The pointy end of the training loads also leads to the unstable emotional state of most athletes. This is occurring to most of our squad - including yours truly. Some have publicly made apologies on social media to their friends and family for their emotional state(s) whilst others have retracted emotionally as to not impact on others. Both are coping mechanisms and there is no right or wrong way about it.
I recently confessed to a (multiple Ironman triathlon finisher) friend online that I was tired and I felt sorry for my friends and family but he made a great point (see picture attached). As a result of that conversation, it has made me re-think about me and how I am to cope for the next 3+ weeks. - Signing up, training and racing an Ironman distance race (or any event for that matter) is MY choice. No one has made me do this and I am doing it for myself...so
- It is my choice to put myself through the early mornings and training loads and if that impacts on my mood/emotions - it is MY choice. I need to make myself accountable for feeling these...
- Everything I do impacts on others - my friends, family, work - even though I am tired and emotional - I need to take a breather before acting on those emotions. They haven't forced me to do this event and I am not doing it for them - they should not have to to put up with it (the crappy me).
- If these people are supportive of me, my training and race day - they deserve all the love I have (now). Its an exchange of emotions - often triathletes forget this. They just thrive on the support that they receive on race day but don't give it back. As I have written about before, this is something which I personally don't agree with and so I try and give back the love and support to everyone in my life as much as I know they are there for me - be it during or outside of training and on race day.
- Triathlon is a selfish sport but don't let this selfishness burn you - you need all the love you can get on race day.
No comments:
Post a Comment