I haven’t followed Triathlon Taren and his journey that closely other than knowing he’s out there and listening to his podcast with the PTO Ceo (really good btw).
It seems like he may have fallen into the 5-Step path to burn out that many age grouper do.
Step 1: Sign up for a triathlon
Step 2: Sign up for an Ironman (this could also be step 1).
Step 3: Decide you want to get better and the only way to do this is train with lots of volume AND intensity.
Step 4: Get better (for a while)
Step 5: Get burnt out after 3-5 years and quit sport.
The key to being good at endurance sports is building a large aerobic engine.
The key to building a large aerobic engine is to train consistently over a VERY long time (10+ years)
How do you train for a long time? You don’t train too hard. You sleep. You control intensity. You keep it fun.
Go on long bike rides (and don’t stare at your powermeter). Stop for coffee. Run trails. Lift some weights. Eat well. Go to bed.
As another one who enjoyed watching him (prior to Covid and no races), I understand that he’s advice and comments are not always 100% right for me. But he was enjoyable to watch as someone who is a beginner and he was able to motivate me into doing tris.
Covid really messed with his mind. He lost his own motivation and there was even a video several months or a year ago where he talked about this. He said like he thought he liked training for training sake, but learned he liked training for the race outcome sake. This last 18 months derailed him and a lot of other people.
But he’s not going away. He is changing the channel to something more broad and around their MoTTiv (or whatever it is called). So, Taren haters rejoice - you can still hate on him.
I’m seeing a lot of changes in the YouTube world for many of the channels I watch (on different subjects). The same thing is happening in a lot of cases. Part of this is because of the progress the channels have made going from complete beginner and many years later being much more developed in their area. Even the Vegan Cyclist’s videos are quite different than when he started.
I haven’t followed Triathlon Taren and his journey that closely other than knowing he’s out there and listening to his podcast with the PTO Ceo (really good btw).
It seems like he may have fallen into the 5-Step path to burn out that many age grouper do.
Step 1: Sign up for a triathlon
Step 2: Sign up for an Ironman (this could also be step 1).
Step 3: Decide you want to get better and the only way to do this is train with lots of volume AND intensity.
Step 4: Get better (for a while)
Step 5: Get burnt out after 3-5 years and quit sport.
The key to being good at endurance sports is building a large aerobic engine.
The key to building a large aerobic engine is to train consistently over a VERY long time (10+ years)
How do you train for a long time? You don’t train too hard. You sleep. You control intensity. You keep it fun.
Go on long bike rides (and don’t stare at your powermeter). Stop for coffee. Run trails. Lift some weights. Eat well. Go to bed.
Even in a ‘confession’ video he can’t be honest. No one watched his chanel to see him ‘train like a maniac’. Its hilarious the dribble he comes up with when trying to justify the change to Motiv. Just be honest and say its for a larger market…
Probably one of the better videos by Taren and I would be curious to hear him a little more about the change as I suspect it also has to do with money. He said he is focusing on business and at the end of the day nearly everyone that sort of rises to the top of influencers realizes that triathlon is still a very small sport. Can he pivot and stay relevant. Only time will tell.
Doesn’t he have over 1k people on some type of subscription on his Trainiac platform? Or is that also being spundown or sold off?
Next time someone comes on ST looking for a coach, I’m mentioning your name. Totally off OP topic but your post is pure gold. Every word. I hope at least a few folks read it and benefit from it.
I haven’t followed Triathlon Taren and his journey that closely other than knowing he’s out there and listening to his podcast with the PTO Ceo (really good btw).
It seems like he may have fallen into the 5-Step path to burn out that many age grouper do.
Step 1: Sign up for a triathlon
Step 2: Sign up for an Ironman (this could also be step 1).
Step 3: Decide you want to get better and the only way to do this is train with lots of volume AND intensity.
Step 4: Get better (for a while)
Step 5: Get burnt out after 3-5 years and quit sport.
The key to being good at endurance sports is building a large aerobic engine.
The key to building a large aerobic engine is to train consistently over a VERY long time (10+ years)
How do you train for a long time? You don’t train too hard. You sleep. You control intensity. You keep it fun.
Go on long bike rides (and don’t stare at your powermeter). Stop for coffee. Run trails. Lift some weights. Eat well. Go to bed.
The Norwegians have figured this out.
I’m in year 5 and this post hit home for me. Compensating from plateauing pretty hard by buying a new bike and more expensive coach.
Probably one of the better videos by Taren and I would be curious to hear him a little more about the change as I suspect it also has to do with money. He said he is focusing on business and at the end of the day nearly everyone that sort of rises to the top of influencers realizes that triathlon is still a very small sport. Can he pivot and stay relevant. Only time will tell.
Doesn’t he have over 1k people on some type of subscription on his Trainiac platform? Or is that also being spundown or sold off?
