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2012-06-11 10:29 PM

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Subject: Thoughts on this article?

A lot is being made on sustainable sacrifices and appropriate planning. Take a look here to avoid burnout:

 

http://lavamagazine.com/training/short-term-sacrifice-long-term-progress/#axzz1xXdlAlD3



2012-06-12 5:24 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

Sounds like once you get the initial ramp up in fitness the only remaining large bump in race times comes from non-training sacrifices.  Lose some weight.

 

Ironically, many times the sacrifices that best foster long-term progress are the very sacrifices that can lead to burnout and a premature career end. The common scenario is an age-grouper who sees a very successful pro out having beers and not eating the ideal performance foods. The age-grouper thinks, “That pro is one of the best in the world, and doesn’t make a high level of sacrifice, so why do I need to?” The reality is, however, that many pros are born with extreme talent that doesn’t require unrelenting sacrifice to be successful. Others were born with huge talent, but have an unbelievable ability to make sacrifices which allow them to move through the ranks and end up in the same place as the more talented athletes. I’ve seen both.

Sadly, I don't have "extreme" or "huge" talent to build of off.  I guess I'll have a beer....

 

2012-06-12 5:31 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
Hard to disagree I think.  But it all depends on the athletes goals, age, etc.  Some just want to have fun, and stay fit.  Others want to compete in their age group.  Both are out there enjoying the sport and have my respect.  It always comes back to balance, and it takes creativity to find balance in this sport.  I like the mention in the article about the guy who compares himself to the pro triathlete. This sport sometimes causes people to think they are somehow different than everyone else. It's easy to take it all too seriously (and take yourself too seriously).  At the end of the day we are all just age groupers with tight hamstrings...
2012-06-12 10:55 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

tri-ghost - 2012-06-12 6:31 AM .... At the end of the day we are all just age groupers with tight hamstrings...

 

lol.  So true.

2012-06-12 3:00 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

Good topic here and one that is currently ringing true with myself. As Ghost said it depends on each athlete and their individual goals. Then it's up to them (and a coach if they have one) to get them there within a lifestyle balance. One that I am constantly working on with Harvey, as an example since I know here's always on here ;-)

Here's myself as an example: I've had a few good results that have given me a glimmer of things that could become if I was willing to sacrifice a few things. One result comes to mind, I had been working with my current coach (Matthew Rose) for about 2 months and was able to string together a "better than average" 6 week training block.
Philly 2011: 2:18:42 broken into a 23:58 swim (downstream), 1:10:57 bike, and a 40:12 run. The bike was a 3min PR on that course and the run was my fastest 10k to date.
I thought to myself, hell if you can put together this type of result with half training then imagine what you could do if you actually trained!!

What I tend to deal with is Professional goals vs. Personal goals.
Professional goals: Become a top tier coach that has athletes qualifying for World Championships, eventually create my own brand/coaching company, work and put on training camps across the country, develop a high level Junior Elite squad, get my Masters in Exercise Science.
Personal goals: push the envelope and become the best athlete I can be.
What ends up happening is that my Professional goals take priority and I push my Personal athletic goals on the back burner. I'm not saying this is by any means wrong but I think the key is finding the BALANCE.

I tend to take on too much. I coach HS XC and Track, I'm the Commissioner for the Southeast Collegiate Triathlon Conference, I'm a coach at Dynamo Multisport, I traveled EVERY weekend from January until Mid-May for training camps/races/certifications, I work part time at al3sports, I'm the president of the GSU Tri team, I was in a GRA program last semester, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting currently... like that I'm in Grad School! 

As you can see I've got a lot going on, I have troubles saying "no" to people as I want to help out wherever I can. This doesn't lead to an ideal training situation with all the travel and always changing schedule during the week.

The Balance: Limit what I do and find time to take a breath and enjoy all that is going on around me. I do all of these things as I believe they will help me out professionally, but with too much going on it might actually be handicapping me. You cannot be the master of all trades, but you can become highly skilled at a few of them. I need to find my niche and what I enjoy doing and pursue that further.

As Ghost said: "At the end of the day we are all just age groupers with tight hamstrings" which is very true and a thing I loose sight of a lot. This is just a hobby for a majority of us and life "gets in the way" which is perfectly acceptable.

