Triathlon at Retirement

I recently heard about another bike crash with broken bones involved.  Crashing on the bike is too common, biking is dangerous. I admit I brake on some downhills and tight turns, I know as a late comer to triathlon, that my biking skills are not the best. As much as I want to gain a few seconds, I rather be safe and bike another day. I often get left behind on downhills but so far, I have not had any crashes and I am trying to keep it that way. A few times I have fallen in slow motion with some scrapes as a result and once I tipped over in my own driveway, but no damage! Turning up is half the battle and you need to stay healthy and injury free. Think long term, never take risks on the bike or train with illness or pain. Yes, you may loose a little fitness, but you will actually be on the start line on race day. It is depressing to not be able to participate in a planned race, maybe a championship. Not to talk about potential long term harm to your health.                             

In this post, I share some lessons I learned the hard way. I try to keep it short. You probably have heard that " y ou can achieve anything if you work hard enough at it " . This is not true and implies personal failure, suggesting a lack of effort when record results are absent.  I like to say that   if you train harder and more effectively, you will get better .  Hard and smart training is key, but a Dachshund will never beat a Greyhound and at elite level, talent is needed. What are you really? If you are more of a Dachshund, enormous training volumes will not make you a winner, but result in exhaustion, injuries, and disappointments.  For the competitive personality, what to aim for,   is to be the best you can be while maintaining good health and staying injury free .  Remember, aim one is to participate, if you are injured, everything is lost.  Do not take risks with your body, better to rest an extra day than get injured. Just by completing a triathlon race, you are d

This is the time of year when I can take it easy and train less. I have cut down on my normal exercise load to maybe half, shorter distances, slower pace and more free days. At the end of November, I even took a whole week off! I do this to restore myself both physically and mentally, and I notice some interesting effects. Not only do I have more time for other activities, but I am also inspired to to them! What used to feel like a chore, is now fun.  In the last two weeks I have remodeled part of the garden, I have tried new cooking recipes and I have practiced playing my musical instrument diligently. These are activities I wanted to do for months, but I never seemed to get around to. I thought I was lazy, but I now realize I was tired. I was soo tired most days, I used to fall asleep in my chair watching some mindless TV in the evenings. There was no energy for high concentration projects. After seven days of no training, I did one of my shorter bike rides, and I set a new personal