Saturday was the Railsplitter Triathlon in Petersburg. The short version is that I decided to call it a day after the swim due to back pain. I've been battling an SI joint injury for the last month. Going into the race I was hopeful that I had recovered significantly to complete this tri. I based this on a 17-mile run the previous Saturday (at a good pace), followed by just short of a 40-mile ride the next day (on Sunday) and an 1800 open water swim on Wednesday evening. I also tossed in a 3/4 mile recovery swim, a 5 mile run, a 4 mile run and a 6.5 mile run during the week. Perhaps that was too much to throw into the pre-race week?
I have two versions of my sad tale.
- Is the sun coming up or is the sun going down?
- "Pity party", table for one
Version one comes from a wonderful competitor by the name of Lou. After my decision to drop out of the race, we stood on the corner near the transition area. This gave us a nice view of the bikes coming into transition and the runners heading out on the run course. The runners would also pass by this same corner again as they made a turn taking them the remaining couple of miles to the finish.
Lou is a 77-year young triathlete who competes at local triathlons. On this day he was racing the sprint distance. As he approached the water stop at the corner, he had a smile on his face and cheerfully asked the volunteers; "Is the sun coming up or going down?". They replied that the sun was indeed still going up, to which he replied; "Oh good, I wasn't sure!".
What a great attitude! Lou isn't fast any more, but he has the respect of all who watch him race. Often he is last, but not always. (Today he was not the last one to finish the sprint distance. Lou is probably 45-50 years older than the two athletes who did finish last in the sprint.) It's easy to see that Lou isn't focusing on what once was, he instead is clearly focusing on what is. He is out there racing, competing, and enjoying the day - whatever the day happens to bring.
Now that I've written about Lou's attitude, I am somewhat reticent to share version two.
Version two - "Pity Party", table for one
Immediately after I dropped out of the race, I naturally was disappointed. However, I pushed that disappointment aside and was determined to cheer for my friends who were racing. AJ came into transition after the bike portion looking strong and happy. Erin and Melissa followed behind her by perhaps about 7-10 minutes. (Results are not posted on-line yet, so I don't know the exact times.) Erin and Melissa were riding together and both managed a smile along with a "Boy, was that bike course hilly!". Once all three of them were out on the run, Howard and I headed to what we thought was about Mile 6 of the 7 mile run course (for the long tri course). Erin came running by first, looking very strong, followed by AJ and then Melissa. After all 3 had passed, we moved to the final corner heading into the finish line. Erin finished looking just as strong on the run at the end as she had at the beginning. AJ and Melissa were now running together - which was nice to see that they had paired up to help each other. The run course turned out to be .8 longer than it was supposed to be. That had to be more than a little challenging to the athletes on such a hot and humid day.
All three won awards in their age groups. I was genuinely pleased for all of them. I was also aware of what a difficult race this was. Both the bike and run courses were hilly. The weather was fairly typical for late August - hot and humid.
So, when did I ask for the "Pity Party" - table for one? It didn't really hit me until Sunday morning. 2007 has not been a good triathlon season for me. The reality that this was my last triathlon (with a DNF) for the season, hit me very hard on Sunday morning.
I had just finished a 10-mile run at approx. 8.5 minute mile pace. Even though it was a good run, my tight back served as a constant reminder of the DNF the day before. I tried to make sense of it all. I have trained hard all summer, completing 105 workouts (34 swim workouts or approx. 40 miles, 26 bike workouts or approx. 600 miles, and 45 run workouts or approx. 263 miles) since June 1st. It's very hard to accept the fact that after all that training, I have not seen any favorable results in the form of triathlon finish times this season.
What would Lou have to say about all of this? He would probably say leave what happened in this summer's triathlon races in the past, let the sun go down on the stinging disappointment and trust that the sun is still coming up today. Next season might just be the sunniest season of them all.
P.S. The interesting thing about hosting a pity party, is that you really do only need a table for one. Generally people aren't too interested in the feeling sorry for yourself party. Once again I'm reminded of my good friend Andy who has two favorite sayings:
"Get out of the bitter barn and play in the hay." "Get off your huffy bike and turn that smile upside down."
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