This year's triathlon season is over for me. I'm happy that I was able to race after being hurt for all of last year. And I'm hopeful that, as I get farther away from last year's crash, my fitness will continue to improve. Yesterday was the Black Diamond Sprint Triathlon. I did this race 6 years ago, which, when I look at the times from then vs. now, was a lifetime ago. Same course, 4 minutes slower. Hard to say whether the slowing is related to age or fitness; I'm hoping it's fitness, because that means that I can actually be faster next year. But... when I look at how fast I ran then vs. now, it's a reality check. Back then, my split was 3rd fastest, and if I had run the same time yesterday, it would have been 2nd fastest. Instead, I had the 8th fastest split. It doesn't sound like a lot, but it was 1:30, which, to me is pretty significant. Couple that with 1:30 slower on the bike, and there it is. I still ended up 8th overall and won my age group, so I'm not terribly disappointed, but the distance between 1st and where I am now continues to expand.
The strangest thing, I think, is that I get absolutely pummeled during the swim. Tracy mentioned to me that, at the green buoy (probably 150 meters out), there was a bunch of yellow caps (my wave) just bobbing in the water. I know that I got hammered in the first 150, and then had clean water for the rest of the swim. Since I came out of the water 14th, my guess was that the same bozos that beat me up in the initial part of the swim then became hypoxic and had to stop swimming. I can't figure out the idiocy of swimming the first 100-200 yards of a swim as hard as you can, and then having to stop and rest, but I guess it's the same idiots who go out and sprint the first 400 yards of a 5K or 10K run and then are toast for the rest of it. Guess I might do some work on my sprint speed in the water this winter.
On the positive side, it took me awhile to catch David on the bike. Even though he was only 30 seconds faster out of the water (which I took to be a good thing for me), I think it was about 3 miles before I caught him. And he definitely was the smallest and youngest one out there on the pointy end of the race for a long time. It would be very demoralizing to people if they knew how little he rides. And that he doesn't run at all. I'm curious to see what happens next season when he finally starts to do some running, and has another year of riding under his belt. Maybe the day that he beats me is not as far into the future as I once thought.
Over the past week, I started wondering if it was time to stop racing. After all, I'm not getting any younger, and it gets harder to stay motivated, knowing that the likelihood I'm going to win a race, or even be competitive for the overall, is pretty low. I've been racing multisport for 17 years, and only have a few friends that are still competing. I still have fun doing the training, and staying fit is something I'll never give up, but the big question to me is how fit do I need to be? My guess is that if David wasn't interested in racing, I'd be done. Well, I have an entire winter to contemplate my racing future.
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