The Damn DNF
This past weekend at the Augusta 70.3, I did not finish (again). I had a descent swim and I felt very controlled on the bike with my efforts. I was excited to get off and run the way that I normally do (around a 1:20 half marathon). I took the first 2 miles very conservative and was able to work out some tightness in my left quad. Around the 3 mile mark, I began to feel into my normal running rhythm. As I made it through an aid station and took off down one of the many long straightaways on the course, I began to hav a major shortness of breath. I slowed down my pace a bit but my heart rate and the panicked breathing worsened. Finally, I had to stop and bend over to catch a breath. Was I having an asthma attack? A heart attack? What was happening?
I didn’t know and I still don’t know exactly what happened but I have my guesses. The major factor behind me stopping and then ultimately not finishing, was that I was really scared. I haven’t had this feeling before and it frightened me. My fitness was more than sub-par going into this and I was aware of that; and I felt I made the appropriate consessions to deal with that issue. I have definatley been in a situation where your body is screaming at you to concede with 5k to go or 1 mile to go, but never with 10 miles to go.
So I waited for a friend to catch up who was behind and did the “shuffle” with him for the next 6 miles. He ultimately DNF’d as well. Real bummer.
Even though it’s complicated, I’m alright with that. Attitude has always been paramount for me and my convictions towards this princapal are not going to change with the good or bad results. I certainly haven’t always had this attitude and (don’t get me wrong) I still want to crush the course at every opportunity I have but that’s not always realistic. In my younger racing years, I had a strong disconnect between my expectations and my results and this caused major issues (see previous posts). I can remember being in tears in college when I didn’t have a good race. It’s not like that anymore.
I love triathlons & running & cycling & swimming and I’m never going to stop. It’s just that simple. It sucks to waste an entry fee, travel expenses and time. It sucks more when you let it cause even more things in your life to suck. I’ve been racing way long enough to know that every race is an opportunity to grow, develop and learn. When I have a bad race it does sting, but it also motivates me to fix some things and confirm that I can do better.
The wonderful silver lining to the whole weekend was the great performances from Nick Chase who finished 3rd in his age group (in his first 70.3) and Brian Zipler who had a big 10+ min PR despite getting some nasty blisters. Great job guys!
