Triathlon As A Lifestyle Sport - Why I Have No Off Season

And now for something completely different from me.  In most of our blog posts, we talk about topical product or training issues that come from questions customers and friends have been asking, either of us directly, or on social media.  This post does have a similar source:   someone replied to a comment I made about how I felt after a hard run workout. They said: "so you're still training."  My first thought was "Well, yeah, of course".   But the brief interaction reminded me that we're not all the same, we don't all train the same way, and I've never rarely followed the same path as most of my family, that I found most of my training family in triathlon.   But the sport of triathlon has changed:  it has become more mainstream and more accessible. At the same time, it has also become more technically evolved (in terms of training, gear, resources, media, everything and it's all good).  There are still those super-focused performance oriented athletes who live, breathe, eat and sleep for this sport.  I used to be one of those people and most of my friends were the same.  Now, there are also the everyday and weekend warrior athlete who just jump in and race and train as if it were a pretty normal thing to do.  As often as not, they are doing it to stay in shape, perhaps to raise money or awareness for a cause, or maybe they just to it to have fun.  Everyone has a reason and there are as many reasons as there are participants.  I realized then that not all observers of triathlon or even participants view the sport the way I've come to embrace it. 

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Theoretically, populations of participants in triathlon can be broken down into two groups (and I know this is a bit of an oversimplification):

1.  The performance focused triathlete who is performance oriented and dedicates time, energy and every other resource they can spare into getting results.  This group trains to compete.

2.  The athlete looking for a personal challenge and is more focused on the process and sense of accomplishment than finishing placement. This group trains to complete an event.

 
I started in the first segment because, back then, there was no other way. That was why we were there.  Maybe I'm starting to move into the second group and I'm not sure how or when happened, nor do I worry about it so much.

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When I started training for triathlon back in 1993, we really didn't know what we were doing. We didn't have a coach other than a swim coach and we certainly didn't have a triathlon coach. Back then, there really weren't many tri specific coaches and, if you could find one, they were probably learning along the way just like we were. Basically, we just swam and biked and ran. We worked hard, we had some fun and we raced as often as we could find somewhere to race.  Triathlon became part of our lifestyle.  It was what we did with our spare time, it was our social scene, it was literally our lifestyle.   Many of the friends we trained and raced with back then have left the sport, some of left and come back and we've certainly met and made tons of new friends along the way. But, for me and I'm sure I'm not alone, triathlon still guides my fitness.  I don't train as intensely and purposefully as I used to but I still do it monthly, weekly and nearly daily.  So, of course I'm always coming home from or heading out to a some workout. It's not just a race season thing for me, it's an everyday lifestyle thing.  It's what I do for no other reason than it just my habit, my lifestyle.

I started triathlon as challenge, to see what I could do and I quickly morphed into that triathlete who was there to be competitive, whatever that meant. For me, it was a run for the podium or a Kona spot.  Sometimes I succeeded but, more often than not, I fell short of my "win" for that race but the successes were enough to keep me motivated for years.  When I was in what I now see as my "best days", I actually worried about how I would feel as I slowed down.  And I did slow down.  Work took over more of my time and my race schedule thinned out but I still kept training, albeit at a reduced volume.  As it turns out, I still love training and I still keep pretty fit:  I worried for nothing.  I still swim and bike and run.  The training base that has evolved as become habit and lifestyle. It might not make me 'race-fit' but I could muddle through a standard distance or half Iron-distance triathlon just about any time. (It wouldn't be pretty!)  I came to realize that, for me, there is no off-season.  I'm either in the everyday base season or it's race prep season.  There is no off-season.  But that's just me.  You find you.  You are your own sample size of one.