Lake Stevens Triathlon

A very big thank you to Debbie and Bill for being my support crew at the race.  I appreciate the cheers and the time we spent together.

Arriving and getting set:

The sights:



The action:

 In the Universe there are various laws, laws of physics, laws of gravity, laws of attraction :) , and in my Universe, the laws of sport. The number one law in sport is that there is no such thing as a bad day in triathlon. Every day that is triathlon day is a good day. Even when I backslid into transition 2 after being ejected off my bike, I still wouldn’t consider that a bad day.

After some races I may temporarily think I had a bad day. For example, at the Lake Stevens Triathlon, I had a great swim, but I felt pain and fatigue on the bike. After losing a spot on the bike I started the run suffering like a dog. I lost two more spots on the run and gimped it into the finish in 4th place thinking I had a bad day.

I was rather frustrated with myself over thinking that. After racing three triathlons in 8 days I was hanging on the edge. I am not overly concerned that my bike pace at Lake Stevens was well below my average, I am also not concerned that my 5k pace was almost 40 seconds slower, on a flatter course, than the super hilly course I won on 7 days ago. I was raced-out. Things happen in cycles, you’re only at a fitness level for a short period of time. For the first two races I was riding the crest of the fitness wave and I was hangin’ 10. Lake Stevens Tri brought the trough that always comes after the peak. I tried to prolong the crest to win three but it didn’t happen. Like I said that doesn’t overly concern me. The one thing I don’t want is for readers to get annoyed thinking I am giving it the ol’ poor me campaign.

The one thing weighing heavily on my mind is the fact that I was very disappointed with 4th place. It’s frustrating to me now, that I spent the car ride home trying to reason that 4th place isn’t a disappointment to me. There is a lot to be learned from that feeling. Again, this isn’t the poor me campaign; there are greater tragedies in the world than me not racing as fast as I hoped I would. I am almost hesitant to type race reports when I have mediocre races because I don’t want to come off as a downer. I will finish 10th and still tell everyone good job and be happy for them. I know a guy who after every race something always went wrong, to this date he hasn’t had a good race because something always goes wrong. I despise that attitude. I would give racing if I ever thought I came across, or worse was, like that guy. There is no place for poor me in triathlon. Triathlon = fun only.

I had a math teacher in high school who once told me, “The reason people like sports, is because sports are a lot like life. You can learn a lot about life through playing sports.” I still remember that conversation (and his geometry lessons). It’s a good lesson, things didn’t go totally my way at the race, but I did my best for what I had to work with. In life it’s unrealistic to think that you’ll always finish first, that everything will go perfectly, and everything will always work out like you wanted it. The lesson in sport is to prepare, have a good attitude, and give it your best effort. If you do those things, no matter where you finish, you can be satisfied and feel successful, even if it wasn’t your anticipated outcome. The same is true about life.

“…Sports are a lot like life.”  Thanks for reading.

*Still smiling