#13 Managing Training and Life Balance for Triathletes

 In this episode, we explore practical strategies for juggling triathlon training with a busy life, emphasizing the importance of realistic expectations and self-awareness. Whether you're balancing work, family, or unexpected life events, learn how to adapt your training to stay consistent and healthy.

## Key Topics:
- How to adjust training when life gets busy and understanding what to keep or cut
- The importance of maintaining training frequency over volume
- Managing mental and physical fatigue, especially during stressful periods
- The influence of travel, race logistics, and altitude on training and performance
- Setting realistic training goals based on individual time constraints and lifestyle
- The minimal effective dose for completing a race like Ironman successfully
- The role of supportive training communities and online resources
- Planning race-week logistics to minimize stress and maximize preparation
- The significance of enjoyment, sustainability, and longevity in the sport
- Perspective shifts: comparing professional versus age-group athlete challenges 

Come find us Cartel Coaching — Swim. Bike. Run. Together.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:18

Team, welcome to Cartel Coaching. I am Callum Millward. I'm an ex-professional triathlete and three times IMN 70.3 champion. And now I'm getting a proper reintroduction into the sport of triathlon as an age grouper. I spent a number of years at the pointy end of the sport, and now I've got a business, a life, a family, and the same 24 hours as everyone else who is trying to figure out how to be competitive again. And I tell you what, it is super humbling and it's interesting. What I bring to the table is the elite side of things. I'm living the age group reality right now. Not going to pretend that they're the same thing. With me every episode is Tim Brazier, who coaches everyone from first-timers to Olympians, and M, our resident age grouper, who is keeping us honest. This is Cartel Coaching, and let's get into it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Welcome back to Cartel Coaching. So today we're talking about how to juggle our training with everything that life throws at us. I think as an age grouper, it can be super challenging. Most of us are working full-time or we've got very busy lives, we've got family, kids, commitments, dogs, whatever. And it can be really tough to actually get through those sessions. And I think sometimes we put a bit of pressure on ourselves too. I think as triathletes, through a little type A, we like to see those green boxes and sometimes can maybe chase them a little bit too too much. So I know I'm definitely guilty of that. So today what we're doing is we're going to talk a little bit about when life gets busy, how do you actually make those calls about what to keep and what not to keep? But before we do, um, it's been it's been a busy couple of weeks, gang. We've um we've been up in in Noosa doing our camp, haven't we?

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Yep. It was full gas couple of weeks, had a great camp up in Noosa. Eight days sort of felt like on the rivet for for us all, training and balancing everything else out. And we had a great time though. We had nine athletes there and everyone working super well together and experiencing Callum's training grounds, which are just epic, like the riding out the back. Um you guys are pretty lucky there. Really quiet roads and beautiful scenery and then awesome running in the national park and then uh you can open water swim in the middle of winter.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

How good? Yeah, we're very fortunate. I feel like the um you know, if you can get to an environment like this, then and you know, you can uh you can afford to train year round. Um a lot of people in the northern hemisphere are wiped out through the winter months, um, which there's pros and cons to that. Like, you know, a a certain pro of not being able to train with snow in that is you can have a forced break and sort of recover and decompress. I sort of always envist that a little bit, whereas uh where we can afford to sort of train year round, which is good for for gains, so I guess it really depends how you frame it. But I think regardless of where you you live in the world, I think um so long as you have a little break at the end of the season or a you know a mini break in the mid-season to uh recover and and go again is it's it's good. And then I I guess a little bit like Wanuker where you are Tim, it's um if you're surrounded by good people, um, that's great as well. Like it's super important, and that's something that we've tried to aspire to with our community where you know everyone's encouraging each other. So training physical location is super important, the online stuff is important as well, and then um yeah, lots of little things at play there that can sort of help you.

SPEAKER_03 3:49

Yeah, you guys are lucky with that community there, eh? Like it's been encouraging M that she gets up there, she can get into NAC and join the swim squads, and you know, just a great community of people at swimming and the open water swim groups that you have and the ride groups as well. It's a pretty special place from that perspective.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, coming back to Sydney, I tell you what, it was was not not a nice, not a nice transition. My ride, I was balaclaved, full winter gear. Um, yeah, I can't wait to be back back up back up in Queensland.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

And you're you're off to uh Philippines shortly, Em.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Sure am, yeah, on Thursday, so a couple of days. Uh yeah, off for um Olympic distance in the Philippines. It's gonna be a hot race. I do have a broken toe, I think. A suspected broken toe looks pretty broken. Um so yeah, it will be a challenging race, but a good one. Character building, Em. Character building.

