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Well, it's been a bit. All is well, still training, raced again and feeling pretty calm about being 8 weeks out from the big day. I have come upon an interesting situation though....it involves the title of my blog. "Escape from the Middle of the Pack" implies a goal. Which, I guess, it was...but it wasn't a well written goal. It wasn't well written because I never distinctly defined what the "middle of the pack" was. A friend asked me about my race Saturday, the Loveland Lake2Lake tri. It was a pretty good day for me. I had a swim PR (although I think this course was short), had really great transitions, a decent ride and a PR run. I ended up finishing 7th out of 56 in my age group and 57th out of 596 total. When she learned where I placed, she joked that I needed to add a "d" to Escape. That gave me a bit of a chuckle. It also got me thinking...have I escaped? Was escaping really the goal. And, if I've reached that goal...what's the next goal?

This season has been different for me in one specific way. I've shifted my mindset and focus from specific paces and results to execution. Loveland was a good race because of the way I executed it not because of my placing. I kept my head about me, kept a positive attitude, and stayed focused for the entire race.

So back to the title of the blog...have I escaped? I've had some great results, and some nice consistency...but I don't feel like I've escaped yet. Maybe it's just that I've had some goal creep. I'm placing in the top 15% in my ag now...but I also know now that I'm capable of even more improvement. Changing my goal to be in the top whatever percent of my ag isn't a good idea though. That's a goal that I can't control, I have no control over who else shows up to the race. I can rattle off a long list of guys in my ag that go faster in zone 1 than I do at a sprint race. If they show up that day, no ag placing for me. I'll do some more thinking about goals and get back to you.


Have I escaped? I'd say no, not yet...but maybe I can change the name of the blog to "Escaping ..."

Kia Kaha