Racing from the hip - or - don't do what i did do

Triathlon Forum
1

“racing from the hip”: to enter, compete in and enjoy an event despite being completely unprepared.

my steps to a fun day of “racing” on sunday:

  1. drink too much on friday night in the course of staying up too late. 8 beers, 2am will do.

  2. get up saturday morning anyway. slap yourself awake. ride 120km with roadie friend far stronger than you. hold his pace all day.

  3. drink too much, stay up too late on saturday night. racing tomorrow, you better go easy.

  4. don’t swim in 6 months prior to the race.

  5. drop your waterbottle in first 2km of ride. watch it burst open as it lands. don’t worry, there’s no water available on course. it’s 30 celcius and sunny.

I swam my balls off and nearly fell over when i stood up after the swim. then, being an honourary fat guy, i sweat like a maniac on the bike. my dehydration was exasperated by dropping my only bike bottle as i went over a speed bump. it burst open when it landed…but i didn’t worry, figuring there must be water on the bike course.

i was wrong.

you can imagine how my run went… my process: run until barfing is imminent, walk 2 minutes. repeat.

however, i had a fantastic time. the day was perfect, my weekend ideal (by my measure). a bonous: largely because of my bumbling, i spent most of my time on-course in the company of the fastest 20-29 age group women…

how was your weekend?

A

2

hey you can get on the wagon with me. maybe next time you won’t barf on the run–lol!!

3

One of the best results I ever had was on a night before the race and saying “to heck with it”. Went out to a jazz bar and had a few pints. Usually I abstained 48 hrs before a race, but this time broke the rule since my training was down and I had no great expectations. Was my best tri of the seasson.