SPEAKER_03 4:47

Resilience. That works. Nothing like 30 degrees rain and 85% humidity to really get you rolling.

SPEAKER_00 4:57

Doing this, but yeah, yeah, it will be good good good day of training, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Yeah, hopefully good wee venture too, right? That's part of why we do it. We'd eventually some pretty cool places of the world, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_03 5:11

Yeah. So Ian, you've been managing training really, haven't you? Like it's been a pretty big journey for you of late. Um, how have you as the set age grouper gone about balancing things over this little wee while?

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah, it's been um it's been tough. So to to level with our audience. I've I've got a lot of big life things happening. I'm I'm moving house, I'm moving jobs, um, I'm completely sort of uphauling my life and then trying to continue to train for Iron Man at the same time. So I I I've found that my training has actually been probably the most stable thing in my life at the moment, um, which has been great because it's given me routine when it's felt like I haven't had a lot of routine. But I think in the same token, because I've been sort of holding on to that a little bit, I've probably pushed through some things that maybe I shouldn't have. Um I think today is a good example of that where I was pretty, I'm pretty cooked today. It's been a yeah, particularly after our camp and then coming home and and having just three days to completely pack up my house. Um, I did a pretty hard bike session this morning and I could tell from the outset that I was probably not not right for the bike session. I thought I'd give it 30 minutes. I I could tell I still was not right for that bike session and I did keep persisting with that bike session and now I don't feel overly flashed. So um I I think it's a bit hit and miss for me. I I'd say I'm getting through most of my training, but I'm pro I probably should be doing a little bit of better juggling and maybe making some choices around rest and recovery. Hence the reason we're having this chat today on the potty.

SPEAKER_03 6:56

You think it's physical rest or mental rest, Tim? Because I think that's something that can get confused, right? So, you know, with a lot of life stresses going on, it has a big mental impact, which then comes out through a physical sense, right? And I think that's maybe more of what you're experiencing than being physically tired.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

I think you're spot on. So how how do you sort of uh do you address that in the same way, Tim, as you would with sort of a physical stress?

SPEAKER_03 7:21

You do really, yeah. Because it's just it's fatigue in the body and you you have to just look after yourself, whether it's mental or physical. You you know that you can't push through those key sessions. Um and you know, first and foremost, you're trying to cut back a majority of your intensity and trying to hold maybe one thing in there and then cut down the volume. Um but I think on the flip side of the mental piece is protecting the frequency of it because you've already spoken at the start of this about it's been a stable thing in the last four or five weeks. You know, so if you took away the frequency of it and it was infrequent, then mentally you actually might get be worse off for doing it. So we could sit there and go, I'm not gonna train, but you'll be you'd probably smoke be really smoked because of that in different ways than you would be physically. So I think trying to protect the frequency element of training is really important, holding that wee bit of intensity in there where you can is important, and then cutting the volume down though, so you get that time to breathe and relax and and soak up everything that's going on and be able to process it right, because you've you need mental space to be able to do that. Um I think that's where people these days are seeking meditation or yoga or different experiences because pretty quickly we go to relax and we pull out this and we just scroll it and uh our mind doesn't turn off and we don't get to actually process what's going on for ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

Yeah, the phone's a big one. I'd say also there's a bit of um additional stress from the heat training that I've also incorporated in. I'd I I didn't really think of it at the time, but sauna adds a bit of stress too, right?

SPEAKER_03 9:02

Yeah, yeah. It's the poor man's attitude, really, heat training. Um, you know, you get some good adaptation, but it's just it's a stressful situation. And those who have trained at attitude before or ridden into the Pyrenees or the Alps or any big place know the impact it can have and how cooked you can be the next day from a session of attitude pretty hard. And um it can really ruin you for not just one day, but four, five, six days.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Race week's just stressful as it is. Even when everything's going well, it's there's so much to remember when you've got to pack your bike and sort your nutrition, your race gear, check flights, hotels, logistically, it's very stressful. So it's like it it compounds on top of you know, life's challenges as well. So I I always I found uh almost taking a day-by-day uh of travel week, if you have to travel to an event. I've always insisted that if you can sleep in your own bed before a race, if you've got a local race, it's it's such a big advantage not having to pat down a bike or you know, jump on a plane, that kind of stuff, because it does really take it out of you. Yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_03 10:06

It's super stressful. Um and then just knowing going through customs, what could pop up, what you've forgotten, or what you've missed, and then landing on race day and and uh or having a day to the race and then not having everything that you need. Um trying to scround around a place up in the Philippines where you don't know where things are and what's going on, or how to get race support is is horrible in cow. I'm sure you've been there when you're in the back blocks of Romania or Hungary or somewhere and it's just a nightmare trying to get your bike fixed.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

