Blue Lake Olympic/Season Killer?

I began this race feeling very calm and confident. I also went into it thinking that if I don't get a PR that continuing to train for an iron distance in November might not get me the results I'm looking for.

On the swim I was feeling very good. I wore a wetsuit, was spot-on with hitting the buoys, and never had to slacken my pace. I wasn't breakneck, but very relaxed, concentrating on my form, which I could really feel was improved.

Coming out of the water, I was unrushed and wanted to catch my breath. I was efficient but lacked the franticness that I've felt in all previous races. I really felt like I knew what I was doing in the transition. Got on my bike and away I went. In a surprisingly short time, I was feeling tightness and fatigue in my hamstrings, which forced me to ease my effort a bit, but I felt like I was going along pretty well. But I sensed I wasn't doing all that well because I was being passed by seemingly everyone. For the entire day, I think I passed a total of six people on the bike and run. Which told me even before I saw my times that my swim was decent and my bike and run were not.

I got off the bike and noticed a lot of bikes already there. Another bad sign. But I took off running. As one is wont to do, I was checking on the people coming the other way towards the finish. Let's just say that people who looked a lot more out of shape than I felt were finishing well ahead of me. It was starting to have a very negative effect on my morale.

I missed a PR by 3 minutes, though I knocked off six minutes from my swim time. I really thought I was training smarter this season and that I would be farther ahead in my performance than I am. Granted, my PR time was in August rather than June and I would imagine that with concerted training I should be able to get a PR at the same race in August this year. But will that be enough to regain my confidence going into a full iron tri?

I haven't completely decided, and after having written this I'm having second thoughts again, but I'm strongly considering jettisoning the race in November and just using this season to work on fundamentals, do one and maybe two more Olympic distance tris this season and then look at next season for my next Iron distance. Coach (definitely the brains of this operation-I'd say I'm the humor) is trying to talk me into a five year plan, claiming that only a nut would have decided to do a full iron distance in their first season of triathlons anyway (it actually took me two seasons, but I intended to do a full my first season). But if I were to take up something like mountain climbing, it is only logical that Everest would be the first peak I'd want to climb-a not particularly bright nut, I'll admit. She's encouraging a do-over of sorts, and take a few years to get back to the iron.

Another factor is financial. We're in the home stretch on getting our credit card debt totally paid off. Five more months and my monthly allowance sky rockets. All my previous tri seasons have been deficit spending situations and to an extent this season would be also. So if I can just hold off one more year, I could plan a serious season and pay cash. Let's look at what I would consider a close to ideal season. And keep in mind this is actually conservative, I'd probably like to do more 10Ks and a couple more tris sprinkled in:

April-sprint tri
May-Olympic, 10K run
June-Olympic, half-marathon
July-half-iron
August-olympic, half-iron
September-half-iron
October-maybe marathon, otherwise taper
November-iron

Roughly speaking, just counting race fees, I'm already looking at $1365. Add in travel, at least double it. Add in equipment, bike fittings, some coaching would be nice, join a tri club, etc., triple/quadruple it. That's right, an ideal tri season would be over 4K. Plus it would help if I only had to work part time.

Maybe saving for two seasons would make more sense. Denial is an important aspect of triathlon-the only way to make it is deny the pain and financial consquences.