Goal A - accomplished
Goal B - Failed. About 10min slower overall which was a huge disappointment. Found areas I really need to work on over the next couple weeks/months.
Goal C - Not even close
On to the next event!
It’s good to have goals but in regard to your goal “B”, yeah it sucks when you train for months and things don’t come together on race day. I’d urge you to try not to get too hung up on those. I spent the better part of 11-12 years doing endurance races, ultra marathons, Ironmans, marathons, mountain runs, mountain biking, cycling, xc skiing, all of it. I loved it but as dumb as it sounds looking back, I really spiraled downward every time I didn’t hit those exact goals.
It really took the fun out of a lot of it for me, I was extremely competitive and not fun to be around after races that didn’t work out. I’d fight with my girlfriends and stuff. It was stupid. Looking back, I wish I’d enjoyed myself more because all these years later, my memories are of being pissed off and disappointed, not being happy about doing Ironmans and ultra runs. I had an injury a while back that makes it impossible for me to do that stuff, now I really wish I could do it again but I can’t. Back then, I never foresaw that injury and I figured Ironmans would
Be something I’d do every year forever and toss in a few ultras too. Not how things worked out though.
I remember at ironaman Arizona one year I trained so hard, made a lot of sacrifices, was down to 170lb instead of my normal 185, I’d run a 3 hour marathon 3 weeks earlier as my last long run, 5-6 hour bike rides each week, interval sessions on my trainer, 5 am masters swims 5 days a week before work, I think at the time I was putting in 25-30 hours of training a week and loving it.
The day before that race it was like 60 degrees and a cool breeze, the day of the race it ended up in the 90s, stiff winds all day on the out and back hike course. On that day, things just got me. The 2.4 mile swim went well, I broke an hour for the first time, cruised the transition like nothing but within an hour on the bike I was struggling, maybe nutrition, maybe heat I don’t know but that was the longest 112 miles I’d ever done on the bike, I was just miserable the whole time. I think my final time was like 5h 30m which is a solid time but it kicked my ass, ideally the ride would be an easy cruise like it always was when I was training.
Anyways I got out on the run course and the first 10 miles were steady, by the time I hit the half way I was already 2 hours into the run, I just got slower from there in the end I finished the race in 10 hours 57 minutes which is absolutely a solid Ironman time.
It was about half an hour slower than my PR time though and I’d expected to break the PR at the race. My dad was at the finish line to cheer me on and he was pumped for me but I was so dIssapointed that I took that experience from my dad. Now I rarely see my dad and he’s 75, I wish I’d just chilled with him and enjoyed being there.
It sucks but the majority of my memories of racing are like that. Very high highs but extremely low lows when they happened. I got sucked into a trap of thinking every race needed to be a PR when in reality, it just didn’t matter I was never going to the Olympics and I was never going to get to quit my day job to race for money. I wish I could go back and just sit on the grass with my dad and have a few beers while watching other people finish. Instead I acted like a little bitch, changed my flight to the very first thing in the morning and left town to go home and be sad.
Feels sort of strange typing things out but the biggest regrets I have in life seem to be based on endurance racing. lol, what a waste of time, family and happiness. So stupid of me.
. We made the correct turn and led the race for at least a good minute or so before 50-ish people passed us 