I actually uh I remember I got a flat tire when I was doing a European cup in Turkey and uh there weren't too many Vanti Plus stores there. So I um I I remember I used to race on tubular tires, which are glued on tires, and I couldn't replace it myself. I I would carry a spare tube, but I just sorry a spare tire because it's all in one. It's the tube and it's the outer tire, all it's one complete circle. Yeah. So it's um that sort of changed a little bit now. It's not as popular, but anyways, talking about being in the the the boonies, I was in the middle of nowhere in Turkey, and um I remember just they had some guy who was, I guess, a mechanic by day and a shift by night, and he just came along and sort of basically pulled out a crut like you know, a Stanley knife, and he's cutting it off onto my like he's cutting off this tire off my four thousand dollar wheels and um yeah, but I think you do make do, and you know, if you're racing in the Philippines as well, like um you've just got to figure out you try and be as self-sufficient as possible, and you start to learn over the years as well. Do I need to be carrying some DI2 cables? Do I need a spare rear derail hanger? Do I need certain bolts, Allen keys, um DI2 charger? Um you become pretty self-sufficient. Now you don't have to take a bike pump, you can take a little e-pump. So start to build up this little infantry of things to sort of um you know MacGyver your way out of these situations. But again, the more prepared you are for it, the less stressful it is. Yeah, big time.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Yeah, and then it comes down to as you talked about how how you structure race week, right? And day by day taking as it comes and making sure you're just taking the boxes off and trying to reduce the stress when it comes down to the days before or race day. Um I think so.

SPEAKER_02 12:28

I still I still think it's important just to balance all those logistics because it's hard for your coach and it's hard for even you to sort of think on the fly and figure out, hey, I remember putting a disc wheel on the night uh literally the night before 70.3 in um in the US over in New Jersey and um we pinched the cable and we couldn't get to a bike shop, it was past closing hours. And um so the people we were staying with, they got out of soldering iron, we stripped back the out of casing and we soldered it and we made it happen. And um I do think I do think uh a big part of triathlon, especially long distance racing, is just trying to overcome all those things. And I still feel like it's very rare that everything goes to plan. And if you can be okay with that and know that things are going to get a bit crazy, either during the race, we know that Michael, you know, he flattered up in cans, we know um, you know, plenty of people will have especially with all the electronics these days, it's it's challenging. I I found it hard to get my through axle out of my bike uh out of my my my case after I finished flying and I ripped off a big chunk of paint, and it's just a lot of the time you don't broadcast it, but you just you gotta work your way through it.

SPEAKER_03 13:44

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And uh I often feel the ones that aren't broadcasting are the ones that are dealing with it better because just going through the process and not making a big deal out of it. Um just focus on what they can control and what they can do, and I think that bounces us back into to the week, right? And looking at training and and how we manage ourselves is it's trying to think about what we can control and what we can manage within that week and trying not to chase green boxes. I'll tell you what, as soon as they colour coded stuff on training peaks, it became a nightmare. Because if you just left it without colours um and let it be, I it would be really interesting to see how people responded because it's not about the green box, it's about race day. It's not about that week, it's about every week linking together really well and doing the best you can every day instead. And I think that's the it's the most dangerous thing is chasing green boxes and trying to be a hundred percent a hundred percent of the time because it's like a race, it's not the reality.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

I I will say I do I'm a little bit different because I'm sort of self-coached as well, so I will amend things so everything is green, and um if I miss a decision, it will just get deleted, so it does look pretty. But um obviously we're all at different levels, so um I I think if you're starting out as well, it it's still it's good to be aware that you know sometimes you can't get through 100% of the training. So long as it's not so long as you've just been somewhat consistent and you listen to your body, it's super important. I think it's important not to just push through when life comes at you and it comes at you fast sometimes, and there can be things compounding, like Emma's, you know, going through uh chain lots of life changes, and it's just like trying to realize, hey, that's gonna put some stress on you as well. Uh that's gonna could put the same amount of sort of I don't know what in terms of physiological terms, but mental stress is challenging too, right? You could be getting audited from the ATL, you could be get a big speeding ticket, or you might just be struggling a few things, it's still stress on the body. And I mean we're stressing ourselves as training, so it's like you're basically getting double fisted. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:02

