Goal Setting

Today I was asked about my time goals for Beach to Battleship. I felt pretentious and overly ambitious when I stated my perfect condition race time, especially considering this will be the first time I will try and cover 140.6 miles. I think sometimes it's easy to get lost in times and figuring out where you can make up time and where you might lose it...especially when you're thinking to yourself and wishing and having pipe dreams!

That being said, I think it's really important to have goals in life. Sure, my goals may make me sound cocky and/or overly confident but if you don't set high standards for yourself how will you ever get motivated enough to do better?? I remember when I was gearing up for New Orleans 70.3 I thought I was capable of running a 1:25 half marathon after a 2:30 bike and a :35 swim. NOT! I struggled to the line with a 1:37! That taught me that you can't do stuff in races that you've never done in training. I never put in the work to be able to run a 1:25 half marathon. That's a longgg way to be holding fast miles that I've never even come close to in training. I realized that I had to work HARD to be able to run as fast as I wanted to in a half ironman. Unfortunately for me, I didn't have enough time before the next one to put in the work and consequently went the same pace in my second effort at the distance!

So, just to hold myself accountable my goals for Beach to Battleship (on a perfect day where everything goes right including my nutrition, my pacing, and most importantly I don't fall apart on the run due to all the factors that can contribute to that happening...)

Swim 2.4 miles in :53-:55 (tide-aided!)
Bike 112 miles in 4:58-5:05 (this may very well be a bad idea but why not try for it?)
Run 26.2 miles in 3:25-3:35 (this one's the big question mark. No idea what to expect!)

To elaborate, my main goal for this race is simply to FINISH. That is my main objective on November 7th: to cross the finish line intact and mostly healthy. Having said that, if conditions are perfect and nothing goes wrong mechanically or physically I'd LOVE to see those times. That may be asking too much from myself and I may very well not come anywhere close to those splits but if I don't then I'm not ashamed. I know that I'm not trying to come off as overly confident but if you don't set high standards for yourself, who will?