November 7, 2015
As a introduction to this post, I need to explain that I am a proud member of USAT and use USAT's member services a LOT. I always receive prompt and cheerful responses to my questions. In addition to outstanding member services, USAT also provides well-managed national championships. USAT just seems to be an efficient and well-managed non-profit organization.
When any new situation occur, there is an awkward transition period, I believe the 2014-2015 season was that awkward period as the International Triathlon Union (ITU) changed the sprint-distance triathlon from non-draft to draft-legal. While you may note some frustration in my comments, I believe that USAT is an outstanding organization.
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A year ago, I mentioned to my coach
that it would be cool to go to Worlds and maybe (emphasize maybe) I
could qualify in 2017 when I age up to the 65-69 age group. That gave
us three years to prepare. My coach said, "Why not qualify this year?"
As someone who deals with goal setting every day in my work, I talked
to my coach about how goals have to be "challenging but realistic." His position was unwavering.
A year ago, when we started preparing, that
meant that I would need to be in the top 18 at Nationals in 2015. I was 28th
in 2014. 18th certainly felt challenging, but not totally realistic. But, that
was my coach's goal, so I agreed to go for it this year.
We
worked hard all year, and then in May (four months before Nationals),
USAT announced that the ITU (International Triathlon Union) had decided
to change the sprint distance race at Worlds from non-draft to
draft-legal. In a draft-legal race, people ride bikes in packs to gain
the benefits of drafting. You literally ride with your front tire two
inches behind the back tire of the bike in front of you. The problem is
this:
If one bike goes down, many bikes go down. Most people think it's too
dangerous for age groupers, especially older age groupers.
In response, USAT decided to change the qualification criteria for Worlds. USAT decided to only qualify the top 8 at Nationals instead of the top 18. USAT would also add another qualifying race in Clermont, Florida that was draft legal where an additional 10 would qualify.
I felt so cheated. For eight months, I had focused every aspect of my day (and night) on training to make the top 18 at Nationals. I had begun to believe that I could make the top 18, but the top 8 seemed impossible. It seemed so unfair to have us go through more than half the year training for a non-draft and then not only change the race to draft legal, but also change the qualification criteria.
But the worst part was that USAT wasn't sure which qualification criteria they were actually going to use. If ITU decided to
add a non-draft sprint, then USAT would qualify the top 18 at Nationals
(including me). If ITU did not add a non-draft race, then only 8 would
qualify from Nationals, plus 10 from a draft-legal race in Clermont.
I
wasn't sure what to do. My options were to 1) move to the longer
Olympic distance race which would remain non-draft, or 2) do the
draft-legal sprint distance. My coach had mixed feelings. His
competitive side wanted me to compete in the draft-legal sprint race,
but his cautionary side made him wonder if the non-draft Olympic
distance might be better for someone racing at age 62. After talking to
a lot of people, he came to believe that a draft-legal race with
beginners would simply be a single line of bikes riding and since it
would be the first draft-legal race for almost everyone, people would
not be aggressive.
What do to? I contacted everyone I knew to ask their opinion - including coaches I had never met before but "knew" of via their podcasts. Everyone said I should not participate in a draft-legal race. Their logic was rational. Why put myself in a dangerous situation? If I crashed, I might impact my entire triathlon career. But one coach, Adam Zucco, from Training Bible Podcast wrote to me and said something like, "If this is your passion, why not?" Exactly.
The hardest part about the year was not knowing what the qualification criteria would be. I contacted USAT and they said they hadn't heard anything definitive from ITU. I finished 18th after the age-ups at Nationals. It was so hard to be excited because while I met my goal that I really didn't think was possible, USAT would only say that the top 10 were going to Worlds. They still didn't know if places 11-18 would be going. They said they'd know by the end of the summer, but when I called in September and again in October, they still didn't know..
To be safe, I raced at Clermont in the draft-legal race. It was not as scary as I imagined. There were a few women in the pack of eight with whom I rode that were experienced in group riding and they set the example for the rest of us by clearly announcing their moves. It was actually a lot of fun and I rode about 2.5 mph faster than I did on the course when I was not with the group. I finished 2nd at Clermont. However, there were so few people entered that almost everyone who finished qualified. It didn't feel like much of an accomplishment.
All of this indecisiveness made it hard to focus in training during the year. When the training was hard and I wanted to have a focal point, I didn't know if I should focus on Nationals or Clermont. I was frustrated with USAT and ITU for not making a decision in time for the athletes to set goals accordingly. However, I knew everyone would be in the same boat of indecisiveness. I refused to let my brain think about those things and decided to focus on Nationals as my goal race. If I failed to be in the top eight at nationals, then Clermont would become a qualifying race. If I did qualify at Nationals, then Clermont would become a practice race.
Mental challenges!!!
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