For a long time I knew that I was using Ironman as a means of avoiding the fact that I was struggling in my job (Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist). Training and racing gave me tangible feedback about my progress in a way that my job never has and never will.
Sometime last year I decided that I needed to stop using Ironman as a crutch and face my job issues. So after Nice 2025 I decided to take a break. No Ironman for me in 2026.
I wasn’t entirely sure what I was going to do. I just knew that quitting Ironman even temporarily would likely force something to happen. I was right.
I started writing. A lot. I’m not interested in writing for professionals, I’m writing for the general public, often parents specifically. Basically, I’m trying to put clinical perspectives into ordinary everyday language. I write about some of my own experiences (not the done things for psychotherapists) and it’s fair to say that Ironman features fairly frequently in the essays.
I don’t think I’ve got the flavour quite right yet so it’s still very much a work in progress.
Anyway, thought I’d point you lot in the direction of my work. It might be interesting for some of you if you are parents or have had a bumpy time in life or if (like me) you know that Ironman fulfils some emotional needs rather than just physical ones.
The whole project has reinvested my interest in work and I’ve made some fairly big changes so the decision to step back from Ironman has certainly been worth it.
In fact, it’s been so successful that I’ve decided to return to the sport next year at Lanzarote when I age up into 50-54. Who knows, if I can get back to some kind of fitness then a return to Kona may be on the cards too. I thought that after 11 years the itch would have gone away but I’m still wanting to scratch it.
I’ll have a read of that later, probably take a few weeks though brave to admit and recognise that the Ironman’s were an escape from work, which I can’t imagine how stressful that field must be.
Probably similar for a lot of us, the training for me was a bit of an addiction or dopamine hit, I’m fairly sure I have ADHD after looking at it and about 5 screening tests suggest I’m over 90% likely, just not sure what an official diagnosis would do at this stage of life.
You seem to share experiences and anecdotes from your own life. Think this makes your writing very powerful, and also imagine it takes a lot of bravery to put it out there?
The concept of getting fired by your adolescent is one which has been close to my heart at times. Think you capture the tension really well- not wanting them to fail, yet allowing them to maybe fail, so that next time maybe they have a better chance of success.
Thanks for sharing it.
Edit: hey, your piece about technology. What’s TriTalk? Pizza, ice-cream? is that why you have been quiet? I see it more as 28 day aged steak au poivre with organic duck fat potatoes and cognac cream, admittedly with a few marshmallows from time to time
Thank you @jeffb@fruit_thief@Doka for your encouraging feedback. It has certainly taken a fair bit of courage to out it out there, primarily because there is such a negative view of writing about personal experience within my profession. Meanwhile it’s a profession that is slowly dying because no one actually writes about this stuff for the general public. I’d much rather 100 parents see my writing than 100 psychotherapists. @fruit_thief, your question about what Tri Talk might be… Depends on whether you’re talking about Sri Talk 1.0 or Tri Talk 2.0 . When I first started using tai talk it was 2010-2011 ish. I’d got heavily into triathlon but had literally zero friends who did triathlon or endurance sport of any sort in the real world. I remember doing my first Ironman (Tenby in 2012) and the thread must have run to about 144 pages. The sub 10 thread and the Sub 3 marathon thread were my training bibles because I didn’t have any one else to talk to about that stuff. @funkin’s 2013 Bolton race report and subsequent Kona diaries were pretty pivotal for me too. Things shifted with Tri Talk 2.0. For me it now has the feel of a big WhatsApp Group. Also perhaps a bigger difference for me is that as my kids have got older and I don’t have trouble train at 5.00am anymore I’ve gradually built up some local training buddies which has been a revelation.
I’m enjoying the Substack writing but as things develop I know that I’m going to have to shift from the writing itself to publicising it which I’m far less confident/enthusiastic about. With that in mind it would be great if you lot could give any feedback (positive and negative) direct on the Substack app. The algorithm likes that … ‘like and subscribe’
brave to admit and recognise that the Ironman’s were an escape from work, which I can’t imagine how stressful that field must be.
. When I first started using tai talk it was 2010-2011 ish. I’d got heavily into triathlon but had literally zero friends who did triathlon or endurance sport of any sort in the real world. I remember doing my first Ironman (Tenby in 2012) and the thread must have run to about 144 pages. The sub 10 thread and the Sub 3 marathon thread were my training bibles because I didn’t have any one else to talk to about that stuff. 
