Random Thoughts

I have been putting a lot of thought into why I train and compete in triathlons. Paula was the one that got me started thinking about this. Right before I entered in the CapTex triathlon, she was praising me and giving me all sorts of encouragement. Then all of a sudden, she asked me, "Why?" I did not even know how to answer that question. I had no clue??? I promised that I would spend my time on the bike and run, trying to figure out why I was an endurance athlete. I told Paula I would get back with her and let her know what I came up with. Well, needless to say, I did not think much about this question while I was competing. All I thought about was constant evaluation of how I was doing and where I needed to be at each point along the way. Well, the race is two weeks in the rearview mirror and I am have been thinking about the question again. I think I have come up with an answer,, not THE answer but one part of the answer.

This is the one and only thing that I can influence in my life. How well I do is totally under my control. My performance is directly related to not only how I trained but how hard I trained. Who I chose to coach me and the program that I use is all under my control. My diet, my hydration plan, all of my day to day habits contribute to my success in not only training but also in race preparation. There is nothing else at this point of my life that I can control I can work my ass of on a project at work and it's success is determined by so many other factors that are outside of my control The success of a software purchase is determined by client budgets, my company's negotiations, the economic outlook of the industry and the country. I can do everything just right and never be part of a sale, all for reasons that I have no control of. I have worked on countless projects that have been total failures both from a technical aspect and from commercial success viewpoint. I worked hard on these projects; I did my part and can honestly say that I did my best. Still, that had no impact on the result. In fact, it always left a bad taste in my mouth to see these projects be killed, or be moved to another lab or even offshore. All my effort was for nothing.

Triathlons for me are different. I have control and I see the results. I see my weight loss, I see my performance change with each week of training. I see how I have gone from a swimming clinic in 2004, to the T1 training group and moved up to the T2 training group this year. I saw how I went from surviving a 400 meter swim to actually competing in a one mile swim. All of that was under my control. I had to put the time into training. I put the time and effort into working on my running, to get past injuries and start enjoying running again. I could have easily hung it up and just quit but that would have ended up feeling like just another failed project.

So, one reason I do this, "the wonderful feeling of accomplishment" . You just cannot beat it. It is in itself a reward for all the hard work and it becomes the driving force that keeps you working hard. I only wish that the day to day job, had as many rewarding moments as the simple act of swimming, biking or running. I cannot imagine how much I would enjoy work if that was the case.