Opportunity Costs

Two weeks ago I raced the Chisago Half Iron for the third year in a row. It's a fun race about an hour outside of Minneapolis with a great course. Heading into the race I was hoping to improve on my time from last year and get a little closer to a sub 4 hour half, but the race had other plans for me. I swam well enough, and came out of the water in 2^nd to Mr Thompson, took a little extra time to put on socks and hit the bike course. It was cool enough that I was thankful whenever the sun came out for a little warmth and somehow the laws of physics allowed a headwind for 50 miles! of the 56 mile bike course. My legs felt great through 30 miles on the bike, but then my lower back and glutes started to tighten up. My bike position isn't overly aggressive, but I hardly ever ride in the aero position for longer than 45 minutes and my body didn't agree with me on 2 hours 15 minutes. By the time I hit mile 50 all I could think about was getting off that damn bike. Of course as soon as I started running all I could think about was not running anymore. All in all it was a fair showing good enough for 2^nd and $750. Results Here

My hotel stay courtesy of Nordica and TK. Those are not real
elephants guarding the entrance.

Last week I made the 3.5 hour drive to the Wisconsin Dells for my first Rev3 race. The Wisconsin Dells is America's indoor water park capital or something like that and is the biggest tourist trap in the country outside of Branson, MO. The people watching was spectacular. My friends Nordica and TK were staying at the Kalahari Resort and very very graciously let me crash in their room Saturday night. TK bravely tackled the half while I was thanking the heavens every step of the way that the pro race was Olympic distance.

Race morning was, no surprise, cold and raining. At first it was just chilly. But then as the half athletes started and I was setting up my bike it started to sprinkle. By the time I got out of the water and onto the bike it was really raining. Karma has decided to punish me for enjoying an entire winter of good weather with the worst season of weather possible. To date, every race I've done in the Midwest this year has been cold, windy and wet except for one. Results Here

At the end of the race I was 12^th. Another fair showing, but certainly nothing to write home about. The theme of the year so far has been solid racing that puts me just outside the money. In all honesty it has been a bit disappointing. Although I'm racing consistently and at the start of the season I knew that with all of the time I would need to spend working this summer it was going to be much more of a foundation building year compared to the big gains I've made the last two years. But knowing that it's just going to take time and patience doesn't make missing the main pack in every race any less frustrating.

At times like this it's hard not to ask myself if I can actually make this work in the next few years, because for most people it doesn't. And at times it feels like there's just no way that I can go much faster. If I'm already working so hard, but still need to improve so much more how is that going to happen? Whenever I feel like this I'm glad that I have so many years of running to look back on for perspective. I remember in high school when it took a perfect race and everything I could muster to run 1:56 in the 800. It just about killed me. Then a few years later at the Drake Relays in the 4xMile I ran the first 800 in 1:56 trying to hang on to a guy's heels. Back in high school if you had asked me whether I could run an 800 in that time and then another after that for a 4:06 mile I would have said, impossible.

So when I'm struggling to drop time and it seems just impossible that I could ever swim faster, I remember that people are always doing things that are impossible.

Of course, that doesn't mean I'll actually be successful! Which is where the self doubt comes from. But it's all not nearly as troubling as I make it out to be. I very well may not make it, and I'm ok with that because there isn't anything else I'd rather be doing right now. Most people see an 'endeavor' like training to be a professional athlete as something that carries a huge opportunity cost. I was reminded recently of this idea by a great interview with David Epstein called “How Athletes Get Great” on Outside magazine's site. (Great article by the way) Epstein's book partakes in the nature vs. nurture debate concerning success, specifically in athletics. He talks about opportunity cost and the role it plays in producing world class runners in Kenya. Over in Kenya there is not a high cost to running, because there is a severely limited number of opportunities. If you don't succeed, you haven't missed out on any other opportunities. For athletes in developed countries there are many options, especially endurance athletes because we are so uncannily intelligent compared to other athletes. (Only kind of kidding, of the 20 odd people on my high school cross country team, 4 of them were national merit finalists meaning in the top 1-2ish percent of the entire country. In college, close to 1/2 of the cross team majored in engineering or pre-med. David Thompson has a graduate degree in nuclear engineering from MIT. TJ Tollakson is an engineer that creates and produces carbon aero products. Jordan Rapp is a technology guru that everyone listens to, etc. etc.)

Most people would look at my current situation and say that my opportunity cost to training as a triathlete is about $75k. If I weren't training, I could have dedicated myself to working hard at Target, gotten promotions, schmoozing with big wigs and be earning a salary of $90k. Instead, last year I made $12k.

And most people would see that as the only opportunity cost that matters, lost wages, because they think money is all that matters. But I was raised by a couple of hippies and know that there is an even higher opportunity cost attached to working a corporate job: it crushes your soul. My personal sanity attached to not sitting in a cubicle staring at a computer screen 8 hours a day playing office politics and enduring pointless meanings is more important than monetary loss unless I become homeless and starving for food in the near future.

That doesn't mean I'll still be training full time if I don't start earning some money racing soon. I've given some thought to what I would do if I wasn't racing and think I'd like to try something in the outdoors field, like a guide or park ranger. But I'm fully committed to the racing scene through the 2015 season. I'm at the head of the 'B' pro pack right now. If I can't make it up to 'A' pack after two more full years of training and racing, then I'll start thinking about what to do with an English degree.