Totally. And look, I think people can realise that for a few minimal weeks they can cut their volume by like sixty percent, and they're gonna be okay. You know, and if we're talking about sixty percent, we're talking about taking a 14-hour week that you might normally do and being, you know, under seven hours. Um and around five or six. So it's not much um that you you have to pull off to have a minimal viable week that's just gonna keep you maintaining um where you're at before you be ready to go again. Because sickness with kids happens if you've got kids or you get sick yourself, you know, you could have a week off, and actually often you see people that get sick, they have a week off, and they come back the next week and they're flying, they bounce back because finally they've given themselves some rest that they really deserved and needed. Um so really thinking like up to up to 60% it's gonna be fine, you're gonna survive, and if you've got to do a little bit more than that, then that's that's all good too. Um and at times it's really nice, I think, to be able to map out what a minimum viable week could look like for yourself. Um so you have that as a backup plan, like well things are going to shit. What are the things I'm gonna keep in place? Like, where's my weakness? You know, I'm a weak swimmer, well I need to keep swimming twice a week. I'm a really good runner, so maybe I can just keep in a couple moderate runs, and then I'm gonna keep some intense end on the bike because I know I'm trying to build up my VO2 max on the bike. Um sort of trying to piece your puzzle together based on where your stresses and weaknesses are and trying to find that minimal effective dose that's gonna move you forward. Um I think we know if we really dial it down, one long session if we can fit it in, one hard session if we fit it in, and then just a few easy aerobics and around that. Um and you you dial those in and out depending on where your strength and weaknesses lie. And I I'm not sure for you, Cal, I mean it's it'd be interesting for your perspective. You've come from being a pro and doing some big hours, but now doing the age group life, how you how you find juggling, the juggling act with your expectation on training load.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

It's challenging, especially being self-employed too. So as you know, like and then you throw in like kids and it's uh you know, like our kids are like just sponges for sickness. So when they come home with a hooping cough, it's like you gotta get your own dinner tonight, I'm staying away out of the kitchen. You know, it I just run through the house like a plague. So um I I I struggled with that big time at the start when I finished racing and just having to sort of I guess the thing with pros is right, you have and it's the same with all the pros these days, most of them are not making much money. The couple that you know by name on TV uh or the broadcasts are making money. But the majority of them are not making money and but they're afforded uh to they can train 20 to 30 hours a week. Um so it kind of it's a double-edged sword. Like so you're fast, you've got all this time, your your stresses uh are not so much time of fitting your training, your stresses are financial, whereas as an age group of your stresses are time trying to fit stuff in. You might have to set the alarm at 4 a.m. so you can get on the bike by five, or you might, you know, like last night I got home at seven and I ran at 7.30 on the treadmill. And then another stress to that is my treadmill I realised is just broken. So the deck where I land is like all squishy. My hip flexors started hurting the other day, so I'm running on the back of the treadmill where it's not broken. I can't go too far back or I'll get uted into the wall, and I can't go too far forward or I'll go through it. So it's like I and then plus it's too late to uh run out on the road as well. So um it's like at least she uh she she's very good with like balancing it. And I think people at Annabelle Luxwood who race to a high level as a pro are good examples of people who are still able to work somewhat just to I think bring money in and keep their head on their shoulders and have a balance. Um so I think going from like being completely selfish to now having to share your time during the week, it's a balance and it is adjusting your expectations where hey, sometimes you just have to fit stuff in where you can fit it in, and that might mean starting your run in the evening or your bike on the trainer a little bit tighter than what you would do otherwise. It's not perfect, but one thing you can always keep in your back pocket is the people you're racing are probably doing the same. And you've just got to make it happen. You're not racing you're racing people, you know, a couple of years either side of your age. Um, and so they're probably doing the same thing. And even if let's say they don't have kids or they don't have a job uh or some you know, less stresses, they're still trying to fit stuff in. Um, but everyone's got something going on somewhere, and it's just I think if you can sort of throw the the textbook out the window and just be like, hey, I've got 10 hours of training this week, I've got a family event on Saturday morning when I'd normally go for my long ride. How can I sort of jig things around to make sure I still get that sort of longest ride in? Do I, you know, pump push it back to Sunday? Just have a little guidance on that. And I think so long as it's not like every week, um, you try and find some there's a lot of comfort in like uniformity and uh repetition. It's like um you just again you try and make it happen. I think your outlook's super important on that. So that's how I handle it. And again, there's plenty of times where you don't handle it well where it's like it's tough, like it's tough, but it's like like you say, sometimes I think it's more so uh psychological than it is physical. Like just to dial it back a little bit sometimes. Um you like you say, Tim, you don't lose too much fitness, but if you just need to give yourself a breather, that's good too. So what we want to be doing is stacking consistently. Each week, and if that means dialing it back a little bit. If you happen to dial it back like one out of four every four weeks, you might need to readjust your program, but um and find something more sustainable. But yeah, I think it's good to chat to your coach, figure out, hey, uh, I'm able to get through these sessions, I'm not able to get through these, or I'm just finding I'm sort of burning the candle a little bit and get that feedback and figure it out. Um it's a good shout.

