Getting Older and Wiser In My Second Season

2012:  My first one mile open water swim!

When I sought to fulfill my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions, I didn’t know if it would be a one time deal or something bigger.  With a second season under my belt, it’s safe to say I’m hooked!  But after my second season, I’m more aware than ever of the fact that you can’t take your physical abilities for granted.  While I was very happy with my early race performances and began to have visions of half ironmans dancing in my head, I was abruptly reminded of one’s body limitations in mid-July with my knee injury.

The season started out great returning to the Independence Triathlon which had been my very first race in my first season.  Cutting 16 minutes off of my time with dramatic improvements in my swim and run pace felt really great!  On to the Stamford KIT Triathlon, I felt good being part of a relay team and doing my first 10K run.  Then, all went very smooth with Montauk and my first ½ mile open water swim.  I felt like Superwoman accomplishing all of this in the first half of the season and didn’t doubt by ability to then take on an Olympic distance race in September.

But a week after Montauk, my body had a different message for me.  The MRI revealed a very small “articular cartilage defect” (a small piece of cartilage had fallen out), but it’s likely I’ve had that for some time since it's typically a result of an acute injury (thinking back I did fall on that knee about 20 years ago).  Perhaps I was doing too much running?  It wasn’t a lot compared to athlete standards.  Perhaps my running form was not correct?  Or, perhaps I’m just aging?

I did at least accomplish two firsts in the fall – my first 1 mile open water swim as part of a relay team at the Martha’s Vineyard Warrior Triathlon in September and my longest bike ride to date in the Martha’s Vineyard Bicycle Tour in October at 55 miles.

As I look forward to my third triathlon season, I’m adjusting my expectations.  Fortunately, there are still things I can do – relays and aquabikes (many races offer a category of swim and bike only which many middle aged athletes are starting to do) are looking more attractive.  I will still attempt a Sprint triathlon, and I would really like to still do an Olympic distance race but I’ll take my events one at a time and first see how a 5K run (or walk as the case may be) feels.

Last year I was thinking how turning 45 in 2013 would have its benefits in being at the bottom of the totem pole in the next age group.  Now I see our physical condition can change as we age.  At least with age comes wisdom.