My "real world" is working behind steel bars, has been for darn near 20 years, so I tend to see things in a very positive light.

Lesson 1: Most people are decent, most of the time. This whole Covid thing has underscored how nice (not to be confused with friendly) people are to each other. We give each other distance and begrudgingly forgive and ignore transgressors. That piece about Slowman's house damn near burning to the ground and how their community took care of each other was heart-warming.

Lesson 2: I don't miss training with people as much as I thought. I'm a community - based coach and thought I would miss the comaraderie of the gang.

Lesson 3: I'm more of a hypocrite than I thought. (see lesson 2). Zwift 1 Computrainer 0. Why? Social interaction. My athletic highlight of the year was doing an ultra run WITH people.

Lesson 4: Consistent training is almost as good as "proper training." I did unstructured lake swims from April to August. My Ironman/CovidMan swim time was only a couple of minutes slower, and that was without a draft.

Lesson 5: Relearned that you don't have to do the distance in training to do the distance on race day. From April-August I averaged about 3 hours of running a week. In August I did a 65 K trail run. Didn't manage to do all 80 K (KVR), but that's another story.

Lesson 6: I don't know as much as I think. At 57 and 30 years in this sport, and about 45 of running, I'm still making mistakes and learning/re-learning stuff. At the Ironman/CovidMan in August, I did a crazy-slow ride just to roll the dice and see if I would be "rewarded" on the run. I was. The last 10 K was very fine. But I'm not sure if was as much fun as the alternative.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I really agree with #1 and #3. I would add to #3 that this year has disappointed me in much of humanity. I was slated to move my wife and I to the States for business and nixed it for now.

My other takeaways:

- I trained so much growing up that I have permanently had a distorted view about the volume of training I could and would do. My PRs (besides swimming) all came when my coach pulled back the reigns on me. This year forced me to train less and I actually adhered to my coach. I feel great and feel strong right now, despite a Covid setback.

- I always thought I was an introvert who didn't need much personal interaction. WRONG. I'm an introvert and comfortable being alone, but I need far more social interaction than I realized.

- I am addicted to watching all forms of bike racing.

- Being locked up with my wife and for a few months with her parents made me love her and her family even more. I am grateful for that. I know others who have gone the wrong way.

- I really respond to altitude and enjoy the challenge of training up high.

I learned that I like riding a bike. What started as a random suggestion to go for a ride with the husband who was working from home back in the spring turned into over 8k miles this year for the first time in over a decade.

Otherwise, I learned that I'm not that social and don't miss people as much as I would have thought. I like occasionally doing group runs or rides, but otherewise am fine with just my family most of the time.

I see you are in TN. Huge potential for investing in real estate there

I am selling 90% of my properties in FL and getting as much land as possible in TN

TN is growing SUPER fast with no end in sight

What a role racing and competition play in my happiness. And that you can find those in many places if you are creative.

I learned that the U.S. has dozens of millions of people who either full on practice, or are ok with racism, bigotry, and who are quite content to be ignorant, especially wrt common decency, coexistence, and respect for those who happen to have different opinions.

I realize it's a political and loaded statement, and I bring it up here in response to your question because this is the first year when I realized the magnitude of this hatred, and how much it spills over into everyday aspects of my life (such as riding outside and trying to stay out of harm's way, or trying to get groceries without getting coughed at by people who would rather practice their ignorance and demonstrate their entitlement than consider small sacrifices to keep others less exposed).

Lesson:
You have to consume your Strava fun with an eye on the overall prize. Ask yourself, will chasing this KOM give me the race result I want in the long term.........or is it a temporary cheap thrill just so I can show up that guy on the B-group ride who got a tail wind and stole my record?

I'm increasingly in the boat of "no, it isn't worth it" to chase some worthless 3min long segment.

Instead, I'll do an actual pre-used USAC or USAT race course nearby that has a Strava segment and do a TT effort. Good data, real "recon", something to learn. So, the segment needs to be an old TT or triathlon course or something with a real challenge.

I've wasted too many good workout chances in the past pissing in the wind chasing useless segments just to go "haha".

I'd rather chip time off my 10mi TT time than get a KOM on some random street.

I am and bought in 2013 in a yet to gentrify area in the urban core, which is about 80% turned so when I leave, I should make a nice profit.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Thanks for posting this. Have thought on this topic a lot. I've had similar lessons as you... love my races but life goes on without them, and I'm still able to maintain my motivation to train. I've enjoyed not having to hit training targets and do things at a leisurely pace (and enjoy the scenery). I've been doing more and more training outdoors last couple of years (mostly trails and open water) and 2020 has seen more of this. I am starting to question whether I really need to go back to the gym ever again.

