What am I, stupid?

You see that picture below? Where has that guy gone, I wonder? Yesterday was the Westchester Triathlon, the next-to-last race of my triathlon season, and today as I write this, I wonder if it shouldn't have been the last one.

The race was pretty good, by the way, although it tells you a bit about the psyche of the triathlete when most of us were wondering why the obviously short swim course couldn't have been LONGER (and thus accurate). So my PR time of 2:04:46 will have to have a major asterisk next to it, especially since I ran a lot more slowly than last year. But still, I was pretty happy, especially since (1) my right butt (buttock would be more correct, I suppose) has felt like someone has beenkicking it with a steel tipped shoe for the past week and (2) on my first step out of bed yesterday morning, my right calf seized up like it was forming a black hole. What they hell, a couple of Advil later, some stretching, a nice ride to the start, and all was well.

There were 1200 people in this race. I had never been hit, kicked, or crashed into (actually, I did a good amount of crashing as well) during a swim as much in any other race. I think they spaced the waves of competitors too close together. That was the roughest part of the race, save the two-three tough hills on the bike, so all-in-all, it wasn't so bad.

Today, though, I feel like a train ran over me. Sure, I slogged through 44 minutes of running this morning, but all things considered, I'd rather be in bed. With 5 days (including today) to recover for next week's race (another Olympic distance Tri in Darien, CT), it's a game of recover, do a bit to stay sharp, then taper. Or, I could just do a whole week taper. Or, I could shitcan the whole thing next week and sleep in. Naaaahhh...I already missed one race this year due to injury (a wonderful back ailment about 6 weeks ago that made me miss training days for the first time in 2 years and left me barely able to move around for 2 days), so I think I can gut this one out.

I have to say that I have a new admiration for the back-of-the-packers in triathlon. It was tough for me and I'm one of the top in my age group. I can't imagine weighing another 30-40 pounds or simply having to be out there for 3-4 hours trying to finish.

Oh well...one more race for the season. One more chance to improve my ranking. One more potential encounter with jellyfish or sea lice. One more opportunity to put the quads to work on a speedy bike ride.

I think I talked myself into it.