Boulder 70.3: NEVER stop racing! The value of 6th place finishes...
For most of my twenty plus years in triathlon I was very content as a MOPer (middle of the packer). I trained and participated in races but for the most part, I never really considered myself amongst the top of the field or even amongst the top performers in my age group. That began to change in 2015 when I came back from hip surgery and decided to really dedicate myself to my training in order to see what was possible if I put in more of an effort to be consistent and do higher quality training all year round.
Slowly but surely, I began to see my name crawling up the list of finishers and it wasn’t long before I would routinely crack the top ten in most of the races that I entered. Still, the top 5, the podium, seemed unrealistic. Until, in 2018, it suddenly wasn’t so far fetched after all. First at the 70.3 race in Galveston,Texas and then at the Boulder Ironman I placed 5th and surprised myself more than anyone. Later that year at the Boulder 70.3, I crossed the finish line and looked at the tracker to see that I was fifth again. But then, minutes later as finishers continued to cross the line, my name was bumped down one as a competitor who had started his swim later then mine, finished his race in a time that was eight seconds faster than me.
On that fateful day, I had stopped to take a rock out of my shoe during the run. That had been the difference between my being on the podium and going home empty handed. I was gutted but I learned my lesson. In this day and age of self seeded swim starts and not knowing where any of your competitors are on the course, it is wise to imagine that every second counts and that you should stop for nothing lest someone take advantage of those precious seconds.
All of that brings me to this past weekend’s Boulder 70.3. I am at the top of my age group this year (54 in the 50-54) and it is exceptionally hard to do well against the younger men in the group. Still, I placed 3rd in the age group in 2019 so I was optimistic that I had a chance when the day began even though I was not tapered for this race as my coach and I had decided in advance that this would be a training day in preparation for my A race, Ironman Indiana in October.
When I finished the bike I was in 4th and based on information I was getting on course from friends I was moving back and forth between 4th and 5th for most of the run. I gave it everything that I had for the duration of the race and although I could not run my best, I did the best that I had on the day. When I finished I was pretty comfortable that I was fifth, a major accomplishment given all of the factors leading up to the day. But when we looked at the tracker, my name was listed as 6th. Another competitor had run 6 minutes faster than anyone else in our age group and some fifteen minutes faster than me and was listed as having an identical finishing time as me but his name was in fifth place. It turns out, he beat me by less than one second. Less than half a second to be precise.
I was absolutely gutted, again. Despite having had a really good day, all I could think about was all the places I could have been one second faster.
Over the course of the next few hours I eventually regained my perspective of what really matters and though I will long remember this particular 6th place, in the grand scheme of things it is simply not that big a deal. So how did I turn things around mentally and emotionally?
First and foremost, I grounded myself. Last year my youngest daughter was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and between that and the pandemic, 2020 was easily the worst year of mine and my family’s life. Speaking to her and then seeing her helped me easily put a few hundredths of a second loss in to perspective pretty easily.
Second, I reached out to people who I knew would understand, allow me to vent, sympathize and then help me see the positives of the day. LifeSport coach and good friend Juliet and a couple of my close triathlon friends were immeasurably helpful in that regard. Identify those people in your life and be sure that people know that you are that person in their life should they need you for that purpose.
Finally, and this is most important, focus on the positives of the day and learn from the experience to be better moving forward. I had a really solid swim, the second fastest bike split in my age group and one of the fastest bike splits among male non-pros. My run, on no taper was not terrible and I got beaten by the man who recently set the age group national record for the 5k in the USA. No shame there. Moving on to 70.3 Worlds and IM Indiana beyond, I can confidently say that I am in a very good place.
So yes, this was a difficult experience and I will ruminate on this sixth place likely forever. I still ruminate on my eight second loss in 2018! But at least I know there will be more races in the future and that by continuing to work hard, be consistent and always show up ready to perform, I will have my days where I will be on the other side of those close finishes and that will make these hard to swallow results that much more palatable.
The point is to not let these tough moments define you or define your career as a triathlete. They should be a part of the definition but they should not be the main focus. I now have three 6th places to my name and all of them serve to motivate me and provide invaluable lessons to inform how I approach my races every time I am on a start line. Best of all, they make the podium positions I secure, when I do secure them, that much sweeter to savor.
Wherever you find your failures, make sure that you are always able to see the successes that lie underneath and focus on them to motivate you towards bigger and better things in the future.
Train hard, train healthy.
