Should I Race?

I think I did about as well as I could with the fitness I had going into the race. My focus was on the run in Canada. If I did a 1:30 swim, a 6:00 bike, and a 3:30 run, I still would have been happy. Again, the focus was the run. But then I would have had more to work on from that race. Now it's about elevating everything. Though it sounds harder, knowing how to race that distance is bigger than the fitness to race that distance in my opinion. I know that I can still race it smarter and faster, but I feel like I am at about 85-90% understanding based on my current fitness level.

I know a lot of people who have the fitness to do a 10 hr IM their first time, but they don't know how to race it... they don't know their body or how it responds to that kind of stress. So they end up going hours slower and feel like they failed. Most of these people focus on one major race a year as well... the IM race they signed up for. I don’t want to sound like I am being critical of these people because there are a lot of extenuating circumstances that are often involved. But just because I drive my car around a track 10,000 times, really fast, does that mean that I will do well in a Nascar event? Does anyone do well in their first 'big' event they do? With that said, I feel that as an athlete trying to improve yourself, you need to race.

Racing is so different from training. Trainng data is great to have, but to improve your racing you need race data to assess and make changes from. There is no way you can push yourself in training as hard as you do in a 1/2 IM or IM. Certain foods/hydration may work in training, but your body may not accept them in race conditions with nerves as well as the increase in intensity. I don't think a lot of people understand this. I want a race to become habitual in terms of what the general outline of it looks like. I.E. start, transitions, congestion, aid stations, etc. I want to be able to focus on myself in a race, not a bunch of new stimulation that distracts me from my race. The only way transitions get faster is by doing them in a race, for them to become second nature. Yes, you need to practice them, but they are a bit different in a race. I want it so that when your helmet strap is screwed up, you can deal with it, not freak out and watch people leave transition before you and figure your race is over. Also, the only way you get better at getting your needs met in aid stations is by experiencing them in a race with many other people around. Just an opinion from what I have seen and experienced. I definitely do not have it figured out, but I have made a lot of mistakes and have learned from most of the mistakes that I am aware of.

In 1997 and 1998 I raced short stuff and a lot of the pacing and nutrition did not play as big a role. I was pretty successful, but as I ventured into IM distance, I look at what I knew of myself in 2003, and what I know now about training, nutrition, and racing now... yikes. Obviously more now because of the feedback I have received from training, and more importantly, racing. I think one of the biggest things that was pointed out was at Ralph’s 1/2 IM this year when I could not figure out why my HR was dropping towards the end of the bike, yet my perceived exertion was still the same or even harder. After some consulting with some amazing professionals, I determined that I was low on fluids or food. That helped me adjust my food/hydration interval a bit and worked great at Wildflower. I have been able to use that advice in other races too like Lake Stevens when I was behind in hydration going into the run (because of the crappy aid stations) and it took about 30 minutes to recover from being slightly dehydrated on the bike. My second lap of the run at Lake Stevens 70.3 was faster. I experienced something similar at IM Canada. On the run I noticed at about mile 10 my HR dropping. I knew from prior racing that I was behind in something. So at the next aid station I took in a gel, grabbed a couple more for extras, grabbed a couple waters, and took it all in. Shortly after, I saw my HR responding. That was nice to see. At that point I knew I need to increase my food/hydration to accommodate the heat and effort. I did not want that to negatively impact my performance. As long as I was taking in gels, water, Gatorade, and occasional banana, I figured my stomach would be able to handle it all. I would have NEVER figured this out if I wasn't testing myself in races. I would have just had a crummy IM Canada and wondered why. Then, like most people, I would have assumed I just needed to train more. What a waste of time. Kind of like having a flat tire on your car, and then getting a new engine. I saw a lot of people out there on the run that looked really good in the first 10 miles, and then they fell apart. You feel like helping them, but like a drunk person, probably no the best time to be giving them advice. They just want to hear that the finish is getting closer. It’s the same thing in the pool. You see people busting their ass, but doing all the wrong things. But it’s their battle, not mine. Those are the people who ‘have it all figured out’ and just can’t figure out why they are not getting faster. They think they just need to train more… keep training, you will eventually run out of time in a day.

Unfortunately these great people quit the sport because they get so frustrated. It's too bad because at one time they really loved the sport. I don't claim that I have this mystery solved, because I know I don't. I get a lot of feedback from a lot of different sources. Through it all I feel like I'm narrowing my mistakes. But I still am making them, and those are the ones that I am aware of. What about the ones that I am not? Yikes, I have a lot of work to do....