2014 starts Here

Amsterdam was the last race of the year for me. Now having taken a full week off, its time to shift my focus to 2014. My goal, qualification for the Ironman World Championships in Kona Hawaii on the 11th October. I've targeted Ironman UK in Bolton to try and bag my ticket to the big dance. This means a sub 9:50 on a challenging course which on paper is achievable. It's a different ball game in practice of course. I know a lot of athletes don't like to make their numbers public but I find making my intentions known keeps me honest and focused on what's required. So... Swim target will be 57 I've managed this in training, but a long 59 is the best I've managed in race conditions. Threshold pace to achieve this needs to be at 1:30 per 100 / 4km/h. Bike <5:30 is the goal here. This is probably on a par with the shape I was for IM Austria back in 2011. FTP back then was at 310w I'm going to aim to reach FTP of 320w for Bolton, this means completing a CP30 test averaging 337w (ouchie!) These numbers would mean IM bike power will be around 240w (although unfortunately I wont have the luxury of racing with a powermeter). Run goal will be <3:10. This equates to 4:30/k for IM pace. Based on my numbers from Amsterdam this isn't too far from where I'm at now. Balancing current run fitness with swim and bike wont be easy though. So there you have it, simple eh?!

Leading into Bolton I've targeted the Ballbuster Duathlon and UK70.3. Both of these will be 'B races' but I fully intend to give them everything so as to get a marker of my fitness. Ballbuster will be my first real test on March 1st after hopefully a solid winter of training. UK70.3 (June 15th)  is perfectly placed to give me an idea of my chances in Bolton just over a month later. If I'm not in the mix here I'm unlikely to be come 20th July. (depending on who shows up of course). I'll also be doing a few other smaller races to keep things interesting but intend to train through these. 

So that's pretty much it. I'm sure they'll be plenty of curve balls thrown my way but I can only deal with them as they crop up so for now is time to get my head down and get training.

Keith