3TT: PHLYTRI Afterthoughts + 1

It has been four mornings since I competed in my first International Triathlon. Many, many thoughts have been racing through my mind. Bare with me as I try to narrow it down to 3....

1. Yes, I really am bummed I missed my goal of under 3 hours. If you go back through all of my blogs about PHLYTRI, never once do I talk about this goal... but it was there. Come on, we all do it. We put pressure on ourselves but never vocalize it because it seems so unattainable. (Do you know I missed my 1st marathon goal by 3 minutes as well?). I think had it taken me well over 3 hours I would not be as bummed, but to be so close. To know EXACTLY where I could have made the difference to go under 3 hours.

I had a neighbor say to me: "Is anything good enough?" after she read that I was disappointed in my time. It has got me thinking... yes, there are some things that ARE good enough, but as an athlete, we are ALWAYS looking for ways to improve our times, our stride, our effort. Even if I had gone under 3 hours, I am sure I would have complained that my transitions were too slow or imagined if I had taken it harder on the bike. This does not mean that I will never be satisfied (I think). I believe it means that  I am always looking for ways to do my best and improve.

2. I have decided to wait to attempt a 70.3. It isn't because I think I cannot do it... I KNOW I can. It is because I want to do it well. For me, racing is more than just finishing. I was to finish strong. There are a couple of 70.3 brewing around in the area and I haven't selected which one to attempt in 2012, but KNOW that it is my year! I toyed with the idea to go straight into an IM... and I haven't completely ruled it out (remember, I ran a marathon before ever running a 1/2 marathon) but financially, I may have to stick to a 70.3.

TriGuy is going to his 70.3 debut this September. I am super excited for him and I am currently trying to figure out a way to spectate his race. It would be fun to go race with him, but he has a year on me with racing Tris... I still need to fix some kinks, so:

• I have signed up for a DCTRI Club Sprint Tri on July 10th -  a $10, no pressure race with a flat bike course and run. I am eying some particular goals for this race.
• Currently searching for an Oly to add to my calendar to try and break 3 hours. Nations Tri is sold out but there may be some spots available (but it is the same weekend as TG's 70.3)

3. The RUN: Ironically, this is the part of the Tri that has me most disappointed. I think I could have taken this faster. To average 9.28 for a 10k is the reason I am bummer about not breaking 3 hours. My first 4 miles were around 9min and I know I was being conservative. I KNOW I was holding back because I was unsure of my leg's condition coming off of the bike. But it ultimately was my negative thoughts that sealed my fate. Here is the part of the recap that I did not include:

As I was running, I saw a mile marker for mile 5 and thought, "Wow, already?" I looked at my Garmin and realized this marker was for the people who had already turned around, I was barely at 4.5. Metal Defeat settled in. Suddenly my right quad felt tight... felt like it was going to cramp. Then my ankles started to hurt (probably from running on the grass areas). Next I said literally, "I'm going to have to walk.... back it down! You will never finish." And the slow torture of my negative thoughts took control. It wasn't until mile marker 6 that I was able to shake it by saying to myself, "Seriously, .2 of a mile.... you could crawl that in... you are going to make it!"

I am going to have to work on this big time... and not just with races. Sometimes, my negative thoughts take over more of my life than I prefer and I refuse to allow them to. Now I just need to do something about it!



+1. Last night, my children competed in their first swim meet.

(Well, Kiera did swim team when she was 5, beat 8 & 9 year olds with her time and decided that she did not like the butterflies waiting for her heat. Like any neurotic over competitive mom, I made her try one more meet, watched her break down, swim extremely fast and break down again and decided if this was not fun for her, why do it.)

Flash forward 2 years: My children went from "Nah, I don't want to do swim team, I already know how to swim" on June 10th to not only joining the swim team, practicing, and signing up for the swim meet, to actually both winning their heats. It does not matter to me that they were probably misplaced in their heats (meaning it was an easy win for both of them)... they have built their confidence and are stoked. It is awesome to watch them compete and to cheer. I kept saying to all of the swimmers (I was one of the Clerk of the Courses), "To win, you just have to start!" (Hmmm.... if I could just get that through my head!)

Do I have Triathletes in the making?