!::

So with this race fast approaching, I’m getting mentally prepared. The weather has taken a recent turn for the perfect: low humidity, low temperatures, low wind. In fact, it might be a bit on the cold side, particularly for the bike ride. I may be breaking out sleeves to stave off frostbite being chilly…

What that means is (hopefully) faster times. Here are my updated predictions:

Swim (1.2 miles) – 0:40

Bike (56 miles) – 2:59

Run (13.1 miles) – 1:40

With some time added for transitions, let’s say 8 total minutes, that comes out to 5:27. I’d like to finish under 5:30, regardless of how it breaks down.

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p style=”text-align: left;”>The training is done. The preparations have begun. The race starts on Sunday. My group goes off at 8:25am CT. If there’s Race Tracking, I’ll be sure to share on Twitter. Keep an eye out for number 1641. Otherwise, check back around 2pm CT to see how I did. Wish me luck!