Vancity Tri Guy

Motivation

Lately Ive been exploring the concept of motivation. Specifically, what motivates me in all aspects of my life. I suppose its just the time of year for reflection with all racing behind me and the goal races of 2012 off in the distant future.

If I could only pick one word to describe my year in sport it would be spontaneous. Initially, I came into the year with no plan of racing an iron distance race. Quite the opposite, I had intended on focusing on the shorter distance races before taking on another IM again in 2012. Well, that plan lasted only a few weeks into 2011 before I had discovered some friends were racing Ironman France and happened to have an extra spot in their condo. For some reason, months earlier I had been looking at races all over the world suffering from a bit of post-first-ironman blues and had decided that Ironman France would be on my One Day list.

Well, needless to say, it came a lot sooner than initially thought and I was elated to have the opportunity. So much for not racing an ironman in 2011! Add to this, my journey to France represented my first trip off the continent! Nothing like crossing that one off your list while packing all of the necessary toys to complete an ironman. With the flights booked and registration paid, I had a few months to get myself together. I opted to go self coached this season as a bit of an experiment of my motivation. Coming off of a tremendous first ironman with a great coach, I was curious to see if I could use this energy and motivation along with my passion for the sport and follow a plan from one of the many books on the market.

On balance, I did okay. I enjoyed planning out my weeks one month at a time and completed most workouts. What I noticed is that more often than not, I completed the specified duration or distance but I didnt really focus on the intent. As a result, most of my workouts were done at the same effort which did yield improvement, just not as much as could be realized by mixing it up both weekly and throughout the season. Lesson learned: variance in training has a purpose.

In terms of other races, here too spontaneity rang true. Throughout the season I had signed up for several races. Come race day, I ended up not racing in several due to a combination of fighting injury or, as in the case of the Oliver Half Iron, dropping due to realization that perhaps it was just too close to Ironman France and would potentially jeopardize my readiness to take on the mountains in Provence. The interesting part of all this was that I was generally okay with it. All along I continued to train but for one reason or another just didnt feel ready to toe the time or didnt want to risk longer term injury. What I realized was that I liked the training for the sake of training. Race or not, I was happy to get out there on the bike or to lace up my runners. Swimming was a completely different story. If I cant go out my door and do the sport, motivation wanes greatly. Even the short 10 minute walk to the pool was and still is enough to deter me where as on the bike or run, I open my door and Im ready to go. So here I am at the inflection point transitioning from one season to the next.

Taking the lessons from last year, I feel grateful for taking the opportunity to explore myself in the sport unguided. These are lessons that needed to be learned and looking back, I wouldnt change a thing. For 2012, I have enlisted the expertise of an excellent coach with whom I have shared many training ideas over the years. Heck, he even sold me my first road bike back in 2009! Having someone else to make the plan removes having to do it myself and adds the confidence that comes from trusting your coachs experience and ability to put the big picture together. Now I can focus on executing the plan and also benefit from having a sounding board for all of the thoughts and ideas that come to mind about training and equipment (aka – toys) although I try to keep it limited and save my questions. Sorry Doug! Other steps in the right direction are having signed up for several races already which are intentionally spaced in relation to key races throughout the season. 2012 is shaping up to be a good one!

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On the life front, the one descriptive word would be chance. You know when something so absolutely amazing happens that you just cant help but wonder how or why? Well that very feeling started one Saturday night at the end of March. I was at a good friends birthday hanging out with some familiar faces when my attention was almost immediately stolen by the presence of someone I had never met. She walked into the pub and immediately I noticed her. She was tall, confident and wore the girl next door demeanor that absolutely captivated me. I knew that if I didnt say hi that eventually Id be labeled as some sort of creeper that kept checking her out. Eventually, I summoned up enough nerves to go over and talk to her after exchanging enough looks from across the table. What I didnt expect was that the conversation would last most of the night. In reality, it felt like a blur.

Prior to that night, I had been quite comfortable in being single and had long since shut down my PoF profile. I had a solid career and a consuming passion for the sport of triathlon, what more could a guy want?! Its funny how one minute you can be completely complacent with an idea and the next be completely smitten. Perhaps Im a bit of a hopeless romantic. Whatever it was, it marked the beginning of the best occurrence of 2011. In the months that have followed, those same feelings persist but grow stronger with every day. It has only been a 8 but we have shared many great memories and trips which I can only hope will continue. Not wanting to expose my bleeding heart to the interwebs anymore than I already have I will leave it at this. Sometimes, things happen for a reason. Not always, but when they do, you have to be ready.