Wow, this turned out to be a lot longer than I anticipated and is a lot of free flowing thoughts, so my apologies for the banter. I was just going to quickly touch base on how I need to eat better and focus on my day to day nutrition but all of the above arose before that haha. Hopefully it helps someone out there with some insight and how you need to figure out what is most important in life and always keep that a top priority.

Shanks

2012-06-12 3:14 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

Good add to the convo Shanksie! I know you have a lot on your plate and its a tough time to turn things down when you should be exploring what life has to offer before making firm commitments.

As you know, the schedule for me is flexible and allows for ample training but I still struggle with keeping perspective and balance. Take mornings for example, I used to wake up at the crack to get an extra run or a swim in; now its like "I'd rather drink coffee, make a smoothie and have an hour or two with my fam, than go for that swim that may get me minutes towards a world championship slot." I have made a lot of sacrifices after Mrs Slayer put her foot down. I had to ask myself was it all really worth it? Was Kona or Vegas worth never having a beer or three/four, not seeing my kids in the mornings, have a wife feeling distant from me, etc.? Do I want to feel like a hamster on a wheel? Ultimately, my answer was no!

However, every good training session, good race result, breakthrough something or other leads me back to that pathological myopic and compulsive thinking. I wish my brain wasn't wired that way...Thankfully I got some big payoff on the improved nutrition, and perhaps that will get you big paybacks too!



2012-06-13 8:36 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
It comes down to why do you do triathlons.  Some of us enjoy the training and racing is just for fun.  Others are all about PRs and hardware.  If you are in the second category you will need to make sacrifices to continue progressing.
2012-06-13 9:55 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

When Harvey and I talked about my goals and plans for the future I thought about it and for me it pretty much came down to family first so I will train as much as I can and whenever I can but I don't want to look back and say I missed my daughters events or something like that because I was training or going for hardware.

As I told Phat hardware will come thru attrition  it may not be now or 2 years from now but when I am 70 and still doing triathlons and I'm the only old guy in my age group there is no other choice then to give me the hardware.

2012-06-13 10:25 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
I liked the points the author made in re balance and I liked even more that he offered no definitive or easy answers...This activity is quite personal and he left the door open for triathletes of all inclinations to be 'right'.

For myself, I always have felt that this was something that I wanted to do for a long time and that if I overdid the sacrifice part, I'd end up burning out(see previous life playing tennis..). Race results/splits have certainly been held back by a pretty casual training schedule(compared to some of you maniacs!) but this is my 10th year in tri and I feel like I'm on a trajectory to be faster at 55 than I am at 49, if I can just stay motivated enough to keep showing up.

Anyhoo, the article was nice think-food as we get closer to the mid-point of the season...
2012-06-13 2:31 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
Good points all. I think Brown Dog's distinction is flawed. We ALL do this for PRs, maybe not hardware, but definitely to improve on prior performance. Some just want the PR more and sacrifice accordingly. Find me a triathlete with tight hamstrings and I'll find you someone looking to PR, whether its for fun, mental or physical health, competition, and/or weight loss, etc.
2012-06-13 5:41 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

I think a better analogy for an AG athlete is that "XYZ pro does 2x per day workouts, strength training, yoga, and has regular massages, so I should too". 

Sure, that kind of sacrifice and commitment will help you achieve PRs.  Until you get fired or your spouse leaves you or you run out of money or you skip a day, which leads to a year off.  Think of how many people we know that used to be really gung-ho about triathlon and followed some plan to-the-letter because it was "the way" and now they don't do triathlons any more because they had to focus on work or do something that appealed to their whole family or they were just plain tired.

The training that we do has to be sustainable for us to continue in the sport.  I, for one, would not continue if I had to do 2 workouts (morning and evening) per day because it would burn me out and my spouse would kick me to the curb. 

I don't know about the PRs.  I like a PR, but think I might still do the racing just for fun without the PRs.  I have not reached the level where improvement comes only with "bad" sacrifices or those I am unwilling to make (2 workouts per day, speed work, giving up beer, etc) so that is a question for another day.



