I'm slow (Page 2)

Welcome to my world.

I use the term "plodding elephant" to describe my running; "semi-beached whale" to describe my swimming; and "just trying to stay upright" on my bike.

I am just happy when I finish ahead of my shadow.

And I am a "participant" not a "competitor" - and love it. The closest I will ever get to the podium is to be the guy who wipes the dust or water off of it so the FOP's don't slip getting up there.

I too am very happy with the fact that I seldom know where to find the remote control, even though I am the only one in the house.

I think the time space continuum just split wide open here.

First, to the OP: I looked at your RRs and I call BS. You are not slow. You swim faster than me, and I always beat SOMEONE on the swim. Your bike splits would be MOP in the sprints around here, as would your more recent run times. It looks like you have come a LONG way in your running. GOOD JOB! Also, look at it this way: 1) All those people you passed at the end of your runs wish they could finish as strong as you; and 2) There is no shame in being slower than someone else, whatever your speed. You are setting goals, meeting them, and crushing some huge personal barriers along the way.

To tacozilla: I saw your Shadow Creek results. Excellent! Great progress this year for you. Looking forward to riding w/you again sometime.

High flipper! Me too!!

I've been DFL in two of my races. Neither were anywhere near being my first races, either.

But I'm always going to be fast compared to somebody and slow compared to somebody, until I morph into Macca or something.

Remember, people aren't going to post about how SLOW they are*, so it can seem, even on a site very welcoming to beginner triathletes, most people are whizzing along and doing amazing stuff. And they are. Just don't forget the silent majority.

I call my current running "zombie death shuffle."

*Except for me, I started the DFL thread a while back. Maybe it needs resurrection?

Thanks everyone... when I first came here last year I would read every race report, and they were ALWAYS way above anything I could do, it bothered me at the time, but now I just know that speed takes time, I'm not patient but I'm getting there. 

I have only been DFL in the one race that I organized with 4 friends. And actually I did beat the guy that gave up after the swim. I guess my thing is... I may not get there first, but I will get there. 

Oh, that 10:31m/m yesterday was cooking me. I'm trying to boost my pace on the run so I just went for it. I know my body is capable of way more than my mind thinks, so I'm trying to push my mind into hanging in there for the long and fast haul. 

It's all relative. I would like to be faster and I know I can get faster, and I know that I probably won't get faster as fast as I'd like. (Umm...did that make sense?) And maybe it's ok if I improve slowly - I started marathon training with a group at the beginning of the year, really pushed the speed (we're talking I improved my long run pace by a full minute/mile within a couple of months) and ended up with an overuse injury.

I've also accepted that now is NOT the time to try to get faster. The weather has been brutal. My second sprint tri was 4 minutes slower than my first, even though I was injured during my first and had a swim freakout where I had to stop and grab the ladder. BUT it was about 25 degrees warmer and way more humid, and the effort FELT a thousand million times better. (Well, I could've done without feeling like my face was melting off during the run, but you know what I mean.) I have my first Oly this weekend and if I survive, I'll be good with it.

I know very few people (personally, outside this board) who have the balls to even attempt a triathlon, much less one in 80+ degree weather. So I'm doing pretty well.

Exactly. My "long" bike rides are only in the 20 mile range so far, and after one, when someone asked me how far I had ridden, and I told them, their chin dropped. "You rode 20 miles in 90 minutes?????" My first instinct was to say, "Yeah, I know. I'm so slow." And then I realized that they thought I was speedy! Wow. That was really nice.

I also live in a really small town (1500 people), so everyone knows my business. I must be quite the topic of conversation because people I don't even know very well know what I am up to and are always asking me questions about my training. It's kind of nice.

I have thought of starting a team call "Fast Turtle"  Fast people need not apply.

I am really good at getting passed!!

I think we forget sometimes that people who DON'T run or do tris have absolutely no concept of what a slow time is. They're just amazed that someone will run/bike/swim that far.

When I finished my first half marathon in September, a spectator asked me what my time was. I told her (2:35 - yep, slow!) Then she asked if I'd ran the half or the full. (LOL, I think I would've WON the full with that time). I told her the half, thinking, "Great, she's gonna think I'm waaay slow if she thinks I could've run a full in that time." But she got this genuine look of awe on her face and said, "Wow, great job!"

We just moved into a house, and my next door neighbor likes to ask me about my running/biking. She seriously asked me the other day if I run faster than I bike or vice versa. It was all I could to not to laugh.

Oh yeah, I want to get a tattoo of a turtle with a medal around its neck. My race good luck charm is a little stuffed turtle that I named Speedy. I found him while I was out running one day. Since I found him, he's either been sitting in my transition area or in my spibelt of every race I've done.

+1

No offense to the 78 year old Grandmothers in the pool, but if you are going to keep passing me, at least bake me some cookies.  I have an excuse though - I am from Canada - we skate on the ponds, we don't swim in them!

I'm so slow it takes too long to log my training so I don't do it!

My friend says "Forward is a pace!" Which is good, since I 'run' a 15mm. 

It's interesting what you say about most people just being impressed that you finished the race, let alone having any idea of what time means. Last year my mom's cousin called to congratulate me on the race she heard I did.

Her: How did you do?

Me: Great! I finished, and in the time I'd hoped for.

Her: What place were you?

Me: 701.

Her: Out of how many? (pulling my teeth here)

Me:....733...

Her: Oh. Well. That's not all that good, is it?

LOL! Good thing I have a sense of humor about it.  

Hahaha! That's great. After my first (and thus far only) half marathon I told everyone I beat 3,000 people... I just failed to mention the other 32,000+ who beat me. :-) But! I finished and learned many, many lessons, the most important being... don't run (walk/wog/jog/shuffle/crawl) my first marathon with 35,000 other people when big crowds freak me out. 

LOL This was the brief conversation after my first sprint tri:

Seeing the finishers medal in my hand, 4 year old at the top of his voice: "Look!!!! Mommy won the race!!!!! She has the gold medal!!!!!"

Me: (Trying to crawl under a rock -- I was 93/101); "Well, not exactly."

Are we related? I think your mom's cousin might be my mother-in-law. Overweight? Sedentary? Highly critical of efforts to be fit?

I'm in the same boat, I'm slow.  I'm not really content with it and try to do all the right things, but I'm still bop.   No one really cares though.  All the competitive guys are getting their medals and the rest are just happy they weren't last.   The only thing I / we can really do is be consistent with training and hope to improve.

In my defense even if I were fast I would look at the 3 guys ahead of me in the race and still consider myself slow.

LMAO! Well, to be fair, she's used to hearing about her brother, who regularly wins awards (he's actually one of the few left in his age group so he rocks them all!). 

She's very sweet and meant it in a perfectly innocent way so fortunately I wasn't insulted at all.