Am I done with triathlon?

Triathlon Forum
1

For 1-2 years now I have times of low motivation and have to drag myself to quite a few training sessions.
Just the consistent pressure of putting the sessions at some time during the day, live basically based on a training plan, constantly pushing yourself,…

Would be manageable I guess if I’d be really motivated for races and a goal but I’m not. I got to a place where I finish top 10 most races and AG podiums.
But the closer a race gets, the more my motivation fades.
Had only 1 race this year and hated it. Thought ok, some nerves before the race is good but usually disappears after the start. This time though I wanted to stop literally every second thinking come on, I don’t want to suffer, just stop. Finished it, most unmotivated 10th place ever, had no real fun even after the race for the first time.

What makes me not stop instantly though is the thought of how I used to enjoy it. The pictures of it. The successes. And I’d so wish it would be like that again. Always was the anxious type at races and hated it tbh but enjoyed it once the gun went off.
I think it’s just that effort doesn’t feel good anymore. I would continue swim bike run but low intensity, for fun. But I hate the thought of losing the identity of a triathlete.

Anyone knows these feelings? Anyone had success overcoming it? Maybe just wanted to vent.

Thanks!

2

I had a very similar feeling at the start of this year, I just didn’t care or want to do anything. I half arsed trained my way through Challenge Roth - I couldn’t even get excited about this race! which ended up with a shit race and a lot of walking, because I didn’t do much running in the build up!

I moved house and joined a local tri club as a way to meet some people as I am completely new to the area and it has slightly re-lit the fire and the last month has been some of the best training I have ever done. I’m doing a 70.3 in September and am genuinely excited about it - I think its a mix of not wanting to do full distance as its too much for me and the new people to train with/ talk to etc.

No idea if its possible for you to find some new training buddies, but it definitely helped me get out of the rut!

3

I quit triathlon because all my races got canceled with no refund and I stopped caring.
My local club got political and divided so I quit.

I found something else to fill the void.

4

Maybe try a sports psych.

Sounds like some burnout is going on so maybe some light training would be good for you. Could also do some blood testing just to be sure nothing else is going on. Do different events – off road/off distances/team events/etc. See if that keeps the fire burning. If not, there’s nothing wrong with training in a sustainable way and not racing.

5

Motivation comes and goes, just stay fit. I’ve been in the sport for 22 years now and had years since 2000 where I’ve raced 10-15 times, years where I’ve raced none, and years where I’ve raced 3-5 times (more the norm). This year is none as my wife and I moved states, I had a big job switch requiring 70 hours at first which has decreased to ~45 (start up company), and I’m also dealing with some physical things. I’ve had similar years previously and the motivation does come back.

When actually training, I’ve averaged ~15hours/wk, which I mention to note that you can very much stay pretty fit on 5 hours a week and it feels like you’re not doing anything because it’s 1/3 of the total time and you have those 10 extra hours for whatever you want. And if the motivation to race doesn’t come back then no big deal. But if it does, starting from a base of some activity versus no activity will let you get back in fairly quickly- it’s good for your long term heath too.

6

My 2 cents, and you’ll probably get a wide variety of responses to your post…

Why did you start doing tri in the first place? Because it was fun, a good challenge, you enjoyed the training, etc. is my guess. That should be your motivation: you need to enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re not enjoying it anymore then it’s time to move on and try a new challenge. What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about? There’s nothing wrong with stepping back or moving on to something else. Maybe you’ll come back to tri. Maybe you’ll move on to something different.

Life’s too short to spend it doing stuff you don’t enjoy. Find new challenges and see what happens. It could reignite your passion for tri, or you could find a new passion. Don’t go through the motions though, it’s unsustainable and you’ll burn yourself out.

7

I attach a description of an article that may illustrate what I want to say,

https://believeperform.com/extrinsic-vs-intrinsic-motivation/

I think, that many people found the motivation in the challenge, in racing, they were some how in a current of racing after racing, like an habit… the pandemia was a interruption, and now some people don’t want to re-start, other tried by “over doing”, others tried to do step-by-step.

… ok, it is very difficult to generalize because we are all different, we live in different circunstances, and the most important we have all suffer the pandemic in a different way, at different cost for us, our economy and the most important: our relatives, families, friends… it is normal that our priorities may change, things that were important may not any more be relevant in our lives.

I would split triathlon in two aspect: training and racing. Doing sport activity vs compete.

It is ok not having motivation competing in races… I will focus in only doing, enjoying doing, swimming, riding our bike or runing. Enjoing how we feel after a training. Not focusing in performance. Maybe we could switch to minor race that allow as to join / specific prepare in less than 4-6 weeks (like an sprint), only to participate.

