Personal Record. Sometimes it is hard to compare 2 races to determine if you truly earned your personal best because distances and course design vary, but today I finally made my first sub 3 hour Olympic Race at Tempe Town Lake and posted my fastest time at an Olympic Distance Event 2:54:36 (unofficial). I will take it! When I arrived at the venue, I questioned how I even ended up at Tempe Town Lake again when I vow at each race at this venu will be my last. And especially when the heat is turned up and it is rare that these races start on time and today the race was delayed almost an hour which is not good when you start in the old lady group (one of the last groups). My group started around 8 am and the water temperature was barely wetsuit legal, but if you are to be competitive, you put your suit on to be like everyone else (besides I am consistently a few minutes faster with it on). I love playing the game, "pass the caps" where I see how many color waves I can pass. If they are going to make me start in one of the last waves, I am going to see how many age groups I can catch up to....green, yellow, red! The lead I gain in the swim does not last for long because I slowly get passed back up on the bike. The time gained was on my strongest event, the swim. I have been doing group swim workouts on Wednesdays which are like crossfit in the water, open water swims on Fridays, and a set of 4 lessons with Frank Sole, owner of Sole Swim Solutions. He seems to be helping me unlock some potential energy in the water! The time I gained in the water today, I probably lost trying to pull my wetsuit off. One area where I still feel so clutsy is the transition. 48 year old fingers and eyes don't work as good as they used to and a lot of fumbling goes on., Needless to say, I am happy to get my fins back and where I really need some speed is on the run. If I was equally strong in all 3 events, I would cut a significant number of minutes off my time. Today, I am happy to have finished a run in the heat at Tempe Town Lake without cramping. I was very conscientious about my nutrition and fluids today taking enough calories, salt, electrolytes and water over the head and sponges against my skin. I also have learned to hold back and find a steady pace where my body can sustain the work, but it is at the sacrifice of speed. I have thrown away my heart rate monitor for a while and I have been just listening to my body. It is liberating thing for me and I am more focused on using technique and strategy to sustain my workload. My bicyclologist, Jeff Lockwood has spent time working on Energy Management with me. I have a lot of words in my head and there is always something to think about. So maybe every 10 strokes in the water or on the bike, I go back to my technique. I want to go back to being in "Lala Land" when I TRI, but I go in and out of my own little world. It is great when you reach the point past where it feels hard to where you are on auto pilot where something that seems bigger than you takes over your body. Thus, 3 hours is just enough to get you started. And that my friends is why we go longer.
Sometimes we don't know what we are capable of, but slowly we chip away at our own outer turtle shell and create a piece of art within ourselves. Today gave me hope that there is still a lot of room for improvement and the great part is this is a sport that you can grow in at any age. Triathlon is a FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH! I would like to improve my time in a half IM distance race next. Now I know a sub 6 hour race is possible for me and something to strive for. I will have 2 chances coming up. I would have to shave off 20-30 minutes, so I will keep chipping away.
Satisfied, Happy Turtle!
Great job on the new PR Beth....congratulations. I've ditched my HR monitor too and just go by perceived effort....way better for me. No constantly checking my watch...just running. Very liberating.
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