| What's This Race All About
by Ironman Age Group Champion Cherie Gruenfeld.
It's summer and that can only mean one thing to a triathlete: It's time to race . And there's rarely a shortage of races available to us. We make the choice based on the distance, the location, the date and, perhaps, the entry fee.
But there's another issue to consider when signing up for a race. You ought to ask yourself the question, "What is my purpose in doing this race?" This question needs to be asked and answered early on because it will affect your training as well as your racing.
Below are some things to consider when setting your race schedule and training plans:
Training Races
After you have your goal race identified, you may want to get some race experience during your preparation for the main event. 70.3s are excellent training for an upcoming Ironman while sprint races prepare you for an Olympic distance. By definition, a training race means that you'll train through it. There's no taper; instead the race becomes a brick workout. Don't expect to be at the top of your game because you'll be racing on well-worked legs. But the benefit of this type of training is that you get the experience of dealing with race day jitters, you can practice your transitions and nutrition and you'll always push yourself harder when you're surrounded by racers.
Qualifying Races
There are currently world championships in the Olympic distance, 70.3 and Ironman and a set of qualifying races to earn the right to compete at that level. Racing with the goal of a slot in one of these events makes the qualifying event a short-term goal race, while your long-term goal race remains the World Championships. And it's entirely possible that you'll find it necessary to do several qualifying races before you accomplish your goal. This takes some careful planning and raises another set of issues:
• You may need to consider signing up for multiple qualifying races, in case things don't work out for you the first time. This probably needs to be done early in the season (or the season prior) as these races fill quickly.
• A long-distance race requires recovery time amd it's counter-productive to race a second time if you're not fully rested from the previous race. So the timing of the events and recovery between races become of paramount importance.
• It's easy to get upset with yourself for missing the goal the first time and this can result in what I refer to as "racing angry." This is never a formula for success. It tends to cause you to be tense and to make mistakes, neither of which will result in a fast/qualifying time.
Coming-back-from-injury Race
If you've suffered an injury that has kept you from racing, there will be a time to make a comeback and it's possible that you may choose to do your first race before you're 100% again. For example: Your hamstring may have healed, but you haven't run 13 miles and you'd like to do a 70.3. If this is the case, you have two good options:
• You can get another athlete to do the run for you and race as a relay, you doing the swim and bike
• You may choose to push yourself on the swim and bike and walk/run the running portion
If you choose option #2, you must be absolutely committed to protecting yourself during the portion that will stress the past injury. You have to be able to fight temptation when other racers go flying by you. There are few things worse than re-injuring yourself because you weren't smart in managing the comeback.
Fun Race
Sometime during the summer your kids, business associates, running club, etc. will get enthusiastic about a local event and encourage you to join them. I suggest you repress your Type A need for speed and join in on the fun. Run with the kids, help a business associate who's never been on a bike before or set the pace for the 12 min. per mile novice runners.
You'll be a hero to the locals and you'll find that it's a lot of fun.
Goal Race
This is the event that's driven you all season, perhaps longer. It's what you dream about, the one where you visualize yourself victoriously crossing the finish line. You'll ask your family to make sacrifices to help you with your schedule (and, if you're smart, you will have given them good reason to help you out after the Fun Race you did with them earlier) and you'll make training during your Peak Phase a top priority. You'll recover well during your Taper Phase and will step to the start line 100% ready to give it all you have on that particular day.
Different events, different goals.
When you know the purpose of your race and act accordingly, you're setting yourself up for success.
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