If after some time, we don’t recover the motivation to race again, it is not relevant… the relevant is to enjoy training / making some exercise. Or even we can find another sport.

8

My 2 cents…

I’ve been doing this since 2013 (biking since 2008) and I finally learned that I do a busy race schedule for 2 years and then a cut back year. It took me a while to find it. 2020(i trained hard) & 2021 I raced a lot. This year I took off a lot of the year and finally now getting back into it. I am racing Kona legacy next year so I knew this year I needed the mental break. This was similar for me in 2019 and 2016. In 2016 I was burnt out and dragged myself to races.

The question you should/could ask yourself is look at your history of training/racing and do you have cutback years? Do you have a trend?

We all need time-off. Sometimes it’s a week, a month, or even a year of no pressure.

You will find your way out of this…just give it time.

9

For 1-2 years now I have times of low motivation and have to drag myself to quite a few training sessions.
Just the consistent pressure of putting the sessions at some time during the day, live basically based on a training plan, constantly pushing yourself,…

Would be manageable I guess if I’d be really motivated for races and a goal but I’m not. I got to a place where I finish top 10 most races and AG podiums.
But the closer a race gets, the more my motivation fades.
Had only 1 race this year and hated it. Thought ok, some nerves before the race is good but usually disappears after the start. This time though I wanted to stop literally every second thinking come on, I don’t want to suffer, just stop. Finished it, most unmotivated 10th place ever, had no real fun even after the race for the first time.

What makes me not stop instantly though is the thought of how I used to enjoy it. The pictures of it. The successes. And I’d so wish it would be like that again. Always was the anxious type at races and hated it tbh but enjoyed it once the gun went off.
I think it’s just that effort doesn’t feel good anymore. I would continue swim bike run but low intensity, for fun. But I hate the thought of losing the identity of a triathlete.

Anyone knows these feelings? Anyone had success overcoming it? Maybe just wanted to vent.

Thanks!

Why are you following a plan?

Serious question! Just go out and do whatever you feel like. Exercise 1-2 hrs per day. Exercise more if you are having fun. Just show up and races and you will be very close to your “plan based” performance anyway.

I have literally been doing this since 2002. Kona qualified 3x, and 70.3 Worlds 8x. Even this year on my my plan which is bike commute 30 min each way, jog 15-20 min to pool and back at lunch and swim 30 min, I got age group podiums and top 10 overall in local races, and top 10 age group at ironman races. I do longer workouts by feel on weekend. If I don’t feel like doing something I just don’t.

Plans are overrated. We’re not earning a living off this. This is all entertainment and health. If you lose that picture, you’re doomed out of the gate.

I did my first tri in 1985 for the record.

10

For 1-2 years now I have times of low motivation and have to drag myself to quite a few training sessions.
Just the consistent pressure of putting the sessions at some time during the day, live basically based on a training plan, constantly pushing yourself,…

Would be manageable I guess if I’d be really motivated for races and a goal but I’m not. I got to a place where I finish top 10 most races and AG podiums.
But the closer a race gets, the more my motivation fades.
Had only 1 race this year and hated it. Thought ok, some nerves before the race is good but usually disappears after the start. This time though I wanted to stop literally every second thinking come on, I don’t want to suffer, just stop. Finished it, most unmotivated 10th place ever, had no real fun even after the race for the first time.

What makes me not stop instantly though is the thought of how I used to enjoy it. The pictures of it. The successes. And I’d so wish it would be like that again. Always was the anxious type at races and hated it tbh but enjoyed it once the gun went off.
I think it’s just that effort doesn’t feel good anymore. I would continue swim bike run but low intensity, for fun. But I hate the thought of losing the identity of a triathlete.

Anyone knows these feelings? Anyone had success overcoming it? Maybe just wanted to vent.

Thanks!

Why are you following a plan?

Serious question! Just go out and do whatever you feel like. Exercise 1-2 hrs per day. Exercise more if you are having fun. Just show up and races and you will be very close to your “plan based” performance anyway.

I have literally been doing this since 2002. Kona qualified 3x, and 70.3 Worlds 8x. Even this year on my my plan which is bike commute 30 min each way, jog 15-20 min to pool and back at lunch and swim 30 min, I got age group podiums and top 10 overall in local races, and top 10 age group at ironman races. I do longer workouts by feel on weekend. If I don’t feel like doing something I just don’t.

Plans are overrated. We’re not earning a living off this. This is all entertainment and health. If you lose that picture, you’re doomed out of the gate.

I did my first tri in 1985 for the record.

