The need for speed

Another 12 days till the Cayman marathon and this year will be over from a sporting perspective and what a year it has been.

Nearing my late thirties one would think that the window of my peak performance potential as an endurance athlete would begin to close. But I just can’t see it happen at the moment. This year I completed my first Ironman distance triathlon event. Simply completing the event was major highlight and accomplishment for me, but I was also able to pull off a finishing time of 10h17m43s, which exceeded my expectations. Last weekend I set a PB in the Olympic distance triathlon, clocking-in in a time of 2h11m23s beating my previous best from 2 years ago of 2h17m38s. And I think I can go faster in both events.

Past-prime athletes frequently report that their top-end speed is the first thing to go. During the Pirate’s week 10k a few weeks ago I ran a 39m34s. I decided to pace that race very carefully and aim for sub 40. I can honestly say it was not until about 3 km to go that I felt any real pressure and even during the last 3km I was not killing myself. It is difficult to explain how much of a high that is, to run at a speed that is close to the fastest I have ever run over the distance (my PB is 37m58s about 10 years ago). Next year I believe I can quite possibly beat my 10 km PB and that at an age of 37.

Looking to world class endurance athletes there are actually many over the age of 35 that are more competitive than ever these days. Haile Gebrselassie set a marathon world record in Berlin this year at 35. The winner of this year’s Olympic Women’s Marathon was 38.

I’m not expecting to slow down in 2009 – no way. 2008 was an incredible year, but 2009 will be even better!