When racing turns to finishing

There two groups of people that compete in triathlons. On one hand you have people that do it to challenge themselves, to basically finish the race. On the other hand, you have people that compete not only to challenge themselves, but also challenge others. In other words, they race.

I have been in the second group for a few years now. When I show up at a race, I intend to do just that, race. However yesterday at the 5430 Long Course, I found myself about 1/3 of the way through the bike course wanting to just finish. I had been passed by numerous riders, something that doesn’t happen to me on the bike. My thoughts then shifted from racing and pushing myself and others to just finishing. Some thoughts even drifted to wishing for a flat tire (I don’t carry a spare in races) to end my day altogether. Never before I have dreaded the run like I did yesterday. Fortunately for me, I didn’t flat and made it through the bike leg.

Surprisingly, when I started the run, I felt good. The first 4-5 miles, I had a consistent 7:20-7:25 pace. The middle miles were by far the toughest dropping to upper 7:50s and even some 8:00s. That was also about the time my mindset changed back to racing. If someone were to pass me, they would have to work for it. My goal was to catch those that had already passed me and turn this back into a race (even though it was only for top 10 in my AG).

With a couple miles left in the run, my I saw the guy that passed me around mile 3. Never before have I been able to catch someone who passed me on the run. That changed with a mile and a half left in the race when I passed him and put another 1:30 on him before finishing the race. That was perhaps the only highlight on the day. A day that was tailor made for PRs with the overcast skies and cooler temperatures, I came up short. I mentally checked out of the race early on the bike and couldn’t pull it together.

Next up, St. George marathon. Yes, I will do a marathon without swimming or biking beforehand. I really excited about it and hope I can post a good time. Since it has been so long I can’t say exactly what my goal is for the race. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:25??? Right now, I am just looking forward to being a runner first and a cyclist second.

Run hard,
J-Rod