Why Not What

Midway through my Sunday morning bike ride with my fellow Ironman Coeur d'Alene finisher Richard, I realized something pretty important: Two hours of road cycling is plenty! In my first outdoor ride since IMCDA, the biggest thing I noticed was how happy I was to enjoy the rest of my day AFTER my ride.  No bricks.  No pre-ride swims.  Just a nice bike ride, no Garmins attached.  Done by 1 p.m., not 5.

What does that mean?  Am I burnt out?  Do I need more rest?  Was it a bad idea to buy that Computrainer after all?

The answers: Maybe a little, I don't know, and I hope not!

The way I felt after my ride has started affecting my desire level to train more actively.  I'm starting to feel the onset of a rather satisfying laziness.  I've accomplished what I set out to do.  I hit my goals. In the process, I've deprived myself of my favorite foods, favorite drinks, sleep, time with friends and family.

I want a break!  I want more balance.  And I've been taking it, eating literally whatever I want, drinking some beers and generally becoming rather sloth-like while hanging out more with my crew.

At the same time, I hate how I feel!  I'm feeling my fitness melt away daily.  That sense of guilt is making it very hard to relax during what's supposed to be a recovery period.  It's almost like being on a treadmill at an uncomfortably high pace, yet unable to hit the "Stop" button to get off.

There's a fine line between a lifestyle and an obsession. Sometimes I can't tell which is which.  One person who does know the difference is pro triathlete Marino Vanhoenacker -- who recently broke the 14-year-old world record for fastest Ironman result with a 7:45:52 before Andreas Raelert beat that mark one week later by an astonishing four minutes.  While I won't go into details since I'm saving them for my upcoming Lava Magazine column, I will note that he believes age groupers have lost sight of how to enjoy the sport of triathlon -- instead focusing too much on attaining PRs.

I can't really argue with that.

In fact, for the rest of this week, I'm going to focus on WHY I'm continuing with triathlon.  What am I enjoying about this sport?  Why do I want to consider Ironman Canada next August?  Why am I going to keep pushing myself to my physical and mental limit?

This is a worthy challenge.  One I'm up for though.  Have you done the same lately?

I will write soon to let you know what I find out.