Following the Olympic Marathon trials in February, I decided to pull the plug on the triathlon.
For the last two years, I put running (by itself) behind me and put my focus on becoming a triathlete.
I made this decision on a whim. Seriously. I just woke up one morning and thought it sounded like fun.
I had big goals, maybe unreachable aspirations, but I thought I had to give it a go.
You never know if you never try,
The topic of my triathlon stint is worth a much longer blog post than this, and at some point, I will go further into it, but today I'm just going to skim the surface of why I'm putting it behind me.
Triathlon didn't fulfill me, and I found it incredibly difficult to achieve what I wanted in training/racing without sacrificing other aspects of my life that were more important.
To be great at triathlon you need time. A lot of time.
For better or worse an all-in or all-out type of person. To be all-in on triathlon means you need an extra 20-30 hours per week.
With working two or sometimes three jobs at a time, and more importantly, being present in my relationships, 20-30 hours per week was an impossible task.
On baseline fitness and ability, and a good amount of time spent training I could achieve a pretty high level in triathlon, but I was never going to be able to keep up with those who do it the best.
And, I don't need to be the best, no, but for me, I need to feel like I'm getting everything I can out of my ability, and with my time limitations and a lack of will to want to work out that often every week, I couldn't forsee reaching peak performance.
Secondly, I dread the bike. What I looked forward to the most about riding was when I'd be done. I had some good times on the bike and met some really cool new friends while riding, but overall, training on the bike was miserable.
It's one thing to go for a ride, and it's another to actually train. The same goes for running. Training on the bike was unenjoyable and every time I raced, the bike was just a medium to get to the run.
But, the worst part of cycling was the maintaince and the intricacies of getting the fastest most aerodynamic setup - talk about a wallet drainer....
I'm not a mechanical person and the constant tuning up or diagnosis of what was wrong with my bike (in reality it was the rider) nearly killed me. If you want to see me angry ask me to fix your bike!
Lastly, I just missed running and the simplicity of it. There's nothing wrong with that. I've realized I still have dreams I want to reach in running. Plus, as a running coach, I think it's important to experience what I ask my athletes to do - it keeps me in touch and allows me to relate on a deeper level.
The more disconnected a coach gets from their athlete's lifestyles, the more they get disconnected from understanding them and being able to coach them empathetically.
So, to sum up my rant and to tie a bow on it, I have one point to make - do what makes you happy. If you don't truly enjoy what you're doing, there's no way you'll get the most of yourself. There's no time to do things that actively break you down. I'm focusing more on the thing (running) that builds me up.
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