Saturday, June 29, 2013

Goals for My First Tri of the Season or My Debut as a 60 Year Old Racer

I hemmed and hawed and finally signed up for this tri I'm doing tomorrow. Last year I was desperate to  do it and couldn't so it made no sense to not do it now. But as usual I am scared about the swim and nervous in a way I do not get for running races.  Having said that here are my goals:

Have fun and enjoy the whole experience. (Well survive the swimming and enjoy the rest is more realistic.)

My A goal would be to better my time from last year.  To do that I would need to do the following and have decent transitions.
I just looked up my time last year and it was 1:40:58.  Yikes. I am going to be negative and say I don't think I can do that but I will try.  

Do the free style as much as possible.  Last year I swam in 14:31. I would be thrilled beyond belief to equal this again but very nervous this won't happen.
This is from this race last year and I know exactly what I was doing.
I am looking at the buoys completely scared sh##less about the
distance I am going to have to swim. 


Ride at a pace of 16 mph.  Last year I did it in 51:09.  Not sure what the pace was.  My practice ride the other day was 53 so I am hopeful I can match this. I will really push it on the bike.

Run under 30 minutes.  Last year was 29:55.  Again, not sure I can do this.  My running speed per se is just not there but I am going to give it a good try.  

T1 last year was 3:34 and T2 was 1:45.  Still very inexperienced at these.  The wet suit costs me time but I really need it.

Last year this was my second tri of the year.  Now it will be my first. As I write this I am getting more excited. I love competing against myself so I'll see what I can do.

I won an age group award last year but never dreamed I did so did not wait around.  This year because of the way the tri world works I am already in a new age group even though I have not officially turned 60. But this is my debut as a 60 year old racer so Woot Woot!  Who know how many 60 plus women will be in this race? I just looked up last year's results. There were a few women over 60 and there was even a 70 year old.  There were some very fast older women although most were in the 55-59 age group.  

So times:
A goal: 1:39:59
B goal: 1:45:00
C goal 1:55:00

As  you can see I don't have the confidence I should but I will try to find it somewhere today!  It's a good thing I signed up for this because it is my only June race. How did that happen? One benefit of blogging is making myself think about this and my goals and building up the excitement I need.



10 comments:

HappyTrails said...

Woo-hoo for a new age group!!! You will rule it!!! We have confidence in you having a fast race even if you don't. Your grit and determination to get out and train despite bad weather, illness, and injury will carry you through along with the fact that you are in great shape!!! We will be excited to see how the race unfolds!!! :-)

Darlene said...

Yay for 60 year olds. Good luck and enjoy!

Paul said...

I read your previous post and was going to say you are one TOUGH bugger doing a full set of training like that.

I think you are going to have a great race!

So just enjoy it and leave it all out there!

Kandi said...

Best of luck! Hope you have a great time out there and really enjoy the day.

Char said...

I know you'll achieve your first goal. You always have fun when you race so it's a no-brainer.

Ransick said...

Good luck! How awesome is that to be doing triathlons in the 60-64 age group? I call that living life to the fullest!

Amy said...

Well, the title of your blog says it all! Can't wait to hear how it goes, but I am pretty sure you're going to hit some of your goals.

EB said...

Good luck today! Hope you have great weather! Just have fun.

Tortuga_Runner said...

Hope you had a great race!

Cinthia said...

How exciting--a new age group! Can't wait to hear how you did in your first tri of the season. There's a 75-year-old man up here who just ran a faster marathon time than my PR, which is really inspirational. I hope to run through my 80s.
P.S. I reserved "Big Brother" at the library. Will let you know what I think. Thanks for the suggestion.