Posted by Leif Irgens on September 16, 2007 at 16:20:51:
In Reply to: Re: Forget about it... posted by Monetta Roberts on September 16, 2007 at 12:25:15:
I still don't think you understand what's driving me to look into this. That’s probably because we’re very different people in this regard. You’re more emotions and feelings and, as you know, I’m very mathematically driven, very data driven. Like Mr. Spock (yes, that Vulcan on Star Trek), I want to be able to define things in terms of equations, math and logic. You know this because I’ve shared with you that I do more than a little bit of math after every triathlon to help me decide where I really stacked up in the race – regardless of my actual time or place. Time and place in tri’s depend too much on the course, the weather, and on who shows up. That’s too subjective for me so I try to define things in a more mathematical way – that’s the way I am and probably why I have a job in which I have to rely heavily on math and statistics to make sound decisions. Takes all kinds to make a world.
;-)
True, the clock doesn’t lie but it does tell a different tale as we age and slow. If I believed the clock (and the scale), I’d be saying to myself I’m fat and out of shape – but I know that’s not true. As it is, what I’ve actually been saying lately is that I may no longer still be fast but I’m still fast for my age. But am I? What is fast for my age, really? Again – this is why I’m interested in the age graded tables. Not as a club with which to beat myself but rather a scale to confirm what on the surface seems to be slow - might actually still be fast.
All in all, I get the feeling you may be thinking I’m putting more emphasis on the age graded tables that I really am. I find it interesting, intriguing – a way to possibly connect and compare the past with today. But they will not become a taskmaster or a nemesis to which I will become enslaved. And like you , I do enjoy a good debate and thus am compelled to answer you’re serve & volley,
As far as words go, I know them to be powerful but I also know from a lifetime of experience that words can only take genetics so far. All my childhood, I envisioned myself as Olympic champion. Into my adulthood, I began to realize maybe Olympian might be my limit, then into my 20’s and I began to re-adjust my goals to mabye at least be an Olympic trials qualifier . . . or maybe qualify for a national championship event. As I’ve passed through my best years, I now understand that no amount of visualization and positive thinking will take my beyond my genetics. All though my years, I’ve found myself to be about as fast as the fastest women my age, so in many big races, that becomes one of my new targets. It’s not a chauvanistsic goal, merely an attainable one. And, along with the age graded tables, it’s yet another measurement stick I use to try to see how I stack up against the rest of the participants on any given Sunday (or Saturday . . .).
:-)