Quote Originally Posted by Veronica View Post
How much have you improved as a runner since you started doing tris? It seems I remember some posts where you talked about doing 11 or 12 minute miles. And that swim time was pretty decent.

It is so easy to focus on the negative. Just cut it out! Why do you compete? Isn't it really about you and your improvement and your fitness? Does it really matter what kind of splits other people are doing? You can't control them. All you can do is make yourself the best you can be. It seems to me you're doing that.


Veronica
I do my LSD runs at 11:00 to 11:30. When racing, I usually end up a little sub 10:00 in a sprint and right around 10:00 or a little more in an Oly. I was actually almost 3 minutes slower yesterday on the run than on the same course two years ago. Weight does have something to do with it. I'm 7-8 pounds heavier.

I know that I can't control who else shows up. I can only control how *i* show up.

Of course it's about my fitness and how it changes over time. But I'd be disingenuous if I said I didn't also care about how I stack up against other women my age. But it's not really about winning or losing against them. It's more about what is and isn't possible for ME (which, rightly or wrongly, I benchmark by looking at what other women my age can do.) There's such a huge disparity between what I'm capable of on my bike and what I manage to eek out on the run. I find it very frustrating. I put in the time and feel like I should be improving. Perhaps I'm just not prepared to admit that running is simply not a talent I possess.