Race Weekend!

Rev3 Quassy Half Ironman is being served up on a nice little racing platter for me this weekend!  This is my first "real" race of the season and I am super excited!  I call it a "real" race because well, it's my first tri of the season and even though I raced the Zof... it was more of "survival, can I even do this crazy sort of thing?" race. 

So... my bags will be packed tonight, directions are already printed out, and I'll be heading to bed early.  I have a short brick tomorrow morning then it's time to drive up to Quassy!

What are my goals for this race?

In the big, grand picture, this is just a long training day.  My super A+++++ goal is obviously Lake Placid so I think this takes some pressure off of me.  Do I want to kick some butt? heck yeah!  but I won't let that lead me off my Placid course.

The Swim: I want to keep up my confidence after the 2.4 open water swim I had last weekend and really try to get in the mess of bodies at the beginning.  I know I'm gonna be hit, punched, kicked and all that fun stuff in Placid, so why not practice it now?! 
TIME: I'd love my swim time to be around 35 minutes

T-1: Stay calm and just do what needs to be done.  Cap, goggles, wetsuit off.  Race #, helmet, shoes, shades, gloves on.  I will have a towel to dry off my feet a little bit and my bike should be all set up that I won't need to do anything else. 
TIME: 3 minutes

The Bike:  I feel like this is the biggest unknown for me.  This is one tough course with lots and lots of hills so I am not expecting a super fast bike.  BUT - I'd like to hold between 16-18mph comfortably.  I want to focus on taking my nutrition and tackling the hills!  My nutrition plan is 1 or 1 1/2 Mojo Peanut Butter Pretzel bars, 1 package of Gu chomps, 2 Ironman perform bottles, water and if I need them gu's.
TIME: anywhere from 3:10-3:30

T-2: Take off helmet, gloves, shoes.  Put on socks, sneaks & visor.
TIME: <2:00

The Run: My ultimate goal is to run comfortably off the bike.  Again, this run course is hilly so I'll have to adjust for that.  I looked at the past few bricks that I've run in the past month and they've all been between an 8:25-8:50 overall pace.  I want to replicate that and keep the number 8 on my watch for all 13.1 miles.  I've never broken 2 hours in a half ironman and I'm hoping that'll change on Sunday. 
TIME: <2 hours

TOTAL EST. TIME: 6:00 hours give or take

I know there are a lot of factors that will come into play on Sunday... the heat & rain being the main one.  As of right now, it's looking like high of 68 with a 30% chance of thunderstorms.  This is the northeast, so that forecast will probably change about 3x before the gun goes off!  If it stays at 68 - it'll be a faster day for most folks!  I'm also not tied to the times above.  I know things could go wrong or it just might not be my day and if that happens... I'm ok with it.  I'll remind myself that it's just a long training day.... I have an Ironman-sized fish to fry on July 24th!

Good luck to all those racing this weekend!