first race post triathlon "retirement"

My last triathlon was in October 2006. I think it was a half-ironman in Tempe, Arizona? Since then a lot of life has happened. End result is I retired from triathlon. I missed it though - I missed having a goal, I missed racing and I missed being part of something larger than myself.

On Sunday I did a local race at Bonelli Park. I did the same race a few years ago and knew it to be a small, local and low-key event. I did no special preparation except for trashing my right hamstring at belly dancing four days before. I spent all weekend rolling my butt and hamstring around on a tennis ball desperately trying to get it to loosen up.

On race day I got to the park at like 6am and was done with registration and racked at transition by 7am. My wave wasn't supposed to enter the water until 8:40am so I sat in the shade (it was blazing hot) and watched the other triathletes. Triathletes make me crazy in the same way librarians make me crazy so I sat there thinking "what the hell am I doing?!?!"

After waiting for what felt like a year the race director told us to get our wetsuits on and get down to the water. There was a "long" course and a short course race on Sunday and my swim distance was only 500m. I usually swim in a long course pool so I thought "5 laps - easy." As soon as I started swimming my wetsuit filled up with water and I thought "man, swimming sucks" but kept at it, trying to focus on my stroke and sight well to stay on course. I made it and was miraculously not the last of the yellow caps to be out of the water!!! I spent too much time in transition getting dressed and using my inhaler and then I was out on the bike. It was 2 laps around the park and I immediately started to pass everyone who out swam me. Yippee! At the end of the second lap I had also caught the guys who were doing the short course which was cool. My average speed was 18.7mph, a new record I think. The run was brutal - way hillier than I remembered it being and was super hot - no shade and just blazing. I stopped and walked at the water station (twice) and once to stretch my hamstring but I just wasn't feeling the run and was miserable. At the end of the run I was with another woman who was in my age group just before the finish I told her I was toast and couldn't out run her at the end so she blazed on and I came in just seconds behind her. As it turned out she got second and I got third in our division! Totally unexpected and way cool!!

As for racing again? Not sure. If I can find a short sprint of similar distance but with a flat run in the next couple of months maybe I'll do it. I do like racing and it is fun to just get out there and go bttw I make myself nuts with the training. Today Bonelli Tri, tomorrow an Ironamn, ya know? I don't know if I am going to have a lot of time in the next few months anyway as I have a lot going on and a lot to do and don't really want to lock myself in to racing every weekend or every month. Maybe my retirement wasn't long enough? Maybe the heat threw me off and racing in October would be different? Who knows. For the time being it's enough to have done the race.

the return to triathlon?

I volunteered at the California Ironman 70.3 triathlon on Saturday. I kind of got pumped up for racing again watching all the athletes. Saw some very hot bikes that I wouldn't mind owning too. The best sight of all??:

Shifting Priorities

I gave up racing triathlons last year. My last race was a half Ironman in Tempe, AZ. It was the perfect swan song – I PR’ed by 20+ minutes and finished (barely) under 6 hours.

The decision to give up racing was not a purposeful one, per se. I did an Ironman last April. For someone who needs to constantly up the ante on one’s accomplishments there isn’t really anywhere else to go after an Ironman. Sure, there are double and triple Ironmans but I am not that crazy. By the end of each tri season I usually have the next season’s races planned out. You kind of have to – they fill up quickly. By the end of the 2007 season I had nothing planned and I couldn’t even visualize myself doing another race. It was unfathomable.

Following the Tempe race I went to Amsterdam for nearly two weeks. I’ll spare the details here but it could have been a better trip and it certainly could have ended better. Three days after returning to the US I crashed my bike and broke my right elbow. It didn’t occur to me until nearly a month later that it really was the perfect time for a break, pun intended.

I worried at first – Will I get fat? Lose fitness? Be bored out of my mind? Find another sport or hobby? Sell my equipment and become a couch potato? None of these things happened. After recovering from my elbow I took my time getting back on the bike, into the pool and on the road. For the first time in my life I gave myself a break. I let myself heal. I rode all summer but I made room for other things too – friends and trips and dating and museums and exploring and movies and life. I wasn’t bored in the slightest. I wasn’t as stressed out as I usually am. I did a lot of long hard thinking about what I want out of life. I had more than one epiphany.

When I did get on my bike I enjoyed myself. I love to ride but I don’t love every ride. Everyone has bad days on the bike, myself included. If I had a bad day on the bike – c’est la vie. I slowed down, changed gears, cut the ride short and rewarded myself with a good lunch and moved on. I didn’t beat myself up for days thinking “Oh I’ll never be ready for X race.” Or “I should have gone faster, harder, longer, etc.” After a bad ride I was usually on fire for the next one.

For the longest time triathlon gave me an identity. I was “a triathlete.” I sacrificed a lot of living to keep this identity. It wasn’t worth it and I see that now. Giving it up is like letting a part of me die. I still think about it but I am stronger for it.