Friday Tri: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Here are my times for a local fall triathlon (which means reverse, so you don't get out of the water and into freezing cold air) each time I have done it over the last 8 years:

11/04 1:06.12
11/05 1:05.14
4/06 1:06.12
11/07 1:02.35 (new, longer bike course—about 5 minutes longer)
4/08 1:00.08
11/08 1:02.23 (new course with longer run, longer swim—about 2 minutes longer)
4/09 1:01.16
11/09 1:00.16
4/10 1:02:47
11/10 1:01.17 (slightly longer run—30 seconds longer)
4/11 1:00.23

There is a steady progression here. I didn't improve each time I did the race, but I often did. And the improvements I made were often in seconds, not minutes, especially the last few years. I'm not moving like a hare, going leaps and bounds faster. I'm definitely the turtle with these tiny little steps forward. I've done the race so many times there are advantages in knowing exactly where each turn is and where I can shave a few seconds off.

I think it's also worth noting that this was one of the first races I did when I started doing triathlon, and it was not a success. I had taken first place in my age group the first tri I did, and third in my age group the second tri I did (on a mountain bike rather than the road bike I used for the other one—also there were only three women in my age group who finished). I didn't place in this race at all. Not even close. So that was an interesting reminder of how much farther I still had to go in triathlon.

Lately I have been taking second place to a certain someone who is a bit of a nemesis in triathlon. I tend to beat her in longer courses because I'm a better biker (and I have a better bike—or I used to!). This race depends more on the run and strangely, this nemesis often passes me on the last stretch of the swim. I'm a good swimmer, but she is REALLY good, so it seems that no matter how early I pass her on the bike, she still catches up to me on the swim.

You can tell from this list than I'm a little crazy about recording my race times. Even this year, when I'm trying not to have a particular race goal, the times matter to me, every little second. My plan to get under 1:00 which has been my goal from time immemorial, is to take a few seconds off in transition with my new sockless running shoes and my shoes already attached to bike plan. We'll see how it goes. I always have a new idea for how to do just a little better. That's what keeps me racing, the focus on what I CAN control, rather than what I can't.

One of the other things that I think is important here is that I'm getting older, not younger. But I'm still getting better. Part of that is simply that I wasn't very good to start with. I have a friend who used to train for the Olympics on hurdles and for him, every year means he's getting slower. But for me, who never did anything remotely athletic in my younger years, I can still make PR's.

I think it's also true in real life that we don't always look at where we've come from. We tend to look ahead a lot at what we still want to get done, but looking back is such a useful thing to do. Those incremental improvements that we make really matter. Even if it feels like it's not really getting faster, because I have a better helmet or because I've figured out how to take off seconds in transition, it still counts. At least, I say it still counts.