I spent a while yesterday perusing the Silverlake results and you know what? If I could run about an 8:00 pace, I’d be a pretty dang good triathlete. Still not good enough to place in my age group at a large race, but enough to always win Athena handily, and place in the top half of finishers instead of the bottom half. Take my age group, for example. If I raced there instead of Athena, I would have finished 18/32 on Sunday. But take 5 minutes off my run time and I’d have been in the top 10.
I’m not really sure what to do with that information. While there is still room for improvement on both the swim and the bike, the run is where I stand to make the biggest gains. Obviously it would be nice to be a faster runner. I could gain a bit of speed simply by losing weight! (I could lose a 30 pounds and still be an Athena. Crazy.) And I know I have the capability to gain even more speed if I made that my goal (I’m not sure if I could ever get down to 8:00 pace, but I could definitely get into the nines). But I also know that getting significantly faster will take significant dedication, and when I’m honest with myself, I’m not sure I can do that and maintain my love for the sport.
So for now, I’ll stick with what I’m doing, I guess. But it’s days like these that I start wishing I’d been born with at least an ounce of natural talent… Heh.
We had our monthly BAM meeting last night, and this month we gathered at Webster Bicycle. They are our major sponsor and I gotta say, they are great. Over the years, I have had experience with three different bike shops in the Clear Lake area. Webster Bike = awesome. Bay Area Schwinn = awesome, albeit with a smaller selection of stuff. The large Houston-area chain bike store = not awesome. Needless to say, Webster Bike has gotten all of my business over the past six months including my new bike. Last night they offered us 20% off during the meeting (instead of our usual 10%), so I took the opportunity to pick up a computer mount for my new bike and a plastic stand so that I don’t have to lean my bike against the car anymore when I clean it and hang out in the parking lot before and after rides.
After a week of sickness, it’s back to normal starting with a run tonight. It’s really hot today. Should be interesting.
i am kinda in the same boat. i did lose athena weight though, so now i am back in my regular age group. all i keep thinking is the same thing about my swim…take 3 minutes off…BOOM! top 10 in my age group:)
will see you at Ironbabe in August. just need to signup:)