There's never a bad race

It's always nice getting in peak shape for a big race. Being able to show up for a triathlon I've been training months for, hammering out top speeds for obscene distances. Finding someone just a little faster than me, using him or her to pace off of & push beyond my bodies pain threshold! Seeing someone try to keep pace with me & pushing myself harder and faster, pushing with all I have, pushing myself to the breaking point until my competition's will breaks & I ride or run farther & farther away from him. Oh my, this is the fuel that feeds me to train for 15+ hours a week.

Then there's the rebuilding phase after an A race.... It's always amazed me how fast & far I can go for my A race, & immediately after the race my speeds & endurance just seems to disappear! I know the reasons. I understand it's the process of periodization, the peaks are high & glorious, but the rebuilding phase is rough.

The past 2 weeks I've been struggling to get through distances that a few weeks ago I'd of laughed at. Each day this week I'm building a bit more endurance. Each day I feel my fitness returning, slowly but surely. Thankfully the human body can take massive amounts of long slow training, also known as base work. I know the more I swim, bike, & run at this slow pace now, the faster I'll be able to swim, bike, & run later.

This Sunday May 9th is the Jay Benson triathlon. I love the Jay Benson triathlon! The fastest triathletes in the state show up for this race! The fact is it's just 2 weeks after my A race, so although I'm going to push myself as hard as I can, the unavoidable fact is I'm still feeling sluggish. So I have two choices,
1) rest a bit & hope to squeak out a half way decent race, but still no where near where I normally would.
or 2) realize this soon after an A race I'm going to have a slow race no matter what, so I might as well take advantage of the each & every minute I have to build back my base.

Long term choice #2 makes the most sense. My step Dad, Bob Foster used to tell me don't borrow from the future to pay for my present. So rather than take it easy on Saturday, resting my body for Sundays race I'm going to squeeze in as many base miles as I can. I'll be getting off work at 6 am on Saturday. I'll wake up around 2pm, hop on the bike & ride from my house in Santa Fe to Albuquerque via highway 14, approximately a 70 mile ride full of big mountains & lots of climbing. Then I'll compete in the Jay Benson triathlon the next morning on legs fatigued from training. I like the feeling of being tired & sore, & I love racing. Sounds like a great combination to me!

Let the competition begin, let the glory go to God!