Don't get discouraged.
A recent blow-up at the first race of the season led me to question myself about my actual motive for doing this sport. After months of hard training under the guidance of proven coaches, nothing went my way. The swim started things off horribly as I became hypoxic at merely the lowest effort I could muster, I curiously blew past my LT after just a couple miles on the bike, and I never found my legs on the run – in fact, I never found anything that remotely resembled my own legs on the run. I even went down the wrong aisle in T2 trying to find my space on the rack. Nice one.
I am hardly elite, so when I say that my performance was bad, believe me, it was bad.
Afterwards, with a very beaten ego and a body to match, and a finishing time that basically embarrassed the pants off me, I was left wondering, “What the hell am I doing?”
After some unkind words (to myself) and a lot of brooding over it, I realized that asking oneself a tough question like that – not rhetorically but seriously asking it – is just one of those necessary hurdles we must clear to better understand ourselves in reference to how we fit into the sport. We all know we love the sport, but we all need to know why we do it in the first place, too, to be able to happily keep moving forward in triathlon.
I realized that my reasons for doing the sport didn’t actually line up with what I could reasonable expect to accomplish. After all, despite a showing that embarrassed me, the fact of the matter is that my swim and bike splits were quite a bit faster than they were at the same race (and conditions) last year, and my overall time was also better by a pretty large margin.
And although triathlon is my passion, and I’ve made it both my hobby and my business to gain relevant expertise about it along with fitness generally, I actually don’t come from an endurance background. I only swam (splashed around, more like) in grade school, I bought by first road bike almost accidentally after college, and growing up I only ran when chased. I did do a lot of fast twitch sports and once made my living training fellow Type II athletes, but that hardly gives me an edge in the endurance game.
Realizing all of that, why then the self doubt and self pity?
I suppose that, in this case, my eyes were bigger than my stomach.
Coming to terms with your desire to be competitive in a sport and your actual potential or current performance level can be a major blow to your psyche. I know it has been for me, but it’s a valuable lesson learned.
And here’s the take-home: being the fastest, or even just somewhat competitive, is really all for naught if you don’t enjoy being out there simply for the experience. I enjoy the thrill of competition as much as the next guy, both against him and against the clock. But the real thing that makes me keeping coming back for more are the people; its that je ne sais quoi quality of the triathlon community that makes it so rewarding to be a part of. The way we help each other out despite the uber solo nature of this sport is mind boggling as much as it is refreshing.
A recount of a potential tragedy mitigated at the same race I found myself unduly anguished over serves as a nice example. A fellow racer came into transition next to me only to find that somebody had stolen her shoes from her space under the rack. Can you believe that? A spectator unselfishly gave up their own shoes so she could continue and finish – and she caught up with me and beat me handily despite the four minute lead on her that the travesty had generated for me. She went screaming by me with a smile, cheering me on since I was walking, along with almost every other racer that passed me. Another racer even walked with me, obviously sacrificing his own time to lend me support.
Even in this extremely individual sport, the camaraderie of the triathlon community that descends on every race is remarkable. Regardless of your goals, if being a part of that doesn’t make you smile and realize why you tri, nothing will.
Why do you tri?
Comments
I tri, because every race is a good race, regardless of my time. I like many am not a very good swimmer and vividly remember my first year or two of triathlons when I was so fatigued and wobbly legged while exiting the water thinking I didn't have the energy to run to T1 let alone bike and run. Somehow I mustered the strength to drudge through the sand on into T1. Just moments after mounting the bike and settling into my pace, the fatigue was completely gone. I felt as if it were the first event. Eventually the fatigue catches back up and rears it's ugly head when exiting T2, but over time, the running legs kick in and we're back in the game again.
You made some good points about the people, brings me back for more is that I know I'll have a good event somewhere on the course. Perhaps some micro cycles of good/bad in each one, who knows. The mystery of it is what makes this sport so much fun.
You don't say how long you've been doing triathlon, however, I wouldn't be surprised if it's your 3rd year...
I used to be the President of a large UK tri club, Tri-Force, and the sort of thing you describe was typical for a 3rd year triathlete triathlete.
It goes like this. The 1st year you love the sport, it's really hard, you are not sure what gear to buy, how much to spend, you lose weight, you get in shape; The second year you take triathlon from being fun sport/social activity into being a real hobby, you train harder and more, you make direct comparisons of results that you have done both years and are amazed at your improvements, you buy more expensive, you can justify and rationalize why those lightweight wheels and pointy helmet will help you go faster; come the 3rd year, you find it hard to train more, so you train harder, you start to get over-tired, you make mistakes, maybe you get injured, your times don't get that much better than the 2nd year and you start thinking that it will be better next year as you'll be a youngter in the older age group.
At this point many people quit triathlon. They go back to being runners or cyclists. It's the true triathletes that keep going, they realize that you have bad days, the key to success is to get smarter about training and to create real recovery time etc.
So, keep positive, look at what you could do better, enjoy your next race, maybe volunteer at a few races and recapture the joy that so many experience when doing their first triathlons!
I started tring about 7 yrs ago, and it's been great and wonderful! But, recently I've been slacking, when I say slacking I mean skipping entire weeks of training! I think that the motivation of doing triathlons really is what is going on around you. A couple of years ago I broke both my shoulders and couldn't do anything, and that made me more desireous to do them, just to prove that I could. But now with other things that are happening in my life, it's even harder to train, but I think that tring has saved my life in more ways than one. I think that training will help me through the hard times and give me something to look forward to
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