monty wrote:
Great race cap and congratulations on stepping up to the big show. A very big jump too, more than most age groupers can even imagine when comparing their times to the pros.
And good on you for ditching the power and PE numbers, well not ditching them, but ignoring them and racing the race. In the race thread many commented on how this swim was pedestrian compared to ITU, but I pushed back and said it was just as hard, just 40 less bodies to fill in the gaps between lead and 2nd groups. Thanks for putting up your swim chops and how hard it was for you to just get on the back of that lead group. And good for you to burn the match to make that happen, which of course enabled you to even have that opportunity to ride with the boys out of T1.
And good job just going for it on the bike too, sometimes you have to ignore numbers and just go for it. Otherwise how would you ever know what your real limits are? You learned so much valuable information in this one race, most of which you would never know in an even paced race done mostly by yourself. You put yourself in a position to have success, and you got the best place you could have. You would have made a good bike racer too, the ability to ride well over threshold for minutes at a time, then back down and recover quickly, is the hallmark of a great road racer.
Plus now you have that confidence in something you never would have dreamed of doing, is now possible. Even if you blew ski high in the run, it would have been a great learning experience. If you had given those numbers to 10 different coaches, they would have all said you were going to blow and thus fail. But now you have the reality of what really can happen, and rolling the dice is the pro way. Since my day it has been the same, we just didnt have all these numbers to look at to guide us, or reflect back on afterwards.
So congratulations once again, just know that your window to improve and be in the mix is a small one measured by the length of a life. If you get that opportunity to cutback or delay work, I would take it. I actually did take it when it was my choice, and dropped out of the workforce for 11 years before returning. And I dont regret one day of that time, and living a monkish triathlon lifestyle was a pleasure. We all knew we were never going to be rich, or even well off, but we could pay the bills and even save a little money until that last pro race came. Work will always be there waiting, this opportunity has a very defined and short lifespan, so best not to dwell on what to do too long, or it just passes you by.
From someone who chose wrong at your age, Monty’s right. Fund your youth with your old age, rather than funding your old age with your youth. You can do more with youth; when you are old sitting behind a desk is about your only option.
Of course, if you are making money to create generational wealth, the calculus changes.