Groundhogs Day Self Supported Half Ironman Challenge

Tonight I was interview by Jet Pack ( Tyler) for his podcast the Jet Pack Show. Here is some of the the thing that we talked about and my plan so far for my Self Supported Half Ironman.

This February 2, I will be doing my first Self Supported Half Ironman.

For those that have not heard of a self supported race; it is basically a race that you plan out and do your self. I will plan out the course for the swim, bike, and run. I will plan out the nutrition/ aid stations. However I will have help from my family. My wife will help out by giving me water & food out on the course and to check in on me to make sure that I'm ok out there.

So here is the plan so far...

Swim
Start time will be 8:00 AM. The Gym opens at 8:00 so I hope to get in the water by 8:15. For the swim I will do 2,000 yards. That's 80 laps in a 25 yard pool.

The swim will be simple & easiest part. I swam in high school & little bit in college. I'm not as good as I once was but still will be the easiest.

Estimated time for the swim will be less than 40 minutes. I hope to do under 2:00 minutes per hundred yards.

T1
T1 will be part in the locker room & part in the parking lot. I will have to dry off before going back into the gym. I imagine I would get some looks if I ran through the gym soaking wet with my goggles & swim cap.

Outside I will have to grab my bike out of the car and put the front tire on. Put socks & bike shoes on (got have socks). I hope I don't need leg & toe warmers. I may put a race number on for kicks & giggles. Grab my helmet, cell phone and MP3 player.

Nutrition on the bike will be 2 water bottles & 2 gator aid bottles. I will have gels & nutri-grain bars & maybe some fruit like a banana.

Estimated time for T1 will be about 8 to 10 minutes.

Bike
56 mile bike ride thru the countryside of South West Georgia. The first 5 miles will have a good bit of car traffic. Most of the ride should be flat with a few rolling hills. The last 5 miles will be residential neighborhood to T2

I just got aero bars put on my bike so I'm thinking that I'll average around 16 mph. So on paper it should be a 31/2 hour bike ride. The bike is wear I have tried to focus more of my training since it is the weakest of the three disciplines.

T2
This will be at my mom's house because she lives close to the gym. T2 should be simple change of shoes, get a drink, and something to eat. I'll pick up some more gels & a bottle of water and go. T2 total time will be around 5 minutes.

Run
I'm still working on the run course as of right now. I trying to make it 2 or 3 loops. The plan is to use the mail box as an aid station. Have my family put water and gels in the mail box as needed.

The run won't be too bad. I've been training since the fall for a Marathon in March. I plan to use the Galloway method to get thru the 13.1 mile run. I will do a 3 to 1, Run / Walk ratio (That means I'll run for 3 minutes and walk for 1 minute and so on).

My best time in the half marathon is 1 hour & 50 minutes, so I think 2 half hours on the run.

Goals:
1. Complete the Groundhogs Day Half Ironman Challenge - which is can George create and /or opens to see his own shadow at the end of the race? In other words finish the race.
2. Complete the race in under 7 hours.
3. Learn a lot and be more physically and Mental ready for the Rock'N Roll Man Half Ironman race at the end of May.

I plan to honor cut off times. I will use the same cut off times that will be used at the Rock' N Roll Half Iron Man which are: Swim 1:15, Bike 5:00, and Total Race 8:00 hours.

I'll plan to take pictures and post a race review. You'll be able to find the race review here and on itunes - Jet Pack Show