I was mostly being facitious, and probably should have put it in pink. But, the bolded section was exactly my point. The misread I was referring to was to think that type-A triathletes "would have no worries finding fun stuff to do without the need to follow strict workout plans."

Again, it was all just poking fun at triathletes---not that I'm not exactly that type, also. :-)

Dairy Queen repeats!

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Mike

I'm going to sprout gills.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

My next event could be Miami Man in November. I’m trying to put in about 90 minutes per day without being tied to a specific plan. I’m just trying to mix it up and get in reasonable volume, eat well and keep my weight comfortably in the 140s.

The best approach would be to find a few skills that you are lacking and develop those skills. I've got a good 14 months until my next potentially scheduled A-race, so what are the things that I've always wanted to work on but struggled to find the time? For me, one of those checkbox items is to find me a better suited saddle and work on my bike fit. I struggle with running in the heat. We are in a heat wave. Now I can try things out without any pressure to perform. If I fail today's workout, nbd. Learn from it and try something different tomorrow with no stress(ish).

I can also use this time to focus on the other stuff around the house that I've always wanted to do but training got the priority. That way, assuming that the season ever starts up again, I won't have those things to focus on next year. My garden looks spectacular and I'm 3/4 of the way finished with my chicken coop. After that, I'll rebuild the walkway and stain the deck. Therefore, those projects won't interfere when the push is finally shoving.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

This times two!

I mean yeah it's fun going to races and pushing yourself to the limit, and I do miss this but I do triathlons because I actually enjoy swimming, biking, and running.

Heading out of the house everyday for "training" is my favourite part of the day with or without races. If I was never able to race again, I'd still wake up tomorrow and head out the door for my swim/bike/run.

Still still structured training from my coach. No swimming as I’m not going to pool. More strength training. Weekend workouts are less structured and more based on time and riding/running at whatever pace I’m feeling. Given the current stressful environment I’ve struggled to focus get through a lot of the tougher workouts. So things get really stressful I get an extra easy workout or an extra easy week thrown in.

I'd say there is a middle ground between these two crowds which if more people were truly honest with themselves it'd be a substantial sized crowd. It's the love to train, work your tail off, strive to improve, and compete with only yourself crowd. It's the crowd that I consider myself to be in. At the end of the day, I ain't going to beat too many folks no matter what training I do. It's just not in the cards for me. I'm ok with that but try to improve all the time.*

*Technically I've moved on from the triathlon world after 10+ years and then dabbled in ultras and now spend most of my time mostly riding (road and gravel).

yeah that was something in my mind when I wrote that post. Ultimately I just decided that the I'm racing against myself crowd has a different mindset than those that have a legit shot at the podium in their AG and lumped those in the complete vs compete crowd. I can easily see the case for 3 or 4 segments.

If I did an IM again I'd fall in the racing against myself crowd. In a half I'm much calculating and willing to risk for the reward aka slug it out.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I’m not sure when racing will start back up again - but I’m having a blast just riding every day. And as a result of more consistency / miles (mostly Easy) I’m hitting power PRs

Having a blast!

Exactly. Who cares if there are races or not. Still going to be out doing activities and exercises.

I am in 1000% the same boat. In my professional life, with a lot of people depending on me, life feels anything but normal. Its really upside down and topsy turvy and I need every ounce of mental focus to keep my composure for everyone in my network on a daily basis threading the needle between employees, family, investors, customers, partners, suppliers etc etc etc.....but when I go to train, that just feels "normal". It feels like every other workout in the last 45 years since I was training as a 10 year old in some capacity. When I am working out, the world is stable, its deterministic, its the next pedal stroke, the next stride, the next left arm entry and getting both focus and joy out of that.

The workouts of the day are the parts of my day where I feel like I have full control over what comes next, and I only answer to myself, and I only have to care about myself. Its completely selfish in that moment, because everything else seems to be to get everyone else around me thru this pandemic.

Just running at base pace until my full-time work from home ends, then begin my usual off-season SBR base program until it gets too cold to OWS. Then I'll have to decide if I want to start to swim again in the pool at the university where I work (if it opens):. If not, probably just running and short bike commute until next May. Won't be returning to the university rec center to lift until probably next summer.

I'll start training for my first full marathon in early August. The race is supposed to happen late November, but even if it doesn't, I'll probably run it anyway ;-).

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

Exactly!

Heck, I'm not even thinking about my professional life being topsy-turvy (ie. working from home exclusively since this all started), but now-a-days even a trip to the grocery store is a mess... eg. "Do I have my mask packed?, How long is the line going to be to get in?, Are they going to be sold out of the one thing I really need?"

When I get to go out for my workout, its the one time I can just pretend everything is normal. The worst part now is that cars have returned to the roads so my bike rides are a bit more hectic. I'm missing the dead and empty streets! The good news is that my new gravel bike is on its way, so I'll be able to hide from cars in the woods instead sometimes.