Hot hot heat

S - 7000 yards
B - 237.2 miles
R - 30 miles

Time - 17.39 hours

As the second half of my triathlon season rolls around I can't help but get excited for some upcoming races.  I've never created a separate "schedule" page on the ol' blog so I thought I'd take this opportunity to lay out August to November!

August 20th - Age Group Nationals in Burlington, VT (1.5k/40k/10k)
September 10th - White Lake International in White Lake, NC (1.5k/45k/10k) OR Best of the US in Gulf Shores, AL (1.5k/40k/10k)
September 25th - Augusta 70.3 in... Augusta, GA (1.2/56/13.1)
October 8th - Myrtle Beach Triathlon in.....surprise, Myrtle Beach, SC (1k/45k/11k)
October 29th - Beach to Battleship Half in Wilmington, NC (1.2/56/13.1)

This looks like a lot of racing (and I suppose it is) but Coach Desert Dude has assured me that I'll be more than ready for the "A" races.  I'm not sure if I've ever really mentioned it here on this blog but I'm guessing that most people know my ultimate goal in triathlon is to race as a professional...  I'd really like to qualify for my pro card eligibility at Augusta 70.3; I think that race and my hopeful fitness levels give me the best chance to do so this year.  Top 3 OA at AG Nationals also qualify, but I'm not sure I'm quite fast enough at that distance to compete with some of the people that will be racing there for a top 3 spot.  I think it's certainly in my reach to be top 10 OA in Burlington, but top 3 would be a tough nut to crack :/

I have to look at these things as objectively as possible because while I put pretty high expectations on myself (and others do too, seeing how much I train) I have to keep a cool ahead when it comes to assessing actual ability.  I've only been swimming for three years and while I've made a lot of progress, I still give up some not insignificant chunks of time to the top swimmers.  My cycling is definitely good, but I gave up ~8 minutes to the top amateur on the bike in New Orleans (luckily, I out ran him! But not by 8 minutes...) so I've got some FTP to increase.  I think, as surprising as it may be, my run has become my "most improved" this year.  I've been running now for about 3.5 or 4 years and this is the first year where I've really been able to run at or above my supposed potential in triathlons.  A 1:21:xx run in a half is enough to make up ground on almost everybody except for some pros and very fast amateurs.  While I didn't swim in NOLA and WL I hope to better those run times at Augusta and B2B.

I've been training "correctly" now for about 26 weeks so there's been some definite improvement but 26 weeks really isn't that long of a time in this sport!  As Coach always reminds me, it takes a LONG time to get really good at this; and even if I never become a "competitive" pro I'd still like to be able to say that I competed at the highest level in something!  Dare to dream, right!