1 month out from Challenge Wanaka Half - expectations

I'm one month out from Challenge Wanaka Half – what are my expectations?

I raced the first ever Challenge Wanaka (full) in 2007 and had my best iron distance performance to date. Since then I’ve done a couple of team efforts in Wanaka but have never done the half which is one of the reasons for going down this year. It will also be a great way to kick off my racing build up for Roth. Ideally I’d like to race a lot in the build up but I will have to make do with what I’ve got given I organise most of the local races.

• Some local sprints (Jan and March)
• Challenge Wanaka Half (Feb)
• Some local running races once the tri season finishes.
• Kona 70.3 (june) perfectly timed about 4 weeks out.

So my expectations / goals for Wanaka 1 month out!

A steady day at the office sticking to my race plan, especially my nutrition plan

Swim – I don’t have high expectations as I’m only swimming twice a week. I need to use my experience to get around the swim as quickly as I can. Come Roth time I need to be swimming under 5min for 400m which is probably a good 10sec+ from where I am right now. A choppy/rough swim will suit my strengths.

Bike – it’s a lumpy course down there. I’ll be using HR and power to guide me through. I know I need to be under 145bpm. I hope I can get a normalized power close to 260w. For that level of effort and still have juice in the tank for the run. Right now my rides at 250-260w feel pretty challenging but HR is not out of control. Other little objectives: push over the tops of climbs really well and keep cadence up in the 2^nd half.

Run – if I can average 4min/km or just under I’ll be happy enough. Back at Auckland 70.3 in 2014 I was targeting 3:45/km. I’m not quite in that run shape and the Wanaka course is slower so anything with a 3 in it will be nice.  

Racing @ Challenge Wanaka in 2007