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| USAT Nationals - Milwaukee - The day before the race |
The Argument for Unrealistic Goals
“Ah, but a man's
reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?”
Or what's a heaven for?”
I began my blog on July 28, 2009.
I explained that the purpose of the blog was to chronicle my development
as a writer and as a triathlete. I wisely didn’t come up with any specific
goals for writing, but for my triathlon career I was clear:
“My goal is to finish in the top ten at the
USAT National Age Group Championship for the 60-64 year old age group. I will
turn 60 in 2011 so at least I’ll have youth going for me.”
It
turned out that youth was not enough. I
first competed in the Nationals in 2009 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was hot and humid and we swam in a river
against the current and the water temperature was 84 degrees. I became dehydrated and my legs cramped so bad I
had to withdraw after the first mile of the race. So I finished last.
In
2011 I made it back to the Nationals, which was held in mountainous but cool
Vermont. During that race my new front-mounted
water bottle fell off and I wasted five minutes getting it reassembled. Managed to finish in 2 hours 59 minutes and
41 seconds. So at least I was under three hours and I finished 43rd
out of 48, so I moved up from last to the top 90% (or for the glass half empty
folks: bottom 10%).
I
took a break from the Nationals in 2012 to try the Ironman at Coeur d’Alene. For that race, time didn’t matter as long as
I finished before they all went home. When I crossed the finish line I heard
the announcement: “Len Joy, age 61 in
his first Ironman…Age 61! Len Joy you are an Ironman.” That was cool and for a few weeks after that I
thought seriously about entering another Ironman, but I got over it.
The
USAT Nationals moved to Milwaukee in 2012. I really wanted to race there and I
entered five races trying to qualify. Finally, a month before the race I
qualified at the Regional championship in Ann Arbor.
Race day in Milwaukee
was perfect. Cool and sunny and the water was calm. I swam okay, but got a
little off course when my goggles fogged up. I hit it hard on the bike course,
averaging over 20 mph, but then I didn’t have much left for the run. And when
my hamstring tweaked at the end of mile two I had to slow to a jog. I finished
in 2 hours fifty minutes, but with that nine minute improvement I had climbed
all the way to the 82nd percentile.
Yesterday
I raced in my fourth USAT National event. It was in Milwaukee again, so I had
the advantage of knowing the course. Knew what to expect. I had learned through
these years of training that I wasn’t going to show up on race day and all of
sudden be thirty minutes faster –which is what I would have to be in order to
make the top ten in the age group.
I
just wanted to have a solid race that reflected all the training I had done.
Wanted to execute the plan I had worked out with my coach (Heather Collins). I
wanted to finish strong.
And
that’s what I did. I stayed on course in the swim, ran through the transitions,
controlled my effort on the bike so that my legs would be fresh for the run. On
the run, my hamstrings cramped up on mile one and two, but this year I knew how
to work through that and while it hurt my time, I still managed a pace of 8:11.
Not great, but not bad either. I crossed
the finish line in 2 hours 42 minutes – which put me in the 62nd
percentile.
I
was 21 minutes behind the 10th place finisher – a huge amount and
not something I’m going to be able to overcome next year – my last year in the
60-64 age group. But the 10th
place finisher in the 65-69 age group had a time of ONLY 2 hours 28
minutes.
So I have a new goal:
Top
10 finisher in 2016 when I will be 65. I just need to pare fourteen minutes
from my time.
I’m sure I can do that.
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