Burlington Game Plan...

Obviously the Summer of Mark training program was never geared toward USAT Nationals but as we all know life happens at an alarming rate and we can't always anticipate what is coming down the pike. With that being said it appears that Mary and I will be buying our first home within the next few weeks so the Pumpkinman is officially off the radar. I have been so selfish in my training all summer that it would be ludicrous not devoting 100% of my energy to this process. At the same time when I consider all of the great training that I have done this summer I am anxiously awaiting Saturday morning. I have put in so many days between two and three hours this summer that the Olympic distance may be my personal sweet-spot right now. With the odd nature of the wave start based on age group this weekend I have formulated a pretty straight forward race strategy.

Step one: Swim like a madman! I am swimming better than I ever have in my life right now which is still not as fast as most but I think I can be competitive out of the water. I firmly believe that the majority of triathletes are swim bikers. If I can minimize my losses out of the water I am confident that I can be in the mix. I need to keep being aggressive and breath every stroke and pick clear sight lines.

Step two: Ride like a madman! I have gotten more confident with every ride this summer on The Vulture. In a perfect world I would have a set of 50 mm carbon wheels on my bike for such a big race but that just is not in the cards right now. I really need to hearken back to Black Fly this weekend and just worry about myself on the bike. Everyone looks fast on a TT bike with carbon wheels. There is no sense in wasting my energy worrying about what anyone else is doing out there. With that being said I know that I will be passing a lot of riders from the other waves. I just need to capitalize on the adrenaline that this creates in a positive well channeled manner heading into the run.

Step three: Destroy the run! I can say with relative certainty that there will not be another competitor in the race that has the same history on the run course as I do. I have stared down the very darkest parts of my athletic soul on the bike path in Burlington. My DNA is still present in the pavement of the final miles of the Vermont City course. My will has already been through the crucible of my own fear and come out on the other side with a new perspective and understanding of myself. I AM GOING TO KILL THE RUN!

I'm sure there will be typical race day complications and everything will not go as planned but I am setting this idea in the grey matter upstairs for the next few days.

Mark