2012-06-14 7:26 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

Steph, I like your whole concept of "sustainable". I also still think we are all trying to PR every race. I think Doug is the lazy man triathlete's friend though. He wants to get the most ROI from the least apart from on his true love, running.  If form is good, you can get away with cutting back with swimming due to its relative brevity of the event, unless you are a competitive short course triathlete (esp oly distance).

You simply can not cut corners when it comes to long course bike and run training and have fun out there unless you like walking or courting disaster on the bike.

Side note: Edin said something funny about attrition because as a 65 year old at Trybee this weekend alone on the podium said "Attrition is my friend". Loved it.

2012-06-14 7:37 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
phatknot - 2012-06-14 7:26 AM

65 year old at Trybee this weekend alone on the podium said "Attrition is my friend". Loved it.

Thats me in 35 years

2012-06-14 10:00 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
One day you're an Ironman, the next day your doing dishes
2012-06-14 2:52 PM
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phatknot - 2012-06-13 2:31 PM Good points all. I think Brown Dog's distinction is flawed. We ALL do this for PRs, maybe not hardware, but definitely to improve on prior performance. Some just want the PR more and sacrifice accordingly. Find me a triathlete with tight hamstrings and I'll find you someone looking to PR, whether its for fun, mental or physical health, competition, and/or weight loss, etc.

 

I feel like this is mostly true.. everyone wants to improve (and improving may not always mean finishing faster.. it could be getting under 200 lbs, etc.)..... no matter where they are... but some just want it more.

2012-06-16 7:43 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
phatknot - 2012-06-14 8:26 AM

You simply can not cut corners when it comes to long course bike and run training and have fun out there unless you like walking or courting disaster on the bike.

You left out Swim training ;-)



2012-06-16 7:53 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
You left out running.
2012-06-16 9:19 PM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
I also left out the kidney failure and $1,200 medical bill that would have come with it.
2012-06-19 6:37 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?

I have come full circle on this topic.  My mind got way ahead of what was realistic given the demands of my life. It caused me more stress than I can explain.  I have found more balance this year and results have followed.  I found what works for me in training and stopped stressing about hours/miles and which races I would be "allowed" to do.  I know I could go faster by sacrificing more, but I love my wife, my job is demanding, and my kids will be gone before I know it.  Tri needs to fit in...keep me healthy and give me an opportunity to express the competitive side.  The other three are the real A race.

Maybe is comes down to proper goal setting? It does not mean that you can't challenge yourself, but you can't stay in the deep end all the time and be balanced as an AG athlete.   Set reasonable stretch goals, not unreasonable goals that would require you to get unbalanced.  Maybe you can go to the deep end, just not move in and stay there. 

2012-06-19 9:02 AM
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phatknot - 2012-06-13 3:31 PM Good points all. I think Brown Dog's distinction is flawed. We ALL do this for PRs, maybe not hardware, but definitely to improve on prior performance. Some just want the PR more and sacrifice accordingly. Find me a triathlete with tight hamstrings and I'll find you someone looking to PR, whether its for fun, mental or physical health, competition, and/or weight loss, etc.

When you say PR Harv, do you mean time based PR's? If that is the case I will have to disagree with you. I am not time driven. I like to get out there and bust it, but the race for me is against myself, not against the clock. I look at each race in a vaccuum and do not judge it based on prior performances.

2012-06-19 9:16 AM
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Subject: RE: Thoughts on this article?
jlbyce - 2012-06-19 10:02 AM

phatknot - 2012-06-13 3:31 PM Good points all. I think Brown Dog's distinction is flawed. We ALL do this for PRs, maybe not hardware, but definitely to improve on prior performance. Some just want the PR more and sacrifice accordingly. Find me a triathlete with tight hamstrings and I'll find you someone looking to PR, whether its for fun, mental or physical health, competition, and/or weight loss, etc.

When you say PR Harv, do you mean time based PR's? If that is the case I will have to disagree with you. I am not time driven. I like to get out there and bust it, but the race for me is against myself, not against the clock. I look at each race in a vaccuum and do not judge it based on prior performances.

 

He thinks we are lying.

 

btw, great point captin.  Balance probably comes from realizing you could go faster, but other things are more important. 



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