I’ve recently lost my mental resolve to swim/bike/run as much as I should to support my race goals, and having done a run focus last Nov./Dec. I thoroughly enjoyed, I’ve decided to bag triathlon for a while and just run as much as my body and mind allow me to.
Who out there has done something similar and focused on swimming, cycling OR running for an indefinite period? How long did your focus last? What did you achieve with it? What made you return to triathlon again? And what was it like returning to three disciplines? Did you return fresher and a better triathlete, or did you have to start over again for the most part?
I expect to give a real Lydiard base phase a legitimate shake. That means up to 30 weeks of as much steady state running as I can handle, culminating in a late fall marathon. Eventually I can see myself getting back on the bike regularly, but not for a while. I hope to be able to report on my experiences and results in a few months and am just curious to hear from other triathletes who have tried something similar.
Every winter season I’m on my swim team for about a 6th month period of time.
Honestly, I think if you have been doing a sport for a very long time, one of the best things is to take a break and try something else. This happened to me in swimming. I’ve been swimming since the age of 4 (I’m 17 now) and by the time I was 14, I started getting a little sick of it. That summer I didnt sign up for the team but tried triathlons instead. I fell in love with the sport and I’m still here. But since I miss being on my swim team every summer, I come back every winter with more motivation than before. Then when summer comes, I got more motivation to start Triing again from not riding a bike in 5 months.
Thats interesting, because one of the reasons i love tri so much is that i dont get bored cuz im always doing something different. Along with tris, I can do a century if i want, a marathon, anything. Ive had to focus on biking for a while, due to injury and time limitations once, it didnt feel nearly as cool to tell people i was just a cyclist.
Normally the variety is what’s appealing about triathlon to me. Right now I just want to simplify everything, though, and just know that all I need to do each day is run according to how I feel.
Also, I have personally always had a nagging feeling that I’m just a mediocre athlete in three sports. A huge run focus could be a great learning experience and may even bring some breakthroughs. I’ll still be mediocre, but hopefully to a lesser degree;-)
A heavy academic year is forcing me out of the water and has been keeping me off the bike more than I wanted. So, I too have been focused primarily on running. Mentally, it was beneficial to remove the pressure of having to get in workouts for three different sports. I’ve been getting back on the bike more, but my race calender will be mostly runs and a few du’s. I know that triathlon will still be there when I’m done with school and you never know, if I can put together a decent swim over the Summer, I might do a late season tri.
With running, I can run different routes, explore new routes, etc. Swimming is the same blue tile line day after day after day…
Not in the immediate future, but I can forsee the day when I’ll give up tri to focus just on the bike. Maybe do some road racing, centuries, novelty long rides, etc.
One time I just took almost a year off and did some climbing and adventure racing. It was a blast and lead to a lot of interesting travel and adventure.
Since then I’ve climbed Mt. Rainier 7 times, Kilimanjaro (not really a climb per se’), Orizaba, Aconcagua and some other smaller mountains. I also did Eco Challenge and Raid Gauloises.
Do it! Train hard and run your marathon. You’ll become a better runner. You’ll discover how great running is. And how cruel running can be. If you didn’t come from a running backround, it might be hard for your body to get used to running six days a week, so go easy on yourself at first. Running is where triathlon came from, the first tri’s were put on by a running club. And remember; the good runners ALWAYS catch and pass the swimmers and cyclists.
I think it’s more common for triathletes to give up running rather than cycling. I’m sure there are posters here that truth be known don’t run vey much or very well but they still like hanging out here because they like bikes and bike talk. Nothing wrong with that really.
I’m on a total bike focus right now. I didn’t sign up for many tri’s this year and the IM is in September, so I’m only training the bike for now. I will race this spring and then transition to swimming and lastly running. Like you I can only focus on 1 thing now and the other two sports have no appeal at all.
Tom, that is cool. How did you like adventure racing? Doing anymore? It has been an interest of mine but not sure if I will ever go that direction. I raced against Ian Adamson and his buddies at the Teva Vail Hill Climb race last summer. Seemed to be a down to earth guy and super strong, but everyone knows that.
How did you like Kilimanjaro? I may do it in February if all goes well. I recently met Sir Chris Bonnington if you are familiar with him and his legends as a moutain climber. Great guy, truly an inspiration and still climbing at 70!