As you reach a certain age, you begin to lose more and more speed. It is inevitable. Some lose it faster than others. Some lose it in different ways. But all good things must come to a decline. Thank goodness for age groups. With age groups, you can still compete for the podium, just at a different scale. It gives us older competitors a quantum of solace.
I passed the age of 50 and realized that I hadn’t done a big race for a while. A couple years further on, and I noticed that my run times were starting to show signs of aging. If I was going to do another “A” race, I better not wait much longer. I had done duathlon nationals a couple times since it is my favored multi-sport configuration (no swimming). So, I set my sights on a duathlon swan song. But I would wait until I was 55 so I would be at the young end of the age group. I wasn’t the only one with this strategy.
I bargained with myself, and my wife, that this would be my last major event. I felt that I could still do a strong effort, but the risk of injury was growing, so I had to be careful and build gradually. I targeted 2018, which put the race in Greenville, South Carolina. The race was relatively early in the year, which meant that a lot of my bike training would be indoors, and I wouldn’t be on top form yet. But then again, the same was true for my competitors, so still a generally level playing field.
Race day turned out to be unseasonably cold for Greenville. Just as heat was an advantage for me in Muncie, cold was an advantage in Greenville. I was more accustomed to being out in the cold than others. I had the appropriate clothing for the conditions. And, I was not mentally put off by the temperature, unlike the participants from warmer climes.
I honestly enjoyed the race. It’s always fun to be in the company of top competitors. I was by no means at the front of the pack, but I was holding my own and feeling fast given my training and the conditions. That was another lesson from years of racing – learn to temper your expectations to the realities of race day.
I was back and forth on the bike with a guy in my age group. It was a little race-within-the-race that kept things interesting. I had a small lead on him at the start of the second run. It was motivation to run my best. I maintained the gap and finished 7th in my age group. I had the same placing in my age group a decade earlier, so I guess I hadn’t lost that much after all. We’ll just ignore how much further down the overall list I was. As Einstein said, it’s all relative. Especially with age groups.