Triathlon at Retirement

I live in Kerrville, a small town in the Texas hill country. Every year, there is a triathlon competition here and I have been signed up for a long time. With recent illness from covid, it was a difficult decision if I should go through with it or not. The race was quarter distance, that is 1100 yards open water swim, 29 miles bike ride and 6.4 miles run, a significant challenge even for a healthy 65-year-old. Would it be too much for me so soon after covid, and would it be damaging for my recovery in the long run?  I had been covid negative for 2 weeks and I started light training. I had been off all training for 4 weeks since August 19, (with only light swim workouts the week before that, due to a knee injury). Once I decide to do something, I don't like to change so it was my inclination to go ahead, but I was uncertain. Five days before the competition, I did my only hard workout, a 5km run on max effort. The result was discouraging, I was about a minute slower / mile than befo

I always feel a lot of pressure at the Kerrville triathlon which is in my hometown. This year, I placed 2nd in the W60-64 division, quarter ironman distance (1100 yards swim, 29 miles bike and 10.4 miles run). The competitions are very well organized and set in a beautiful environment, but I have difficulty enjoying it.   On Friday afternoon, I volunteered at the sprint bike check-in for 5 hours, and it was hot, over 90f (32C). I already knew from my experience last year, that to avoid overheating on the run was the main challenge. I have spent most of the summer in much cooler temperatures in Sweden, and only about 3 weeks in Texas heat, so I worried that I was not fully acclimatized.  I prepared as much as I could, I did several bike and run workouts in the midday heat the weeks before the competition. On the morning of the event, I brought a small cooler full of ice and a water bottle to transition 2.  The Guadalupe River where swimming was taking place, was too hot for wetsuit and

This was a really great race weekend. On Saturday, the Rookie Sprint, a slightly shortened course with only 300m open water swim and a 2 mile run, while the bike leg was 14 miles. On Sunday, Quarter and Half Distance of the ironman lengths. I was intending to do the sprint as I have been polishing my speed for the Sprint World Championships in Bermuda in October, but as the championships got cancelled due to corona, I decided to do the quarter distance at Kerrville instead. After all, I am no rookie anymore, and I am in my home town, right? The weekend came in with a cool front, which in September in the Texas hill country, is good news. I looked at the rookie race, and it was a glorious day, perfect temperatures, beautiful location and a flat course. Swim was in the Guadalupe river. The competition was big and well organized, I think about 1800 participants. Swim Exit Being a home competition, I definitely felt pressure to do well. I started to worry weeks in advance. Aches and pains