By Dave Williams
You know the feeling. When you’re on a personal journey that requires you to be disciplined and push beyond current comfort levels, it permeates into many other aspects of your life. You generally feel better about yourself, you’re more confident, you have a sense of achievement each day as you’re not wasting time in front of the television. This in turn affects your outward attitude toward others, your job, and even nutrition. There is a plethora of research showing how people are more productive and students make better grades, among other improvements, when they train for an endurance event. These are the reasons why I love my job as a coach and personal trainer and why I continue to compete in triathlons myself. Triathlon offers such a wide array of almost limitless possible healthy new challenges that I encourage everyone reading this to find a goal within the sport to strive for.
Whether you’re a beginner looking to do your first triathlon or a professional trying for a big win or PR run split, you can find something to work toward. The key is that it’s got to challenge you, but just as importantly, that you enjoy the process and don’t make it something that stresses you out. That’s tough for some people, and we all know someone like that. They complain about their training, get frustrated, and become grumpy or snippy with friends. Almost no one reading this is making a living out of racing triathlons and, believe it or not, this is voluntary and you’re lucky to be able to do what you do so people don’t feel that bad for you! You’ll have breakthrough days and you’ll have rough days. Realize that this is normal and learn how your body responds to try to keep the rough days to a minimum. Meanwhile, as soon as the bad workout is over, move on and smile! You pushed yourself and found a limit. That’s a good thing. If you train without the risk of suffering a bad workout or not meeting goals, then you don’t get the same high.
Several years ago, I was in an Ironman race and rode past a popular female professional triathlete at the time. She looked at me and said something along the lines of, “I could think of a thousand other things I’d rather be doing right now”. I was stunned! You get to exercise and ride your bike for a living and you’re complaining? Come on! If that’s true, then find something else that does make you happy and I’ll gladly swap places with you.
On the reverse side of that, I was doing another Ironman race that was very windy and I wasn’t in the best shape at the time. It was beating me up and I had a fleeting thought of stopping and cutting my losses. Just then I saw a 74 year old woman riding on the course with a big smile on her face. It immediately lifted my spirits and made me realize that I needed to embrace the challenges and enjoy the journey. Whenever a race gets tough, I still think back to that moment. I wish I knew who she was so that I could go back and thank her!
Of course, it’s a fantastic feeling when you get your goal. But, at the same time, it’s the process that matters and, if it’s a stretch goal, you may not reach it. That’s okay, and is usually the best way to learn. Reevaluate, recover, revamp, then resume your training again! Too many people stay safe and are afraid of having a bad day or running out of steam and not meeting their goal on race day. Go for it! If you don’t make it, you’re in a whole new place than when you started and get to try again from a better starting point. Try again. If you do make it, congratulations. Celebrate, then figure out the next challenge. Most of my athletes know my favorite saying that I’ve used for decades now. I wish I knew where I got it from, but the expression is ‘Always be happy, never be satisfied’. I’ve made it my goal to live my life with that as my underlying motto and I encourage you to do the same.
Sign up for your first triathlon, do a half or full Ironman, try to drop a minute in your open water swim, and enjoy the journey!
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David is owner of Triangle Multisport offering personal training and coaching for every level athlete. He has an M.A. in exercise physiology, MBA, is a USAT Level II coach and ACSM certified exercise physiologist, and is head coach of the ThunderCats Youth triathlon Team and UNC Triathlon Team. He can be contacted at trimultisport@yahoo.com.