You would think a bit of common sense would be to keep the Triathlon Tarren brand and have a Motiv spin off… But nope, throw out the baby with the bathwater
Probably one of the better videos by Taren and I would be curious to hear him a little more about the change as I suspect it also has to do with money. He said he is focusing on business and at the end of the day nearly everyone that sort of rises to the top of influencers realizes that triathlon is still a very small sport. Can he pivot and stay relevant. Only time will tell.
Doesn’t he have over 1k people on some type of subscription on his Trainiac platform? Or is that also being spundown or sold off?
You would think a bit of common sense would be to keep the Triathlon Tarren brand and have a Motiv spin off… But nope, throw out the baby with the bathwater
Sounds like a total rebranding. If he wasn’t gerting right out of triathlon he would surely keep the name Triathlon Taren as it’s his brand. I think he’s totally checked out of endurance sports and going with Mottiv as a lifestyle brand (health and wellness). I really have no idea where he’s going with this but many Trainiacs have indicated they’re Ride or Die and continuing subscription no matter the new format.
This change has been coming for a long time and it was obvious that he was going to shift from a “triathlon shill” to a general fitness/lifestyle guru shill once he started talking about his MOTTIV brand.I can’t say for sure but it seemed to me the shift in attitude came around the time he started “coaching” Nick Bare and I think the penny dropped for Taren when he saw the dollar value in Nick Bares brand. From that moment on I saw a subtle but definite shift in the way he presented himself as he started to talk in more general fitness terms and also began the move towards guru status much like the famous triathlete turned fraud fitness guru Ben Greenfield or famous vegan and one time triathlete Rich Roll. Like those two, Taren has discovered, the triathlon market is too narrow and to preach to the whole fitness population in general is much more profitable
.
This video is not an apology video about Taren feeling bad that he hasn’t lived up to his “brand promise” and has let down his loyal followers ,it is a housekeeping exercise. He is cutting ties with his loyal followers while the whole time hinting that they should forgive him and as he falls ever so humbly on his sword.He now suggests that has discovered a whole new way to physical and spiritual health and invites everyone to come along and be a part of his amazing new fitness journey. It is classic spin and the crazy thing is, it will probably work.
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I can def understand why Taren is changing gears, and I think he’s doing the right thing, even if I don’t agree with some of the stuff (nutritional mainly) that he promotes. (I am still overall a fan and say he’s been very good for the sport!)
At this point, it almost doesn’t matter what his next race results are - they are almost certainly not going to equal the highs he has reached at his peak, and I think he knows that. Nothing to be embarrassed about, his results were/are legit excellent at his peak. But it’s really, really hard to maintain such performance unless you are very talented, all-in with the mindset, and essentially a pro in terms of training, and I’m sure that’s not where he wants to go with himself or especially his channel.
And if he keeps racing tris with less expectations as a typical AGer with no grand aspirations, you know he’s going to get crucified here for ‘not living up to his potential’, etc.
I think it’s a good move that he’s diversifying, moving away from the channel focusing on HIS triathlon results which was never supposed to be the focus anyway, and going toward a focus more in line with his future goals. Nothing at all wrong with that, and I applaud him for it.
Don’t agree. No one tuned in expecting great things from him, to the contrary they tuned in because they could relate to the everyman age grouper that he originally presented himself as.
It was once he started sprewking snake oil and grounding mats and $6k bikes as ‘entry level’ that the tide turned
I haven’t followed Triathlon Taren and his journey that closely other than knowing he’s out there and listening to his podcast with the PTO Ceo (really good btw).
It seems like he may have fallen into the 5-Step path to burn out that many age grouper do.
Step 1: Sign up for a triathlon
Step 2: Sign up for an Ironman (this could also be step 1).
Step 3: Decide you want to get better and the only way to do this is train with lots of volume AND intensity.
Step 4: Get better (for a while)
Step 5: Get burnt out after 3-5 years and quit sport.
The key to being good at endurance sports is building a large aerobic engine.
The key to building a large aerobic engine is to train consistently over a VERY long time (10+ years)
How do you train for a long time? You don’t train too hard. You sleep. You control intensity. You keep it fun.
Go on long bike rides (and don’t stare at your powermeter). Stop for coffee. Run trails. Lift some weights. Eat well. Go to bed.
The Norwegians have figured this out.
I’m in year 5 and this post hit home for me. Compensating from plateauing pretty hard by buying a new bike and more expensive coach.
Both are good options. I’d take very seriously the line Mark mentioned about having fun. Joy is important in training. Very hard to will oneself to push very long or very hard when most of the training is drudgery or there is regular dread associated with the efforts.
Don’t agree. No one tuned in expecting great things from him, to the contrary they tuned in because they could relate to the everyman age grouper that he originally presented himself as.
It was once he started sprewking snake oil and grounding mats and $6k bikes as ‘entry level’ that the tide turned
I agree his everyman age grouper image at the beginning was more interesting to me but he seemed to quickly transition to pushing whatever thing caught his constantly shifting focus. Must have Carbon insoles or some nutrition thing or some new magical training technique. No idea what his training plans he produced were like but I wouldn’t trust them judging by the content he produced.
