‘I need to trust my instincts’

Tyler McCandless has won the Kauai Marathon three times and the Kauai Half Marathon twice. Saturday, he’ll be competing in the biggest race of his running career so far.

McCandless, 29, is entered in the Olympic Team Trials Marathon in Los Angeles. A record 373 of the country’s fastest men and women at covering 26.2 miles will toe the starting line. The top three finishers from each race who meet Olympic time standards will be nominated to represent the U.S. in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

McCandless, while facing long odds, has high hopes and is feeling good.

“I’m definitely convinced my fitness is the best it’s ever been,” he said. “The last two months, my training has really, really clicked.”

McCandless raised his weekly mileage to more than 100 and increased the intensity and quantity of his speed work, too.

“Every day of the week I was doing a little bit more than what I had done in the past,” he said.

The Boulder, Colorado man checked into his hotel Thursday morning. He drove part of the course and got in some light jogging.

It’s expected to be sunny and hot Saturday morning, and McCandless has done well in warm-weather races. So between his fitness level and the projected conditions, he could be a contender.

“Both lead me believe I could be in for a great performance,” he said.

Early favorites in the men’s field include three-time Olympian Meb Keflezighi, who earned a silver medal at the 2004 Athens Games and placed fourth at the 2012 London Games. Others are Dathan Ritzenhein, who placed ninth in the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Games, and Luke Puskedra will be making his Olympic Trials Marathon debut as the third-fastest men’s qualifier.

The men will go out first at 10:06 a.m. Pacific Time, followed by the women about 20 minutes later. The course is basically flat and covers four six-mile loops, which makes it spectator friendly, so McCandless will hear the cheers of a contingent of family and friends.

The marathon will also be broadcast on NBC.

On race day, he’ll wait to see how things shake out in determining whether to try and hang with the leaders, hold back and make a late push or something in between. If the pace is slow, perhaps he’ll move to the front. Or, he might match surges or toss in his own.

“I need to trust my instincts out there,” he said. “There’s 150 of the best guys in the U.S. coming here to compete, so I need to use my race instincts I’ve developed over last six years.”

He’s happy, relaxed and excited as he prepares for what is “definitely the most important race” of his career. The 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon will offer a record $600,000 prize purse, distributed among the top 10 finishers in both the male and female categories.

McCandless qualified for the trials by running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon/USA Championships in 2 hours, 15 minutes and 26 seconds on Oct. 5, 2014.

He’s continued racing and preparing for the trials.

“I’ve really never been so healthy and fit and feeling good,” he said.

But the 5-9, 140-pound McCandless believes even better times — literally and figuratively — could be ahead. He noted that in four years for the next Olympics, 2020 in Tokyo, he’ll be 33, a prime age for marathoners.

“I really want to learn from this experience and just compete the best I can and build on it for the next four years,” he said.

Until the gun goes off Saturday morning, he plans to enjoy the moments and relax in two ways.

First, he’ll read a favorite book, “The Power of One,” by Australian author Bryce Courtenay. It’s about a boy who overcomes challenges to become a boxing champion.

“It’s very inspirational for me,” McCandless said.

Second, is spending time with his fiancée Kristin McCormick (they got engaged two weeks ago and are planning a November wedding), her parents and his parents.

“Nothing is more important than being able to spend time with the people you love,” he said.

And yes, he’s planning to return to Kauai in September to most likely defend his half marathon title.

“I wouldn’t miss it,” he said.