In terms of other life lessons...

- I'm a lot more extroverted than I thought I was, and have struggled wfh and also not training with others

- being lucky has a lot to do with whether we have a good life and good health - i've been very lucky this last year

- how important it is to live in a caring community, with good leadership

- i haven't missed travelling, which has been a very big part of my life (don't know if i'll travel as much anymore)

- my relationships have strengthened through this challenging time, but a couple have been exposed for what they are

I don't post often but ST has been a respite for me to get away from the news... I've enjoyed reading about alternative challenges people have set up for themselves this year, or just about training / gadgets generally. Even with the vaccine, I don't think life will go back to what it was in 2019 and the challenge for me now is to become more adaptable and acceptable to what the new normal will be.

I've learned that a lot of people are far far dumber than I used to think. That's the no. 1 takeaway of 2020.

Biggest lesson personally was never take off on a x-country without visually confirming full tanks. If that runs into W&B then someone is being left behind because fuel isn't.

That will the challenge for all of us this year. It will be interesting to revisit this in a year. Best wishes to all!

My biggest lesson learned is that cancer doesn’t discriminate. In middle of chemo and radiation for head cancer. I have ultimate respect for cancer survivors.

1. Without a target race I get lazy.

2. I missed seeing some of my club and mountain bike friends when we were only allowed out on our own for 2 or 3 months.

3. I don't miss chlorinated indoor hole in the ground pools. But I did miss swimming outdoors for the 3 months of the 1st lockdown.

4. I've got some great friends- people who helped out in lots if little ways when my wife had Covid and we were confined to quarters for about 3 weeks. Getting groceries, getting meds, and bringing draught beer from a local pub doing take-aways, without asking !

5. There's so much good support and positivity in the group I do a lit with in our tri club.

6. The current UK Gov is incompetent. I knew that before. Just didn't know just how incompetent.

7. The kitchen and fridge is too close to my desk whilst working from home !

1. I learned that I could build up to a consistent 17-20 hrs per week, every week, without it overtaking my life.
2. I learned to do this, I needed to wake up at 4:30 every day to get a significant morning session in before my family gets up
3. I learned that a "triathlon lifestyle" to me, isn't about races, or people to train with, or gear... but just consistently getting after it, day-in, day out
4. I learned that I don't need an immediate race to keep me focused. Ticking over the age of 50, I now see "my race" to stay in shape for as long as I can.
5. I leaned I didn't drink enough water every day. Bought one of those "daily timer" 32 oz water bottles and it's been a God-send.
6. I learned that I can still drop weight - from 200 at end of 2019 to 174 this morning.
7. I learned that I can indeed train more than 900 hours in a year.
8. I learned that I can easily BQ if I just consistently run 7+ hours per week... all year.
9. I learned that, perhaps, my fastest Ironman is still to come.

The older I get, the slower I get. Just have to accept it.

I'm an introvert, not a monk or a hermit.. introverts don't have any secret tricks for handling social isolation, just a higher tolerance.. so the breakdown takes a little longer, is all ;-)

was surprised to find how much I depended on having company at the gym for weight workouts, even if I didn't speak to anyone it was much easier to go to the gym than it is to go down into a cold basement and workout alone there..

also learned you can get injured just by being old, don't need to overtrain to get there now. Bad knee won't let me run more than twice a week, biceps tendonitis wouldn't let me swim even if I had access to a pool, tennis elbow in R arm hurts every time I pick up a weight.. spend more time in a day on physical therapy exercises than working out. none of this has been helpful in this year..

(see above-this is me)


I learned that turning quarantine energy into training leads to fitness and then to injury. I took the time I used to spend swimming and ran and zwifted more and then more again as I wasn't working so much. One of my kids likes to run and the other wt train so I did both. My TSS was looking like an IM build, until the hip cried uncle. In the end I think it was the cleat position when zwifting on top of too much volume. 4 months off and I'm getting back to running again.

I learned that I missed racing some, but missed training with friends more. Once the pool opened for outdoor swim I was much happier and did some outdoor training with a few friends. I planning to rejoin the local bike rides after I get fully vaccinated. I'm not super extroverted, but miss social interactions in all spheres of my life.

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Brian
“Eat and Drink, spin the legs and you’re going to effin push (today).” A Howe

so true

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https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney