The season in general has not been very good; not as good as I thought it would be back in March. Summer school and moving have been in the way of my training and it has been less than optimal. I just finished my 3rd HIM of the season (rockman, steelhead and pigman) with not a very good time. In mile 6 of the run I had to stop and go to the “bathroom.”(I won’t give any details here). After that, I was not motivated to push hard and make it up for the time that I lost; I just wanted to finish. After races, I usually feel like I could have gone harder or I could have done something different but this time that wasn’t the case. I did not complain because I did not really care. Is this the red light indicating me that I am burnt out? I was planing on doing a 4th HIM in September but I am doubting myself now. What do you guys think…
Thank you,
DPC
If you’re burnt out, you’ll know - and if that’s the case, just walk away and take some time off. If inspirational music, videos, or pics don’t get your juices flowing, and you can’t get that competitive feeling, then maybe it’s time to call it a season - the worst thing you can do is keep going with something and end up HATING it -
bottom line - you’ll know when it’s time to stand on the sidelines.
When you have not motivation to train for 2 years after doing triathlon for 11 years. I did a sprint last year (my only race in two years) and won my age category but that was still not enough to get me training and racing again. The birth of my son 18 months ago helped me not train much but really I just do not have the motivation to race or train right now. I have signed up for 2 races this year to help me get motivated but then just let them go by.
I think there is burnout from training too much for a big event then there is triathlon burnout when you have been going for 11 years like I had done. I had done 2 Ironmans, 10 half iron’s, 20 olympic and 30 sprints in that time and throw in about 60 running races. It just caught up with me and it was gone. Next year I will start on Jan 1st and get back into a routine of training 4-5 days a week and see how my burnout comes around. Just start out easy and work back into it like I plan on doing.
Three Half-Ironman races would burn me out. Is it still fun? If it’s not, maybe it’s time to do something different.
I was at the pigman too and after the sun came out, the run was just short of brutal.
Don’t judge your willingness to finish the season based on how you felt comming back to the finish line.
If after a week, you still feel the same way, well, then maybe it’s time to shelve the season. No harm in that. It sounds like you’ve already raced more miles this year than most triathletes…
Good Luck.
Why are you training and racing triathlons? Find the answer to that question and you can easily answer your original question.
If it started to feel like a job and not fun anymore…well time to take a break I guess.