We are all guilty of making comparisons, it is human nature.
As a hobby athlete I have had to stop comparing my times and performances to
those from my Olympic career. It was becoming unhealthy as realistically they
are not attainable with the sporadic and occasional training I now manage to
fit in around work. It has taken me a while to reset goals and focus on
different events - triathlon has filled the gap perfectly. The variety of
training keeps me interested, with cycling being incredibly social, running so
easily accessible and thankfully swimming taking the back seat as my ability is
not too affected by lack of hours in the pool.
I am driven by targets, even as a retired athlete. This year
I had in the back of my mind a full distance iron man, sadly due to work
commitments and extensive travel that had to be halved making it a 1.9k swim,
90k cycle and a 21k run. The journey to last weekends triathlon was almost as
much of an endurance test as the event itself, thankfully though the six hour
drive to North East Norfolk was worth it as they have no hills.
I was delighted with my performance and overall time. This
was only my second triathlon and I shaved off twelve minutes from last years result,
leaving me agonisingly close to breaking the five hour barrier. The frustrating
part about this type of sport is how to measure personal improvement? Every
course is different, times are affected by the weather conditions, length of
the transition and obviously the hills. That leaves the finishing places as the
only marker, so you can imagine my disappointment when this year I finished
fifth woman overall compared to last years forth. Instead I have decided to
focus my comparison on the fun factor; with my family there to support me, the
sun shining and a beautifully scenic course it comes out on top.