Wise words. While some might not be able to dedicate 2h/day for training, or KQ based on training for fun. I think there is some good thoughts in not living slave to a plan but allow yourself some freedom, it is supposed to be fun!
Also the plan makes your head into a “Min-max” machine “must run 4.0303 min/km to get 0,1% better per week”.

11

I attach a description of an article that may illustrate what I want to say,

https://believeperform.com/extrinsic-vs-intrinsic-motivation/

I think, that many people found the motivation in the challenge, in racing, they were some how in a current of racing after racing, like an habit… the pandemia was a interruption, and now some people don’t want to re-start, other tried by “over doing”, others tried to do step-by-step.

… ok, it is very difficult to generalize because we are all different, we live in different circunstances, and the most important we have all suffer the pandemic in a different way, at different cost for us, our economy and the most important: our relatives, families, friends… it is normal that our priorities may change, things that were important may not any more be relevant in our lives.

I would split triathlon in two aspect: training and racing. Doing sport activity vs compete.

It is ok not having motivation competing in races… I will focus in only doing, enjoying doing, swimming, riding our bike or runing. Enjoing how we feel after a training. Not focusing in performance. Maybe we could switch to minor race that allow as to join / specific prepare in less than 4-6 weeks (like an sprint), only to participate.

If after some time, we don’t recover the motivation to race again, it is not relevant… the relevant is to enjoy training / making some exercise. Or even we can find another sport.

Great way to see it imo. Leaving out all performance related metrics, training by plan day in day out I still enjoy swimming (if it’s not often ;)), biking and running. So maybe it just got to me having all the performance and expectations from myself in mind

12

My 2 cents, and you’ll probably get a wide variety of responses to your post…

Why did you start doing tri in the first place? Because it was fun, a good challenge, you enjoyed the training, etc. is my guess. That should be your motivation: you need to enjoy what you’re doing. If you’re not enjoying it anymore then it’s time to move on and try a new challenge. What do you enjoy? What are you passionate about? There’s nothing wrong with stepping back or moving on to something else. Maybe you’ll come back to tri. Maybe you’ll move on to something different.

Life’s too short to spend it doing stuff you don’t enjoy. Find new challenges and see what happens. It could reignite your passion for tri, or you could find a new passion. Don’t go through the motions though, it’s unsustainable and you’ll burn yourself out.

I’m not really sure why I started tbh. I think it was mainly just the feeling of getting better and eventually good at something. I had these far away thoughts about doing those races for a 70.3 WC spot. This would be in reach now but I also see what it requires. Living by a training plan, doesn’t matter if slept well, busy or feel like shit. Training has to be done. Body has to function to a certain degree. And I think that got to a place where I simply don’t enjoy it anymore. That being said, I think that’s the only way I know how to do things properly, going all in.

13

@ OP - was this training for an Ironman? Or shorter? Makes a difference in terms of potential burnout. You can scale back training to even a paltry 3-4hrs a week and still finish and have fun at sprint/oly, but you’ll likely DNF an IM and even a HIM with that sort of training unless you have a lot of prior experience with those distances.

14

For 1-2 years now I have times of low motivation and have to drag myself to quite a few training sessions.
Just the consistent pressure of putting the sessions at some time during the day, live basically based on a training plan, constantly pushing yourself,…

Would be manageable I guess if I’d be really motivated for races and a goal but I’m not. I got to a place where I finish top 10 most races and AG podiums.
But the closer a race gets, the more my motivation fades.
Had only 1 race this year and hated it. Thought ok, some nerves before the race is good but usually disappears after the start. This time though I wanted to stop literally every second thinking come on, I don’t want to suffer, just stop. Finished it, most unmotivated 10th place ever, had no real fun even after the race for the first time.

What makes me not stop instantly though is the thought of how I used to enjoy it. The pictures of it. The successes. And I’d so wish it would be like that again. Always was the anxious type at races and hated it tbh but enjoyed it once the gun went off.
I think it’s just that effort doesn’t feel good anymore. I would continue swim bike run but low intensity, for fun. But I hate the thought of losing the identity of a triathlete.

Anyone knows these feelings? Anyone had success overcoming it? Maybe just wanted to vent.

Thanks!

Why are you following a plan?

Serious question! Just go out and do whatever you feel like. Exercise 1-2 hrs per day. Exercise more if you are having fun. Just show up and races and you will be very close to your “plan based” performance anyway.

I have literally been doing this since 2002. Kona qualified 3x, and 70.3 Worlds 8x. Even this year on my my plan which is bike commute 30 min each way, jog 15-20 min to pool and back at lunch and swim 30 min, I got age group podiums and top 10 overall in local races, and top 10 age group at ironman races. I do longer workouts by feel on weekend. If I don’t feel like doing something I just don’t.

