Follow The Passion

I missed out on the entries for the Shepparton 70.3. The event sold out in only about five hours. With a field cap of 1000, it is very different to when I was racing these events regularly. No longer is the field in the 300's (cracking 600 was big) and you could enter almost right up to the day. Triathlon has changed.

As a result I'm forced to rethink what I will do. The two main possibilities for me are the Canberra 70.3 in December, which still has room, or the Sri Chinmoy Peace Triathlon Long Course, in October, also placed in Canberra. I might have other commitments that could impose on the 70.3, so am thinking this might not be the best option. The Sri Chinmoy race, was definitely one of my favourites from the past. With a distances of 2.2/80/20 it is old school, as I believe the set up still is. So that is appealing. What is unappealing is the race only fielded 48 finishers last year, which definitely didn't include the elites. Very different from the 1999 race that had over 500, and included the top names of the time such as Chris Legh, Chippy Slater and Miles Stewart. A lot of the original appeal has been lost for me.

Another option that I have been trying to put aside for a while now, is just to keep on with focusing on running. The fact it keeps cropping up must mean something. Also I just don't have the interest at the moment in racing at the sprint distance triathlons, but would love cranking out a fast (for me) 10km road run. Adding to the appeal of running is that I have been enjoying some of my better results.

While on a 2 hour run today my mind got to thinking quite seriously about heading back to the Melbourne Marathon this October. If I was to do that then I would be looking to take more time off my PR. Adding fuel to the PR fire, is the possibility of getting a preferred start. Getting one for this would hinge on running my best ever half marathon in the not-too-distant future and making a good case to the race committee, but putting down a marathon time that qualifies for the preferred start next year sounds good to me.

My longer sessions will have a bit to keep my brain busy over the next week.

Comments

  1. Miles of the Journey21 May 2011 at 22:36

    Understand about the running focus. I started out a runner and records indicate runnning times took a nosedive when I took up triathlon. I seem to want to do a marathon again, now.

    I guess I am disappointed that I get passed so much on the run of long course, while I am not really all that beat up. I started in triathlones 10 years ago...yeah, things have changed. Best of everything on the season

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  2. Unknown23 May 2011 at 14:59

    I'm in a pretty similar boat to you, missed out on Shep, thinking of getting a marathon / other running race PR.
    I think motivation for swim training is going to drop.

    Thanks for reminding me about the Sri Chinmoy race...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tea28 May 2011 at 10:29

    I really love the new banner.

    I took last year off from triathlon and focused on running. It gave me a renewed sense of being. (I hope that isn't corny). I realized how much I really loved running. This year, I am back at Triathlon and have an entirely new appreciation of the sport and new faster run splits to go with it.

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