I'm slow

I looked at your logs a while ago back when you posted about the race you hosted.

Your times already look a lot better than they did. Keep up the good work!

Patience is the name of the game.

I am right there with you!  Reading the race reports wishing I could speed up to other people's "slow"!  I have fun and hey...without the BOP there would be no FOP!!

I swim so slow I call it sinking forward.

If it makes you feel better i just looked at your logs and you are faster than i am!  I biked a bit faster in my most recent race but prior to that i was slower than you in all 3 sports.  yea, it sucks being last but hey, someone has to do it.  

Im not a competer im a completer!

I swim like a cat, bike like a dog and run like a sloth.

10 min run pace?!  Talk to the hand. LOL

good job!

Looking at your recent race reports, I'd say you're pretty much MOP.  Like the rest of us.  FOP = elite, BOP = last place.  Everyone else = MOP.  Welcome to the club.

On the advice side of things, what do you think is your limiter?  Is it physical ability or mental toughness?  I'd be willing to bet it's a little bit of both.  With your current fitness level, you CAN go faster than you are.  It's just a matter of MAKING yourself do it.  And that's not an easy task.  It takes time to figure out how to do that, how to push yourself so hard that you don't think you'll finish if you keep up the pace, but you keep it up anyway.

Judging from your last race report, you agree: "My own lack of confidence in my body's abilities. I don't push myself as hard as I know I could because I don't want to run out of energy. It's time to stop making excuses and just push myself to find those limits."

Enter a local 5K.  Run like hell the entire time.  Run so hard it hurts to breathe and your legs are screaming for you to stop, but just keep on moving. 

Then do a cycling time trial event.  Same idea.  Push as hard as you possible can.  Push so hard you might have to get off and walk to the finish line if you're not careful.

For swimming, get a friend and do some 200s or 500s for time in the pool.  Same theory.

You can do these in practice too, but the race environment can help you push yourself to your limits.  I learned a lot about how wrong I was about what my limits were by doing standalone running races and cycling time trials.

I totally suck at water skiing (or anything related to being pulled by a powerboat), probably BOP in all of them including tubing.

There, feel better now?

Most people walk faster than I run. In fact, I can walk faster than I can run. Glad there are others though. Thanks for the thread.

You guys are all awesome! I'm not complaining about being slow... just declaring it and embracing my slowness. Haha. While I do find it frustrating at times, I enjoy the sport, I love that my body is getting more firm and muscular and I'm making friends in the process. 

As far as my limiter... it's absolutely mental, with about 1% body composition. I'm a pretty athletic person, I have always been involved in some sort of activity my whole life, tennis, water skiing, wakeboarding, and now tri. The main thing is I haven't yet managed to "embrace the suck" and really push my pace on anything. That is my plan for the winter though. 

I have been passed by every type of person also, kids, older people, people on mountain bikes, I have yet to be passed by a beach cruiser on the bike or someone walking while I jog, but I'm sure I will at some point. And I just laugh. I'm only competing against myself out there. In my latest tri I beat my previous PB by 7 minutes on a tougher bike course, but I had an actual tri bike as opposed to a wal-mart roadie. The extra miles in the saddle helped though. 

I love this place. Hehe.

I am in a slow funk too.

I looked at my last year numbers in a Tri I did.  I just don't think I getting any faster, even though my mileages are hugely increased in training.  I have lost quite a bit of weight.  My calves and thighs are visibly larger and more defined.

I just don't feel fast.  Maybe it's the heat and humidity sapping me.  I half expected that at some point my legs would feel lighter when I run.  They don't.  I think I should feel springier, but I don't

I had a laugh last night looking at my splits from last year.  I rode the bike section of the race in my running shoes.  My T2 split for stepping off a bike and starting to run as about 46 seconds  that was like 300 place for the transition.  I am even slow at getting off a bike.  Ughh.

At least I enjoy the training!!!!