Fantastic Venue for Sprint and Novice Triathletes!
July 1, 2008
Qualicum Beach Triathlon is a fantastic sprint and first timers triathlon. The location is beautiful, the short 400 metre swim takes place in an indoor pool, the 18 km bike is a fast four-looped course and the 5 km run takes you through two loops of a wooded chip trail. The weather was fantastic for the race! I was thrilled with my results even though I was 5 minutes slower than the last time I raced there. (By the way, that was five years ago). As many will say, it is because it is five years later and I am five years older. I have met enough athletes to know that it has more to do with amount of time training and the kind of training that is done rather than age. In those five years I have been focusing my energy on other things such as earning a Masters Degree at University, developing a business, raising kids, and athletically, I have moved into longer race distances (two marathons and two half-ironman triathlons). Had I decided to dwell on my slower race result even though I had been putting more time in training, I would probably have become very discouraged. However, it is very common for people to become frustrated when they work hard and don’t get the results they had expected. This is relevant in all aspects of life whether we are working on relationships, careers, business development etc. Sometimes people will respond with working even harder but not necessarily doing the right things. If I had done that, I would have ended up injured. It is important when you set your goals to take the right action steps to work effectively toward them. It doesn’t mean longer or harder hours, it means doing the right things to reach that goal. In my case, if I want to perform better as a sprinter, I need to put more time into strength training, and working longer at anaerobic and aerobic paces rather than long and slow which is required in longer distance training. Getting back into the shorter courses is exciting. It is a much quicker pace and more power is required. I was so energized from this race, I decided to sign up for another short course the following week. I’ll talk more about inspiration in my next entry. Belinda Kissack works as a Clinical Counsellor in the Cowichan Valley and trains for running races and triathlons in her spare time.