I learned that I really don’t go where other people are very often

And the few places I did Lowes, Home Depot I just have things delivered.


I leaned the advantages of being mostly a loaner is an advantage after all. I work on my hobbies , fixing up properties, alone. Driving in the country with my wife to find properties to buy. Still do that.

Go out to eat maybe twice a year before this so just didn’t do it this year. I Never go to the mall or other places with people. So no change there

Still see the people I have before all this

So not a huge impact personally except racing which is not a huge negative impact I count myself one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t need daily interaction with others

I always enjoyed training for the sake of training with racing or no racing. So this year was a max training year (915 hrs) as I had no commuting nor business travel for 9.5 months. So that allowed for more training. I miss my friends in regular life but also triathlon. I only did 7 workouts distanced with two different training buddies. It was tough to not socialize in training in larger groups. This is the fun part and I miss that.

I already know that I need future events be it in business, family and sport to look forward to. With so much uncertainty that's on hold for 6-9 months so ready for that

I also found way more nastiness in written communication on all fronts. In emails between people, in comments sections on articles and on this forum too. People in general got into attacking the person rather than the topic of discussion. This was way worse in 2020 on the internet than most previous years for obvious reasons. No doubt a lot of this mellows out as we get to more normal life

A few of the races I would normal do this year went virtual, so instead of signing up i donated what the race fees would've been, ran the distance on my own and passed on T-shirts & medals [except for the Fraud Street Run, where T-shirt sales went to charity as well]

That felt good

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Going over the handlebars is not the best way to dismount a bike. See my broken collarbone thread.

In a deeper lesson, I really don't need to try all of those features/jumps, push my self to the brink. Just go out at a decent pace, have fun and don't risk killing yourself. At the end of the ride, race or whatever, you still got kids at home you got to take care of and that is priority.

I've been doing a lot of reflecting on this last year. 2019 was my first triathlon, and I only learned to swim as an adult about 8 months before that. Prior to that I could basically tread water. 2020 was supposed to be my jump from 70.3 to 140.6 but that didn't happen (of course), and every 70.3 and marathon I was signed up for was cancelled or turned virtual.

This was a year in learning about self care- how to prioritize sleep, stay really consistent with training and balance the needs of myself against my family. Having worked from home for more or less the past 5 years not much changed except the family being around me all the time.

I feel like I'm heading into 2021 as a more well rounded, almost a more "whole" athlete. My running went WAY down this year in terms of volume but my cycling went way up and fortunately, since I have a pool still open, my swim continues to improve with every session. I feel like I'm ready to slowly add more volume now to get me to the endurance point of 140.6 done well.

I also learned I can live just fine without racing. I went into the pandemic scheduled for shoulder surgery in March, that got canceled as did all non-emergent surgeries in my area. When surgeries opened back up at the end of May, I had my procedure, which was the worst pain and recovery I've ever experienced. By September I found myself back in the pool but quit swimming again in November due to a rise in COVID numbers in my area.

I never realized how much pressure I put on myself to perform year after year. Not having that pressure has been great. I feel fully recovered and enjoy running, cycling, and TRX just for fun. I am pretty sure if not the root cause, swimming was doing more damage to my shoulder than anything else. I think I'm going to remain a dry-lander from here on out.

I might participate in a race or two next year, but only with the expectation of having fun, not placing or trying to qualify for anything .

---

--------------------------
The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

You can buy toilet paper by the case, from supplier warehouses. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would google toilet paper, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Two days later, there were two cases of TP, 96 rolls each, for $48 a case... on my front porch. Fuck you, all you TP hoarders!!! Turned out to be pretty good 2 ply stuff, comparable to average grocery store stuff. 10 months later we are just finishing up the first box. Won't need TP until next October.

---

Athlinks / Strava

In my 25th year in the sport:

As an adult-onset swimmer, taking a couple months off from swimming sets you back almost to Square 1.

Riding more really translates to better bike fitness and overall health.

