Yeah he’s proper hard but totally bought into the ‘IM is life’ mantra. His whole life and a very large % of his income was related to IM. He was a good coach but I just about disagreed with everything else he said, he not good at empathy!
I think I’ve said before, I’m a toe dipper in tri and IM, some years it suits, some years it doesn’t but the training sets you up to try the myriad other things out there.
Gravel, mtb, TT, ultra, it’s all good in my book. Variety and all that and a trip to Chamonix or Club La Santa for the family is an easier sell than an overpriced ‘just add water’ town for an IM.
The trail stuff has been a revelation for my family. LO loves running them, Mrs FP a little bit but she’s much more into trail hiking and we can do that as a family, which makes me pretty happy.
Interesting thoughts. I think I’m with Jeff B. It’s motivation and the many niggles that seem to be accumulating. The sheer volume of training as I get older that has forced me to drop down from full distance triathlon to middle distance, which I’m sure is more manageable. Have entered the Cotswolds/113 in June where I would like to put in a reasonable performance.
Park runs and Zwift is how I get my intense workouts. I did have a coach, but not anymore. Not sure if I need one or not, but doubt I’ll go back to my old one.
My swim has declined the last 2 years, but that hasn’t surprised me. Swimming has been interrupted because of Covid. I will regain some time if pools remain open over the autumn and winter and I put in the consistent training. It’s the running where I’ve noticed the biggest difference. I have my first ultra next year (deferred from this year thankfully), and really need to get myself moving well. My running rehab man, is going to give me a program for recovery and training.
Think next year I just want to mix things up a bit, have some fun and do some team events. That’s been lacking the past few years.
One motivator for me has been having LO so late. I just figure it’s better to keep active for her, not just for a positive influence but simply so I can keep up!
Duathlon next year for me - 50-54 age group. Coached since 2016 on the cycle front and I know if I stop, I’ll lose focus and fall back sharply.
Coached on a run front since March this year with next year in mind and it’s tough, the decline even at 49 has set in from my quicker years (and that wasn’t anywhere near the standard of some of you) and the reversal looks like a slow process.
All hopes on knuckling down over winter - can’t lose the faith, trust the process etc
One thing I wonder is how long I’ll keep the commitment going (albeit it’s a bit patchier these days already).
Next year I get to play in M55 as the youngest year so that should be fun; year after is my deferred Kona. I feel certain that I’ll give those two years my best shot.
After that I have no idea what to shoot for, i’d imagine the decline will be quite stark by then impacting TT’s, Zwift performance, ability to run quickly and really that’s the two prime years for KQ in M55 gone - in the decline phase you need to strike in the first year or two in new AG, as I found in M50. Will I be happy to settle back into mediocrity, do different things for fun and some of the bucket list events or will motivation fall off a cliff.
i’m beginning to suspect that’s the secret… its not just about ‘who slows the least’, but who can maintain their enthusiasm/motivation equally as much!
Yes I do get moments. Why the hell am I doing this - hurting myself, getting up early, feeling tired most of the time, spending huge amounts of disposable income to do crazy events when most my age get fit by walking the dog round the block.
2 things that are helping was taking a leaver package from a full time v stressful job in 2019, I now work 3 days with a far less stressful (much lower paid) job - and Mrs TRO seems to be getting more enthusiastic and talking up moving from 70.3 to IM.
I usually come round pretty quick. I used to to know Adam Topham, the time triallist - very competitive BBAR winner etc - one day he was training as usual (he used to favour long 2-3 hour Z3 sessions), just climbed off part way through and that was it. Over. As if he’d suddenly reached the end of his motivation, no logical end point like the end of a season, a target reached or realisation that a target was now out of reach. He just couldn’t make himself train any more.
I’ve trained for my last two IM’s with about 90% of it on Zwift (both ride and run) for much the same reason.
I’ve lost two friends in the last 5 years to shit drivers, and an all too large number either hurt to the point of hospitalisation, or bloody close to being.
Its becoming increasingly difficult to justify being outside on the roads with the additional danger from ever increasing traffic volumes and the frenzy over cyclists being whipped up by the populist press to gather clicks so they can make more money.
Similar happened to someone I know who was having a bash at her second Decaman in Hampshire (some of you might know who I’m talking about). she blew out on her 1st Deca after I think completing 8 days and went back the following year to crack the unfinished business.
She came off the bike leg on Day 3 (I think) sat down and said “that’s it no more”. She literally just gave up and went off never to reappear on the LD circuit - she also might have packed in running as well (sub-3 marathon runner) - and went to tend her allotment and lead a lazy life.
Have you seen allotments in holland, they just plant a few perrenials and stick some chairs in them to sit and chill, barely any work at all. No reason you can’t do that there!
Part of me still wants to have another go at an Ironman, but I thought that at Hamburg and got totally derailed by the heat and the fact that nearly everything went wrong on the day from cutting my toe when I jumped in the lake. It’s not easy to do more than 1 a season now, unless you are TC obvs! And a bad race lingers.
But then I think that what would I be achieving except the knowledge that I can still complete one? I moved into M50 last year and wondered if I’d have a chance of slightly moving up the field, but then 2 missed seasons and I’ll be 52 before I do one again, or not far off.
I’ve enjoyed the ultra’s I’ve done but they are tough to train for and I doubt my blood glucose issues have been helping.
I’ve actually enjoyed the 2 duathlons this year despite being in no shape at all for them, I was never a fan of short hard races but probably because they didn’t suit me as I was always too far down on the swim on tri’s.
Swimming is currently my biggest barrier to keep doing triathlons, when I seem to be getting somewhere in the pool with training it rarely transfers to open water for some reason, I then lose interest.
Officer Murtagh was just 50 in a documentary I watched on the television the other day. The camera crew were following him around his last week at work along with his new partner , a younger, crazier chap.
All the way through he kept muttering ‘I’m too old for this sh@t’
At mid 57 I’m not sure about slowing down as I was always slow.
However, training fartlek/intervals has become non-existant, not only due to age and niggles, and the niggles that any intense training causes, but also as I can’t be arsed anymore.
Don’t get me wrong (ok then, get me wrong), I still love training for events, and potentially have my eye on tri X next year. I still have cycling and swimming days when I don’t mind tempo, but intervals, oh please.
I do loads of core and strength, well, about half an hour every morning, with 4 different routines, which I know has been shown to keep strength 'till an older age. Also do meditation daily to keep me chilled, with some positive thinking thrown in re injuries and niggles.
Assuming that most if not all of us are in the top 5% (1-2%?) of our agegroup for health and fitness, we are all doing very well aren’t we, and are relatively fit compared to our colleagues, so that’ll dinky danky doodle for me.
