Time trials for swim and run went as well as can be expected last week.
The question always is "What can be expected?"
By that I mean, I'm a 51-year old woman who came to this whole running and triathlon thing late -- er, LATER -- in life.
I know what my times are, but what should they be? What could they be?
What should they be? Can I take pleasure/glee/pride in knowing that I'm doing stuff that most women in their 50s are NOT doing?
I see what they could be by looking at the results of other women in my age category. But, and here is the rub, there just happens to be a bunch of Uber-women that compete in my age category!
For a while, when I was in my late 40's, I thought "NOW is MY time to actually be in the middle of the pack!"
HA!
The Uber-Women leave me in the dust and at the bottom. So, when I really compare myself to them and look at their history (and more importantly body-type), COULD I really be running as fast as them?
If I enter events as an Athena, my stats are better. I solidly (no Athena-related pun intended) end up finishing as a mid-pack person then.
But, still, when I send my Coach my results of my time trials, I have no idea if they are "good" or "bad" or just "are".
My kind, speedy, young and athletically gifted Coach says "GOOD JOB!", so I'm just going to take it as he says it.
But really, my results are probably just "are" stats -- a baseline -- a benchmark--a start.
I'm okay today with my results, even if they are pokey. I've got many more weeks of base training left before the big IM WI training push and my numbers should improve. (Right???)
This week, I have a metabolic rate test on Wednesday and a bike time trial on Saturday.
I'll be glad when both tests (and winter) are over.
3 comments:
I suppose this is a stupid comment.. but I think we compete against ourselves, and if you did well "for you" then you did well.
When I started running, I became a lot less charmed by the wonderland of winter.
Spring will come.
Good luck on your training; I'm cheering you.
I hate time trials because of the reminder of my lack of speed.But what was great last year during Iron training was to see the good changes and you will
The competition in the races around here is pretty stiff. Here I am in the bottom of the pack. If I look at races in other parts of the country, I would fare much better. People are very active here and the tri community is awesome, but competitive. You ARE doing great and you ARE doing things that most of the population doesn't have the nerve to even try. I think you are a rock star! Keep up the great work!
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