Running more just leads to increased injury risk and burnout.

I can survive COVID.

.

Great question! Learned a lot - of good things!

Specifically for tri:

1. I still trained just as hard with no racing. In fact, I had to put myself back on a structure training plan since I was going too crazy and building up too much fatigue. Trained for a target race, it was canceled, didn't matter one bit to me, just did light training for 2 weeks after, and right into next training plan. It does help I'm training only for Oly with option of HIM - I doubt I'd keep the motivation to train for full IM with 5 hr bike rides most weekends in COVID.

2. I lost pretty much zero swim ability despite no water swimming for 6months and doing Vasa erg 1-3 hrs/wk. It was pretty shocking, honestly. It felt like I never left the pool on my first swim back. Quit my YMCA completely as a result and am pool swimming only 1x/wk during COVID for fun. I honestly thought I'd suffer a pretty significant hit due to loss of 'feel for the water' etc., but nope - timing, stroke mechanics, everything was just like I had never left. I do think a lot of this has to do though with my years of in-pool swimming before COVID, but for sure, the bulk of that had to be the erg, and I wasn't even training hard at all on it.

The super shocker was when I slapped on normal sized Finis paddles, grabbed a pull buoy, and ripped off like 6 x 100 at 1:15-1:17 pace in my 3rd pool workout back. (My normal no-toy 100 hard interval pace is like 1:25-7ish). Yowzas!

3. Young kids really kill your training. This sounds super obvious but it's another to live it - my kid is just aging up 10+, and the transformation in terms of parent dependency is like night and day.

It actually is more sad than anything for me, as annoying as kids can be, I really loved being the dad that was always there, playing with my kid, teaching her, and her literally not once saying "aww, daddy's out working out again?" In fact, she always said, "daddy, when do you exercise? I never see you doing it!" Getting 12hrs/wk of tri training went from near-impossible to expected this past year, and I only see those numbers going up as the kid gets even less dependent. Again, I'm sad about this, but kids do need to grow up and have independent time.

4. I've learned to appreciate health and wellbeing, and have become more charitable and understanding of those who are struggling with health, finances, etc. COVID has left horrible outcomes for millions, and if you're doing well now, be thankful.

I learned that I can train hard outside in the sun and heat and lose weight. With the same diet, duration, and diet, I gain weight.

---

I am a bad runner.
I met Javier Gomez once.
I don't speak in miles.
I have opinions.

Lessons learned during pandemic:

1. 2 bonus hours of time per day instead of commute didn't change much. It's nice, don't get me wrong, I actually don't want to go to the office ever again. But it didn't turn my life upside down.

2. Without pressure of major races I had opportunity to learn more about my ability to improve. It was clear even in 2019 that I can overextend myself with volume and intensity. Getting into 2020 my main sport-related goal was actually to execute the season without periods of overtraining. But if IMMT 70.3 would happen in June, I might have started way too hard in spring again. Well, race cancellations allowed me to focus on listening to my body and prioritize rest. As a result, even though I've put 15-20% less hours in training than in 2019, my A race of 2020 went significantly better. Hopefully I can cache in on that in 2021.

My country (USA) is the trailer park of the world. We value individual freedom over the health of our neighbors. What happened during this pandemic was just pathetic excuse of a society. Our government, McConnell, Trump, etc. are all just evil trash. When we needed them most, they just told us to eat cake. We are truly on our own to survive.


That is my big lesson of 24/7.

---

_________________________________
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

Spoken like someone who has never built out a pain cave in a double wide.

Yep, my trust of my fellow American is certainly not the same as it was 10 months ago. The fact that the rate of fatalities from motor vehicle traffic crashes per vehicle miles traveled is likely going to increase this year supports your point.

1) family is everything to me.

2) small kids are really hard to schedule training around.

