"How was your race?"
How many ways are there to answer this question?? If i have a personal best or place in my age group i can spit out my time and a play-by-play recap. If it was not so good, usually a simple "it was fine" conveys the message that i did not race up to my expectations. I guess it all depends on where we set our goals. In a marathon, i am focused almost completely inward. It takes tremendous focus and the only thing i am trying to beat is my goal and the distance itself. I think this holds true for 99% of the competitors in a typical marathon.
Sometimes personal goals and competitive goals combine to produce optimum performance. Sometimes those two motivations can produce mixed results. For example, last weekend i competed in a local triathlon. When I am in top racing shape i can be competitive in my age-group. This season i am in good shape for triathlons. Not great. My swim is fine and my run is actually as good as it has been in awhile. My bike, however, is lacking. i just have not done the necessary mileage on the bike in the last 12 months and it is going to take me a season to get it back. So... last week i had my normal swim, a so-so bike (could not keep up with my main age-group competition) and a very good run. I actually felt very good and finished strong. I could not have gone any faster. Finished in the top 25. However, i placed 4th in my age group. Oh, the horror! One place off the podium. AARRGGHHH. "Kevin, how was your race?" "Oh, it was fine."
After the 1.5 hour drive home i had reconciled the sometimes frustrating personal and performance goals. I train to improve my personal well-being (physical and mental). My base motivation for racing is to push myself and see how far/ fast I can go. I want to do the best i can. I want some level of validation that all of the training is working. Sometimes my best is going to be 4th place. Based on my current fitness level i had raced as hard as i could. "Dad, how was your race?" "It was great... I gave it my all!"
Dragonfly Triathon 2008