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In terms of work, it comes down to an expression: growing pains. This year has marked the most challenging to date in my still relatively young career. After 18 months since my most recent job change, my manager was leaving on a sabbatical and I was gunning hard for the opportunity to fill her shoes. Starting in April, I was granted the opportunity to lead the group. What wasnt expected at the time however was the team would see a large amount of movement in terms of people. It was thought that we had stability in staff and that we would be hiring only to replace myself. Unfortunately, there appears to be something in he water at the office and several other departments had openings to cover maternity leaves which resulted in two people leaving the group. Add another who took an opportunity at a different company and I had to hire 4 people right off the bat. One didnt work out so it ended up being 5 hires within the first 6 weeks on the job.

Needless to say, those weeks brought a tremendous amount of stress and also a steep learning curve resulting in a few too many sleepless nights. While trying to balance my added responsibilities both on the HR front and daily operations of running the team, I was also excited to have someone new in my life while simultaneously training for an ironman. Was I crazy?! What I have learned over the past several months is to take things in stride. Work, and life for that matter, will bring challenges outside of your control. I like a certain amount of spontenaiety in my life but too much makes me feel uneasy. As a function of this experience, I feel that I more readily accept the unexpected and just roll with the punches as they come along.

With all of the above said, I look forward to 2012 and beyond. 2011 has been a year of many lessons in all facets of my life but I appreciate that I am still learning and have much to realize. With a solid support network of my family and friends I am ready for the challenges the may be waiting ahead.

Tags: France, Injury, Ironman, Ironman France, Lessons, Motivation, Oliver, race, Reflection, Season

Please be Kind. Rewind.

Well now that the 2010 season has come to a close it’s time to reflect. By the numbers, it was a good year:

7 races:
Langley Historic Half Marathon
Delta Sprint Triathlon
BMO Half Marathon
UBC Olympic Triathlon
Oliver Half Ironman (first HIM)
Ironman Canada (first Ironman)
Seattle Marathon (first Marathon)

Training – Since January 1, 2010 to December 2, 2010:
Swim: 133km – 41 hours (since April when I started tracking it on Training Peaks)
Run: 2,500km – 247 hours
Bike: 6,070km – 235 hours

With all this behind me, I have been reflecting quite a bit recently on what I have learned. First and foremost is that triathlon is a sport of patience; something which I possess only in limited quantities. Fortunately, one of the other things that I have known for some time is that if I am passionate about something then patience I have. If anything, my love of the sport of triathlon has grown another order of magnitude from the experiences of this year and those that preceded it. I am in this for the long haul and am willing to put in the time so long as I continue to enjoy what I’m doing. At the end of the day while I enjoy the competition, I enjoy the training and the lifestyle even more. Being ‘unplugged’ is one of the things I appreciate the most in a world where the expectation is to be available 24-7 via some form of electronic medium.

I’m still working on the balance part of the whole equation. Work and sport are in balance but it’s like two fat kids on a teeter-totter with the other important kids looking on wondering when it’s their time to play too. I generally hold a rule where I try to hang out with at least one group of friends per week which I managed to do. The challenge lies in having several groups of friends. I’m more the type who prefers smaller, intimate groups rather than mashing a bunch of people together and trying to talk to everyone. Quality over quantity as they say.

My family has been very supportive of my venture in the sport and none more so than my mom. From waking up at ungodly hours the morning of Ironman to seeing me through each transition and at the finish line as well. When I think back, she’s been there for every transition in my life to date and I’m no longer talking about sports.

So what’s next? More of the same I suppose with the intent to get faster. As I said before, this is a game of patience and with time and experience comes speed…or at least better pacing. As of right now I have 2 half marathons and 2 half ironmans on the list for 2011 and nothing else. I would like to do the Ride 2 Survive as well for personal reasons as much as the challenge itself. Riding from Kelowna to Delta in one day over 370km and 12,000 feet of climbing to raise funds to beat cancer. It doesn’t have the huge media budgets of some of the other campaigns out there but I like the grass roots approach. On the career front, I continue to work towards expanding my knowledge base. I’m in the process of researching MBA programs with the intent to start a part-time program in either the fall of 2012 or January 2013 while continuing to work full-time. Of course, this would likely mean a temporary leave from the sport but again going back to what I said earlier, I’m in it for the long haul so a couple of years won’t be the end of it. Besides, I simply cannot stop being active altogether and will strive to get in at least a few hours of activity a week.

What I’m getting at is the biggest lesson of all from this year. Change is constant. Be it in the middle of a race when you go from having a stellar day to having the wheels fall off with 6 miles to the finish line or in the race that is life. Generally, I tolerate change but I don’t necessarily seek it out. I feel that I’ve become more tolerant and am actually starting to enjoy the thrill of the unknown and having to adapt on the fly.

Tags: Racing, Reflection, Season