Did someone say you get slower with age? I disagree!
As promised, more blogging about Ironman training. This time I am reporting on my two recent races: The 1/2 ironman race in Victoria in June 2009 and our local Cowichan Challenge in July 2009. Well I have been putting in a lot of hours training over the last few months, but I didn’t expect to perform as well as I did in Victoria. Five years ago I attempted this race which is a 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike, followed by a 20 km run. This time, compared to my previous race, my swim was 5 minutes faster, my bike was 20 minutes faster and my run was another 14 minutes faster for a total of 47 minutes off of my previous personal record set five years ago – I lost a couple of minutes in the transition area when I forgot to do my homework ahead of time and figure out where to take my bike after the swim. I was shooting for 6 hours and finished in 5 hours and 22 minutes.
My second race this season was not so dramatic, but overall I did improve. My bike and run times were a little slower than six years ago but I improved on my race with a much faster swim. I took 3 minutes off of a 17 minute swim which is considered fairly significant. This race is a 1 km swim, 34 km bike ride and a 9 km run which took 2 hours 15 minutes.
Many people I talk to would insist that aging is a factor in racing speed. I agree if a person has already reached their physiological potential, however most people I talk to have not reached their potential. And for those who think they have, they merely need to change up their training plan and will see improvements based if their training plans are appropriate for their goals.
My experience with improving my exercise goals is directly relevant to achieving all sorts of life goals that are not necessarily related to exercise. While it may be difficult to do what you once were able to do years earlier, there will be activities, projects or goals that will be more easily achieved because of your new insights, knowledge, dedication, or confidence and if you are not reaching your goals it is time to change up the training plan or in the case of other projects, your action plan.
IMC (Ironman Canada) is now less than 8 weeks away and one thing I can be sure of is that as long as I complete the race I will achieve a personal best. That is always my favorite part about a first race. I have even gotten excited that in my training, I have put more miles on my bike than ever and swum more kilometres than I had ever imagined myself capable of doing. I have hobbled through some long hot dry runs and even managed to keep going on days that in the past I would have called it quits. I definitely feel a little tougher for having started this campaign.
Every day closer to the race, I get a little more excited knowing that I can stand at the start line and be ready to compete with 2000 other people in the water. I saw a quote about 6 months ago and it felt true at the time and continues to resonate with me.
“Set a goal to achieve something that is so big, so exhilarating that it excites you and scares you at the same time. It must be a goal that is so appealing, so much in line with your spiritual core, that you can`t get it out of your mind. If you do not get chills when you set a goal, you`re not setting big enough goals.“
-Bob Proctor.
I would like to know what goal I could possibly set after this one that would still be capable of scaring me.
Belinda Kissack is a Registered Clinical Counsellor who works with couples, families and individuals in the Cowichan Valley who are struggling with their current situations and with those who are looking to Create the Life they Want! If she is not in her office, you can probably find her riding her white Kuota somewhere between Shawnigan Lake and Youbou or swimming in one of the many beautiful lakes here on the island. To get back to her main website, please click on the link. www.belindakissack.com