3) 5year old boys* love looking for dinosaurs, sharks, bears, dolphins and volcanos on Zwift . He’ll “ride” for an hour beside me looking for that stuff. So I can schedule training with him, rather than trying to work around him. *well, at least one does anyway

4). 4 year old girls don’t really care about Zwift

5) even without racing, exercise is really important for my mental health

6) value your health. It’s a fragile thing. We had one family member contract COVID for an extended period. She recovered from that, twice, then passed away from an unrelated ailment which was considered inoperable.

7) I miss racing and training with my friends.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Nordic Skiing is really hard and I suck at it.

Apart from family, I don't need a lot of people in my life, but I need a few people in it sometimes.

I now understand old people better - I understand why they get scared and that getting old is a blessing, but only up to a point. After that point, life becomes very hard.

I learned not to take travel and adventure for granted - but also that local adventure is also great. I've had one great trip this year - a coast to coast hike - and several shorter adventures. I know someone doing the Spine Race and I did some long training days with him - he showed me that you can always push yourself more.

I love training - I don't really need races - but I knew that before.

I know that I don't need much, but my wife needs more - you've got to compromise.

Cycling is a summer sport - for me, there is no enjoyment in going out just to get cold. But again, I already knew this.

Spending more time with family and especially the wife. I've become anti-social since while I'm sure I would survive Covid I can't say the same for some family members I visit due to their age and physical condition. I've Covid tested three times, all negative to make sure that the things I'm doing are working so I don't carry the virus to anyone. Good thing its easy to ride alone and away from everyone since I live on the edge of a small city and the farm roads start about 1/2 mile away.

I also have put off my stopping work until April 8, 2022. I dislike the word retirement and stopping work for me means really getting on with life. By then the current situation should be past. As one travels into the next phase of life a strong social life, I.E. training with my team which I have not done since early March of this year, needs to be in life so I have strong passionate activities that are meaningful to me. Plus I need to be able to travel comfortably. When the pandemic hit I was in Cuba celebrating my wife's 60th birthday. I need to be able to plan trips and make those plans a reality.

I have a toddler. I cannot stress enough how much I value daycare. Even though have a lot of time off in the summer (professor) I still dropped him off at daycare.

It’s so hard to train with young kids. It’s frustrating.

---

_________________________________
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.

I’m surprised by this

Having had my own businesses most of my life and not having to commute I had figured saving 50 hours a month in driving plus less money on gas and maintenance of approx $7,000 a year plus depreciation would have a significant impact on working people

I have based my real estate investments and business decisions on this theory. I definitely need to rethink that now.

Lol what an elitist prick

LOVE IT!

The Dawn Patrol welcomes you

My daughter asked me, many years ago "Daddy, when did you start doing your run in the morning? Did you always do your run in the morning? Do you ride your bike in the morning, too"

"I used to do my run or ride my bike after I got home from work. Or I would go to the gym to swim, or run or ride there. When you were born, I had to start getting up long before usual to feed you, change you and get you back to sleep. That would leave me with time to kill before I had to get ready for my day. I figured 'Hey, I'm already awake, let's do some miles now, and we won't have to worry about it later.'"

I don't ride in the morning, as people around here drive like shit when they're wide-awake, nevermind first thing in the morning before the Dunkin' or Wawa hits

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

May be your estimations are right and I'm an outlier. :). My commute was 2 hours in subway where I can sit and work on a notebook. Often it was one of the most productive times of the day because nobody talks to you.

I don't know which segment you're targeting. Me and my wife are in a lucky one. Good salaries, no problems working from home. Yes, we probably saved several thousand per year on fuel, train cards and downtown lunches. Which is nice, money doesn't grow on trees. But it didn't change our lives significantly.

1. I do not like working from home. I live alone so there has been way too much alone time, plus living in a tornado damage zone from March.

2. If I don't have an event to look forward to, I don't do anything. And I don't care about virtual events.

3. Way too many Americans are stupid, which I already knew, but 2020 confirmed it.

4. There is a reason I've been in my job for 30 years.

---

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