Damn Cyclists Up Ahead!

Going slow = boring

Going fast = fun!!!

We spend a lot more of our triathlon lives training than racing.  Sometimes ya just gotta have some fun.  Life's too short not to enjoy it when you can.

Mark

How dare he be on your road?  LOL.  If I see a biker in front of me I take it as a challenge.

Regardless of the plan.....  I'm after it!

The only time I really try to resist the urge is when I am running.  Before all my training runs I specify a purpose to the workout and make every attempt to hold to it.  My run training is much more structured and ignoring the purpose of a run can have a negative cumulative effect on what I am trying to accomplish for the week.  For example, an easy recovery day that turns into a rabbit chase might compromise the following days tempo run or long run.

I am much more likely to give in to the urge to chase when I am riding or swimming.  In fact, I think it is good for me to chase on the bike especially as I tend to be rather one dimensional in my bike training.  I usually ride pretty hard but do not do enough higher intensity intervals.  Sometimes it's good to push beyond the comfort zones. 

Not me, usually, unless I specifically go on a hammerfest workout where I'm intentionally going to hammer it. 

I find that when I have the correct training volume for my ability, it should be enough that I have no interest in the chase because I'm usually sufficiently beaten down by the other workouts in the week. 

The dangerous time is taper weeks, where the legs start to get fresh again, and I'm also avoiding hard long efforts - that's def tough to let the rabbits go by!

The swimming lane-racing is always interesting to me. I'd say a good third of the time if there's someone in the next adjacent lane at the pools I swim at near my speed, since I typically do straight 100s or 200 intervals on a steady pace, I'll often see them go from a 2:00/100 recovery style pace to a 1:25/100 pace the moment i start coming by. Sometimes the amount of arm flailage they get is pretty extraordinary - you would never do that (because you'd burn out) if you were doing like 10 x 200 on a rock steady pace and short sendoff, but seems like some folks let their competitive drive take over their workout structure.

I get the urge, but the second part is what I do. Just stay with your plan, learn to keep yourself in control. It can be helpful on race day as well, learning to stay within yourself. People who chase run the risk of blowing up. On days that are supposed to be easy maybe put in some quick stops to look around some, especially if you're picking up the pace. Or shift to an easier gear. Basically, when you feel the urge to push more, change something up to help take yourself out of that situation.

Yup, I've got that experience too - have more than once had a bunch of HS-aged kids on mountain bikes blow by me when I was riding back into town, and they usually say something along the lines of 'dude you're SLOW!' Of course, they didn't know the 100 miles I just rode with 10k feet of climbing before they ran into me. 

Being competitive and chasing rabbits on training workouts can be fine for the extra oomph, but if it's taking priority over raising your training volume to a higher level because you're wasting so much energy chasing random people, you're not doing it right. If you find yourself chasing every rabbit out there on your workouts, I'd say you have to step back and ask if you're actually training correctly, because you're likely not.

I can't do easy rides. I have to get on my trainer and either turn the fan on the lowest setting or leave it off to keep me going easy.  Any time I'm outside it's a tempo, interval, or climbing ride. However, I have perfected the lazy swim and am easily talked into making a run Z1/2.

This.

I'm out doing my thing and my give-a-dam meter is on zero when it comes to what others are doing. Whether I pass you or you pass me, it is entirely irrelevant.

I have the same issue, if I see a cyclist I want to see if I can catch and pass them. I know it makes no sense, they could be at mile 150 for all I know, just gets my blood flowing a bit. Gotta have some fun every now and then.

My LBS has been hosting once a week TT nights. That satisfies the rabbit chasing urge. Lots of fun to run down the people with a head start on you. 

I just stick to what I've planned. I don't mind letting others pass me. Usually I'm too tired for the other workouts that week to go too hard anyway.