Perfect or Near Perfect Races

And that's if you're lucky.  Think it was Dave Scott who said that in order to run a 10 hr Ironman it's necessary to be in 9:30 shape.  This scales for various speeds and for the shorter races as well.

You mean efforts you can be proud of or perfect? I don't know that I will ever in my life have a perfect race. I've raced 12 triathlons. I've had one where I felt my fitness in each sport finally all came together but I still made small technical mistakes.

Of those 12, I would say I had 3 other races that pleased me simply for accomplishing the distance with no strings attached to placement or time. The rest all had some really low points, bad weather, painful moments etc.

I don't think it is possible, unless you PR and win your AG with ease.  Here is why.

If you finish a race and you aren't in pain, or didn't suffer pretty bad at somepoint along the way, then you probably will be beating yourself up for not going harder.

Unless of course, you won your AG and got a PR.... Even then you will probably wish you had one the OA category.

you can have races you are happy with or even aspects of races you are happy with.  However, even the top pro's are going to tell you there is no such thing as a perfect race.  There are too many variables.  If you cant find something to improve, then you arent looking hard enough.

I set my goals so that i can be happy with a race.  Even on a really good race i can have things "go wrong".  it is just a matter of how i react to it.

Perfect is a matter of perspective.

There will always be things that could have been done better/faster.

Tiger Woods, after winning his first masters, said his swing sucked and he went set out to change it.

So I think there are always things we can improve.

And, if you feel good the whole race, you're probably not going fast enough! 

For me, the perfect race is one where I know I gave it everything I had on that particular day at that particular level of fitness, and I can't think of anything under my control that I could have/should have done better on that day to make it better. Would have to count my last tri--my bike fitness wasn't the greatest but that was a reflection of a difficult training situation and where I was at as a cyclist. I balanced the efforts in the three events very well and reached the finish line sprinting "all out" but almost too tired to smile! 

In thirty-plus years of running, I've had a few races that went unbelievably well, and some where I won, but those aren't the ones I'm proudest of; it's the ones where I overcame some kind of adversity. For example, my two fastest marathons are only about 15 seconds apart. The first one was a winter race in California, cool, flat. I ran a perfectly paced, uneventful race and was the youngest qualifier for Olympic Trials, so of course I was very happy with it. I suppose I did feel good throughout the race, as much as that is possible for running 26.2 miles! The Trials  were run in warm, humid weather on a hilly course. I cramped up pretty badly between 15 and 20 miles and fell well off my goal pace (had hoped to break 2:40). But I got through it physically and mentally, and ran an extremely fast final 10K (and a 5:35 last mile) that brought me up almost 60 places and to a new PR by 15 seconds. Of all my running achievements, I am proudest of that PR, not because the race went perfectly, but because I had to fight for it so hard. In my mind, that's the beauty, drama, and meaning of endurance sports--creating something "perfect" in an imperfect, unpredictable world where s.... happens!

I've only done 8 tri's so far - but all have gone near perfect.  OK- my transitions could have been a little faster, and my wetsuit has gotten stuck on my heels, but relative to my expectations, my swim bike and run have alway gone smoothly.  I think I've always been a little overtrained, and have a good sense of my intensity level and being able to hold it at a level that's sustainable.

Even my 1st marathon this year went well, better than expectations- painful for sure, but rocked it through the end.

I have a feeling that my 1st HIM (in 40 days) might be different.  I haven't finalized my nutrition yet, nor have I sat on a bike for 3hrs wearing just my tri-suit instead of cycling wear.

As others mentioned...it depends on your definition of "perfect".

In baseball, a "perfect game" is when a pitcher pitches the entire game without allowing the opposing team to get on base once.  Basically, recording 27 consecutive outs from start to finish (assuming his team scores so the game ends in 9 innings).

But within a perfect game, are imperfect moments.  Throwing a pitch that is not a strike could be considered imperfect.  You could say that absolute perfection is a game where a pitcher records 27 consecutive outs on 81 pitches...because he struck out every batter he faced.  And if it's a National League pitcher...he also hit a home run every time he batted.