Tag: Triathlete

10 Triathlete Drop Out Temptations

Maybe these issues keep you up at night or worse, preoccupy your mind during the day:

  1. Inconsistent workouts.
  2. Too much pain going on in your body.
  3. You want to race but life keeps getting in the way.
  4. Your family doesn’t relate to what you want to achieve as a triathlete.
  5. Getting race fit is harder than you expected.
  6. The weather sucks.
  7. You experience more surprising barriers than surprising breakthroughs.
  8. Your workout partners became ex-workout partners.
  9. You’re not as fast, strong, lean, and determined as you want to be. And you don’t know how to close the gaps between your goals and your current reality.
  10. Commitment pressures between work, family, and fun RIGHT NOW eclipsed the delayed gratification of completing a race.

Keep reading to learn about how to overcome these temptations in order to cross the finish line at your race next month rather than next season.

  1. Schedule workouts on your calendar. There’s an app for that.
  2. The human body is resilient but not immune to injury. If in doubt, get it checked out. Don’t ignore your pain.
  3. Designate a slice of your time pie for your tri. Your pie equals the same size of everyone else’s pie in the 4th dimension. It’s 24 hours. It’s a finite amount of time. How you slice your pie is up to you.
  4. Talk with all family members to solicit input and for engagement. You must reciprocate with genuine interest in their interests as well. The alternative options of changing sports or families is not emotionally or economically an optimal outcome.
  5. Re-set expectations if getting fit is mentally more difficult than desired. If the issue is physical, then focus on your strengths of swim, bike, or run. If you’re experiencing time poverty, then sort your respective priorities, rate appropriately, and reserve training times.
  6. Dress for success in current weather conditions.
  7. Expect the unexpected. Be flexible. Keep positive.
  8. You will be racing by yourself. Training by yourself will strengthen your race tenacity.
  9. If not physically ready to race early in the season, and who is?, do the race to learn new mental tactics. Ask others how they get race ready early in the season. Ask your coach too.
  10. Maximize daily fun activities and routines to reduce stress. This allows you to pursue long-term goals that deliver happiness and greater satisfaction in your life’s efforts. Sacrifices are unavoidable, unfilled goals are frustrating, and achieving happiness requires the discipline to avoid drop-out temptations.

Racing in cold weather, rain or windy conditions turned out to always be easier than never racing. One race day morning welcomed me with a full body shiver when outdoor temps plunged to 41°F (3 °C). A thick mist hovered over the water revealing only 100 meters of water to the first buoy on a 1.2 mile swim leg.

I froze wearing full sweats plus a winter hat and gloves during the walk to the transition. After checking on the bike and getting numbered, I returned to the hotel room to get warm. As expected pre-race doubts surfaced, which then turned into jitters. I raced though. I always raced. At this point, I realized not to compete would be meaningless. The pain of not starting, not competing and not completing any race would be more painful than never showing up.

I knew and desired the great feeling earned after competing in a race. The race results of time and place were the objective metrics but the subjective mental rushes were key for pain and pleasure. A strange partnership of accomplishment. First of never wanting to do a race again due to too much pain and time commitment. Followed by never wanting the celebration and excitement of the current race to end. That included the enjoyment of camaraderie afterwards with fellow competitors, teammates, friends, and family. Mix in some tears of joy, smiles of satisfaction, and fulfillment despite a limping gait. Then you buy race merchandise to prove to everyone back home you did the race. And finally before you leave take an opportunity to enjoy the tourist stuff at any of the great race destinations. The next morning hangover feeling was easily erased from memory with its queasiness supplanted by memories of a post-race celebration and well-earned results.

I was already eyeing an open race registration to get the next party started for yet another delayed gratification of the next, greatest race ever.

Evaluate whether you’re reluctant to compete due to cold feet, cold shoulders, cold sores, or cold weather. Accept you’ve committed yourself to race in this triathlon. If you commit, complete your responsibility. Chose these three appropriate tactics to reach the starting line: Relax. Race. Rejoice.

Did you ever regret backing away from a race commitment or any other commitment? Did you ever walk away from someone who didn’t live up to a commitment given to you? What approach did you use to side step a temptation so you didn’t drop out of a commitment?

How to Excel As a Single Word Triathlete

The word should convey your purpose in the sport. Clarify for others what triathloning represents for you. You might use the word to guide you in race decisions. It should represent the significance of the sport in your life. It might even propel you to achieve results you dreamed about last season.

Look at the list below. Select one word that resonates the best with you as a triathlete. You want to strip away any pre-conceived complexity of the sport to allow you to focus on less to achieve more with your talents.

  • Active
  • “Clipped-in”
  • Complete
  • Confident
  • Controlled
  • Decisive
  • Defined
  • Developing
  • Driven
  • Engaged
  • Enlightened
  • Evolving
  • Fast
  • Focused
  • Get-er-done!
  • Hyper
  • Innovative
  • Positive
  • Quick
  • Streamlined
  • Uber
  • Under-construction
  • Work-In-progress

Less is more. Most non-triathletes think there are three elements of a triathlon: swim, bike, and run. Most triathletes will claim you also include transitions and nutrition. The sport in most simplistic terms include these five parts of training, plus two-parts racing: getting started and Get Er Done!

Get focused. Stay focused. Excel at what do you really, really well. Describe what you do in terms that all others can understand. Performing to your maximum triathlete level is easier than others think. Even easier than earning Ironman status and sporting an MDot tattoo. But you don’t need to tell them that type of insider information.

The initial barrier to getting it done is mental. The secondary barrier is motivational, to work through all the training to cross the finish line. Follow these seven steps to be a Git Er Done triathlete on race day:

  1. Choose doing, dreaming is for spectators.
  2. Connect with your supportive significant other to ensure sustainability in a relationship and in workouts.
  3. Choose your personal commitment for action: wishing, wanting, and dreaming idles action.
  4. Establish a workout routine. Get into your rhythm of consistency to eliminate another decision of when to workout.
  5. Team up with a workout buddy. Either in person or virtual partner. Hold each other accountable to finish each day’s objectives.
  6. Do workouts in a bubble. Turn off, tune in, and workout.
  7. Fear Failure. Be proud of your successes.

My wife Chris chose to race in her first triathlon without any background of swimming, biking, or running in a competitive setting. She trained with me to build a strong bond, honor her self-commitment, and achieve unified fulfillment.

Chris exited the water in 2nd place for the women’s division.

A research study at Indiana University confirmed exercising proved much easier when mates workout alongside each other. Spouses training together proved more supportive to each other. Researchers in the study tracked married couples who started an exercise program. Half of the group comprised of both couples who exercised and half with only one spouse on a workout program. Over the course of a year, 43% of the individual spouses dropped the exercise program.

In contrast, 94% of the exercising couples continued working out together.

One binding factor included excuses to bail out were kept in check. Half of the quitters stated family responsibilities and lack of support from the other spouse resulted in their dropout decisions.

In our relationship Chris emphasized the fun because life is hard enough without adding competitive stress as an ingredient of success.

Take your first step into race action. Time waits for no one. You shouldn’t either.

What other word do you use to describe yourself as a triathlete?

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