Plans are overrated. We’re not earning a living off this. This is all entertainment and health. If you lose that picture, you’re doomed out of the gate.

I did my first tri in 1985 for the record.

Great perspective! Not sure if you’re maybe genetically gifted though but I’ve got the feeling in order to do it properly I have to train properly, by plan. But on the other hand I haven’t really tried it any other way. At least not for a while, maybe something to consider.

15

@ OP - was this training for an Ironman? Or shorter? Makes a difference in terms of potential burnout. You can scale back training to even a paltry 3-4hrs a week and still finish and have fun at sprint/oly, but you’ll likely DNF an IM and even a HIM with that sort of training unless you have a lot of prior experience with those distances.

This year focus is/was 70.3 distance. Race is in October, not cancelled yet but thinking about everything around this race (travel, hotel, registration stuff, check ins, basically being there 4 days for only this thing) makes me not want to go at all. So can’t imagine doing it atm. On the other hand training way less and going to races to have fun and stuff is not my way how I like doing it. I want to do it 100% or not at all and currently it’s more like not at all :confused:

16

I concur with everything you said. I have been without a plan just weekly goals that I adjust depending on the week. No reason to make triathlon a job. I have also had success with lots of local wins and top placing in 70.3 or age group nationals.

17

@ OP - was this training for an Ironman? Or shorter? Makes a difference in terms of potential burnout. You can scale back training to even a paltry 3-4hrs a week and still finish and have fun at sprint/oly, but you’ll likely DNF an IM and even a HIM with that sort of training unless you have a lot of prior experience with those distances.

^THIS

Go back to LOCAL sprints and olympic distances. Less planning, commitment, reservations, accommodations, money, etc…did I mention less money needed? And you’ll be back home the same day

18

@ OP - was this training for an Ironman? Or shorter? Makes a difference in terms of potential burnout. You can scale back training to even a paltry 3-4hrs a week and still finish and have fun at sprint/oly, but you’ll likely DNF an IM and even a HIM with that sort of training unless you have a lot of prior experience with those distances.

^THIS

Go back to LOCAL sprints and olympic distances. Less planning, commitment, reservations, accommodations, money, etc…did I mention less money needed? And you’ll be back home the same day

As the poster of the above quote, I learned this the hard way myself. I thought that the progression of Oly->70.3->IM was the goal, but I was hitting that 70.3 stage with a young kid, busy job, and lots of other obligations that made it really, really hard to train the volume I wanted to with proper recovery. Did one solid 70.3, but the other ones were just ‘meh’ - not the time result, which was fine, but I felt like I was starting to dread fitting the training in my already-crazy life as well as even race day, where I was losing the excitement and fun of race day. Almost certainly a combined result of life stresses + training (I wasn’t overtraining, fortunately.)

I pulled back to Olys and things got a lot better, and fun - and I started to really get better as well because of it. Now my kid is older and much less high maintenance and I’m starting to look at 70.3s again, but I’m pretty sure I’m won’t target an IM until the kid is nearly out of the house as I don’t want to miss the already limited time I have with her.

And you can still train a lot for Olys - I put up 16 hrs last week of solid tri training, which is just about as high as I go!

19

@ OP - was this training for an Ironman? Or shorter? Makes a difference in terms of potential burnout. You can scale back training to even a paltry 3-4hrs a week and still finish and have fun at sprint/oly, but you’ll likely DNF an IM and even a HIM with that sort of training unless you have a lot of prior experience with those distances.

^THIS

Go back to LOCAL sprints and olympic distances. Less planning, commitment, reservations, accommodations, money, etc…did I mention less money needed? And you’ll be back home the same day

Exactly what I tried doing already though :wink: The races are usually reachable by car from my home. Apart from the upcoming 70.3 in October. But on Sunday for example there’s a local race (OD) and yesterday would have been my last intense effort for it. 1h30 hard on the bike, hard 6km run. After 25 minutes in the bike I stopped thinking I could do it but I don’t want it and don’t see myself doing that race anyway, don’t want to suffer for that. Incredibly negative thinking. Don’t have any real burnout symptoms apart from sport though really. Love my gf, work is good unless it gets too stressy then I hate it but that’s normal I guess,… Races just stress me out because I don’t want it anymore I guess and without it there’s no motivation of course to suffer in training or live by a training plan.

20

What brings you happiness about training/racing/exercising? What is your WHY? What do you look forward to when it comes to training/racing?