Background: Been doing triathlons and other various races for almost 20 years now. Every now and again I take a year or so off of heavy racing but have been pretty regular. Two years ago I was racing every Tuesday and Thursday and every weekend, training every other day plus 1 to 2 traveling races in the summer. I felt great but kind of got burned out to a crisp. I thought well I’ll just take a season off of racing and just play which usually does the trick. At that point things got crazy with work, pulling 60+ hour weeks and between that and having 4 kids etc etc, excuse excuse, as a result I completely fell off the wagon to a level that is new territory for me.
Here we are at the end of 2012 and I barely worked out last year at all, have gained 20 pounds, and generally feel like crap. I just need to get back into the habit of training every day but for the first time in my life I haven’t been able to just switch it on and go. Anyone else been here? How did you come to your senses and get the fire going again?
Sounds to me like you have love and passion for the sport and/or general fitness so I think breaking the seal will be the most important thing. I think we forget how good exercise makes us feel and how enjoyable it can be when we go without it for a period of time. Carve out 30 minutes to go for a light jog, swim, spin, circuit training session etc. Or, if that is really not working for you find an activity you can do with your wife and/or kids that will get you active again. It sounds like you just need to get those endorphins circulating again. Good luck!
My 2cents: I believe it becomes hard to get back in the fitness/training routine when comparing the old you to the current you. It’s best not to compare the two.
Take your current fitness level and just move. Be easy on yourself and rejoice in each workout.
I’ve gone through something similar… prior to Triathlon, I rock climbed upwards of 30 hours a week. Then my belayer dropped me 30 feet, feet first into a ledge, rolled my ankles. Fractured bones in both my feet and tore all of the ligaments from toe to knee in both legs. I actually was back to climbing and had made a full recovery in about 8 weeks but it wasn’t the same. Then life got crazy and I didn’t exercise for a couple of years and gained about 20 pounds.
Fast forward a few years, and I’m back to exercising on a regular basis and feeling great. It took a long time to get motivated again, I started looking for new activities that I hadn’t done before to keep things fresh and get back in shape. You may want to try the same thing. For me the progression was kettlebell’s, standard weight lifting, bodyweight feats of strength, running, triathlon, and now a Personal Trainer as well as still doing Tri’s in 2013.
Now that I think about it, incorporate your family and the advice about standing in front of the mirror naked is solid as well. I hate to admit it, but I’m quite vain at times and while trying to gain motivation again, I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror.
Holy hell…that’s f-ing scary! What a cool recovery story.
+1 to everything, especially trying something new.
iO4-- That is a really impressive training and racing schedule. What is your favorite discipline? Could you ease back in just focusing on one thing, as others have said, setting some shortish (30 mins is good, maybe 60), 5x/week? You’re an exceptional athlete. It will quickly start to feel good again.
Or…
In the trying something new vein, do you do yoga or would you consider it? I really like yoga because it can be both incredibly challenging and very emotionally rewarding. Sometimes just focusing on the physical is enough, but sometimes it is nice to do something that gives you some inner strength and peace. I find that yoga does this really well, and is a good balance to the rigor and propensity to overtrain of multisport. A good vinyasa class should also adequately kick your ass, and you usually do it scantily clad in front of a mirror
4 children and a big job are probably enough to focus on for now. Where would you expect to get the time and energy for training to compete? Something would have to give. Perhaps switch your desired outcome from competing to being the best dad, husband, employee. Work out for vitality, energy and to be a great example to your kids. You are probably quite competitive; can you find a way to focus your competitive nature while at the same time finding life balance? There will always be races to be fought but the kids won’t always need you. Good luck and don’t beat yourself up.
Get up early tomorrow morning and go for a 20 min walk. Run/jog if you feel like it. Next day: repeat. And so on. Just start doing something, then gradually you’ll want to do more (be that “more” walking, tri sports, or other)
I’m in the same boat. Last few years have been full of injuries and other excuses. I don’t have nearly the time constraints you do so I’m the only one to blame. I just kept eating like I was training for an Ironman. So My wife signed us up for the Sarasota half marathon yesterday. Race is in March and its a beautiful flat course. My motivation will be to get in shape for the run and to be able to take my shirt off while I’m at Siesta Key! Now it’s public…ugh
i will give you a free entry to the Gator Olympic triathlon if you loose 10lb and get in shape, if you loose 15lb i will give you a free entry to the Half www.gatorhalftriathlon.com the race is March 24th
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Background: Been doing triathlons and other various races for almost 20 years now. Every now and again I take a year or so off of heavy racing but have been pretty regular. Two years ago I was racing every Tuesday and Thursday and every weekend, training every other day plus 1 to 2 traveling races in the summer. I felt great but kind of got burned out to a crisp. I thought well I’ll just take a season off of racing and just play which usually does the trick. At that point things got crazy with work, pulling 60+ hour weeks and between that and having 4 kids etc etc, excuse excuse, as a result I completely fell off the wagon to a level that is new territory for me.
Here we are at the end of 2012 and I barely worked out last year at all, have gained 20 pounds, and generally feel like crap. I just need to get back into the habit of training every day but for the first time in my life I haven’t been able to just switch it on and go. Anyone else been here? How did you come to your senses and get the fire going again?
When I lack motivation, ol’ Chopper always does the trick:
Get up early tomorrow morning and go for a 20 min walk. Run/jog if you feel like it. Next day: repeat. And so on. Just start doing something, then gradually you’ll want to do more (be that “more” walking, tri sports, or other)
I think that this advice is great! START SLOW! Slow easy Yoga! Slow swimming! Do everything slow,lol!
If you have limited time than picks something small and do it really well. I like to try and learn something new. I was overtrained and burnt out. Decided I do love triathlon and sports in general and decided to work on getting my athletism back with some strength training and agility/speed work. It was fun. I actually looked forward to it and it actually ended up making feel better than I felt in a very long time and thus start training fog tris again. Although I did have to let go for a while but still kept moving forward and being healthy. Taking care of ourselves should be something we do without an A race on the schedule. But here is the key as mentioned above in various ways. You don’t get motivated by talking about it and doing and or developing bad habits. You get motivated by actually doing something positive. If you need something powerful enough to move you into action than pick something new you learn to focus on so that you can give back to someone else. Kids, friends, people you come into contact with. Go be a positive influence to those around you and quit feeling sorry for yourself. The world can’t have enough good people in it. Sports are great until we begin to limit their positive effects on people by making them a means to an end. There is no finish line. Have a great new year
