Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Chelan Man Triathlon "Participating vs Racing"



My life has been on physical and emotional roller coaster ride since June 12th, however this weekend really helped to again put my new life perspective in place.  I've been somewhat programmed since my first swim race at 5 yrs to be very competitive.  I've always enjoyed the challenge of racing and trying to do my best in all areas of life.  I've found recently that I wasn't sure how I would handle "participating" as opposed to "racing" as my health and new heart condition diagnosis have left me with little options.  As I prepared for the  Chelan Man Triathlon I found myself for the first time at total peace with the idea I wasn't trying to win the race, my age group or even focus a time.  All the factors that have motivated and helped me to set personal goals for the last 30 yrs were now completely irrelevent.  My journey was now about supporting my wife by participating with her for the first time in over 100 triathlons instead of racing for my own personal goals.  I must say I really enjoyed this special experience.  I plan to support Tristin by participating with her in the future!



Now on to our great family weekend at Lake Chelan.  First off this was the first time we've camped as a family and after some initial challenge with our HUGE borrowed tent it was an awesome weekend. I think everyone in the club at our campsite could have fit in there as it was like 10 X 16, so we had plenty of room.

Chelan is a beautiful area for a race and we enjoyed the weekend of multiple races. I coach most of the 10 TB athletes in some capacity that participated in the various races, so I enjoyed seeing all them race and most importantly have fun! Everyone did such a great job and all the athletes went faster than I predicted!



As for my race, I truly enjoyed the journey. I signed up for this race before I knew about my heart condition, however I still wanted to participate, so Tristin (my wife) agreed if I raced with her I could still do it! As we approached the swim it was CHOPPY! I'm glad I don't have problems with the rough water as this was a rough swim. I started out at solid pace for 200 and then backed off as I remembered I'm not racing so I need to slow down and swim easy. I came out of the water and started my :07 T1, I must say it was great to take my time and not feel like I had to rush! When Tristin exited the swim without her wetsuit I was nice relaxed and ready for a ride with her.

We did the ride together for the first time ever which was really fun! Tristin rode like a champ and averaged 22 mph! We were passing many athletes in wave 1 and each other the whole way! As we approached T2 it was awesome to have so much Team Blaze support from our fellow club members that raced on Saturday!
We had a speedy T2 and started our run together. I was trying to push Tristin just enough without pushing too hard. We had a nice steady run as we tried to figure what place she was in. During the run it fun to see other Team Blaze athletes the Lund family competing as relays out there battling as David and Nicole ran with their kids. As we came to the finish on the downhill we had Reecer run to the finish with us which was great to finish as a family!


I truly enjoyed the journey and felt great at the end with an average HR of 125!  I highly recommend the Chelan Multisport weekend as a must do race. If you camp it's very affordable and fun to stay with other club members. Although we might stay at the camping area a little closer to to the start/town, which you must reserve early as everything fills up fast. If you want to do any of these shorter triathlons you need to sign up early as they all filled up about 6 weeks before race day.

After our race, Reecer did his first tri which provided great fun for all as most of the Team Blaze members stayed and supported him as he flew the Team Blaze colors wearing his little jersey. He did an awesome job and most importantly he had fun! He finished and said he wanted to do it again to get another medal, so we knew it was positive experience for him.







I learned once again this weekend to enjoy the journey through participating vs racing!

Thanks for reading!

2 comments:

donna said...

As always a really great perspective on life....great race report. I think Chelan will have to be on my list for next year.

Anonymous said...

Great words, Scott, you have another calling with your blog I think too. By the way, I think my HR is 125 when I go to the grocery store--so you are amazing! Love the pics! --Kathleen