SPEAKER_03 22:24

Yeah, nice mate. That's a great shout. And I think it's uh you know, even coming from my background of coaching and being away on the road of the time, learning to share your time is a real challenge that's been a real challenge, and not have that selfish nature about what you're doing. Um and that's even come from a working sense, and it's it's it's hard to fit it all in. It's real a real tricky balance. But the real nice point I think you pointed out there is actually recognising that everybody else is in the same boat. I can people can acknowledge that, and I think it's really key. Um and trying to find that that week of consistency that does allow you to turn up and do whether it's six hours, whether it's eight hours, whether it's ten, like what is consistent to you is more important than anything else, not what is consistent to all the other age groupers. Um what can you do on a weekly basis? And I think Yemmy, you'll be exploring that one pretty nice over the last period and and but probably looking forward to maybe being able to do something differently once you get up to Noosa.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

I am, yeah. Um, I think it's interesting just sort of thinking about, you know, when you're dialing it back because you have a life event versus have you just sort of bitten off way more than you can chew and you've actually chosen a program that's a bit unrealistic for you. Tim, do you find that a little bit um in your coaching that sometimes you just see a pattern where someone has the best intentions and maybe they desperately want to do, say, 15 hours of training, but realistically with their life they'd be better served with just doing ten?

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Yeah, I'd say there's probably sixty to seventy percent of my age groupers when they start out, that's where they sit. Expectation of what they would like to be doing versus what's actually achievable, require a disconnect. Um, and it's sort of massaging people's egos and expectations down to to what's really realistic and what they can do, and saying, well, you show me you can do four hours four weeks at eight hours and hit every session and hit them well, then we'll talk about ten hours. And when you can do that, then we might talk about twelve hours. Um and I think people should be doing that for themselves within the training plans. You know, if you're downloading a training plan from somewhere, um, that's what you should be looking at. It's not thinking what's my maximal training that I can do within a week, it's thinking about what's the minimal effective dose that I can pull off to start with. Take those boxes for a few weeks and then be like, okay, this is really where I'm at. What can I do now? Can I do a little bit more? Um and then stepping that up and rather than chasing the 12 or sit fourteen or sixteen hours to start, which is pr a pretty common practice. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:10

Yeah. I think um I think I mean one thing I I'm sort of adapting to this age group lifestyle and what I did before Cairns is I stalked a few of the guys who have done well. And I think um I went a few weeks deep in their social medias to see what they're balancing, and I was like, We're all the same. Like if like uh the performance bar lowers, obviously as you get older, you don't have to go as fast, and it's resetting those expectations and then it's realizing like, hey, these other guys I'm racing, they've got kids, they've got jobs. Um I saw a few race reports for people getting up at like 3 30 to fit their training in, and it's um it's kind of reassuring because it's like, hey, you don't need to be doing 20-25 hours a week. There's a few people that can do that, but uh you can still achieve great things and go well um off a much smaller schedule because again, that's how you're racing. Maybe that changes for a championship event like 70.3 Worlds of Kona, but um it's sort of adjusting those expectations too. Yeah, completely.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Do you think for some of the distances though there is a minimum that you really should be hitting? Like I I'm I'd say for an Iron Man, you'd have to realistically be able to commit to a certain level of training, right? Like if you were someone who was constantly sort of falling below, I guess, the mark, you're probably gonna have a pretty, pretty rough race day. What would you say the minimum would be for something like an Iron Man that like a that where you would still be able to get a decent level of performance?

SPEAKER_03 26:51

So what would we say is a decent level of performance?

SPEAKER_00 26:54

So we Well yeah, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_03 26:57

Because I think that's a really important thing for people is to set where they set their expectation of performance to start with. I think there's some people who um that you know, they'll be really happy to acknowledge they're gonna be walking quite a long part portion of the marathon. Yeah. Um and just getting through the surviving the swim and having a nice consistent bike and it's gonna be a a a decent level performance. Um you know, and they'll have a a hard long day out, but they'll probably be very happy with that. Um but if you're wanting to actually race it and execute and compete well um on that side of things, I think you you've gotta be consistently sitting somewhere within those double hours because by the time um double number hours, sorry, because by the time you've start to tick off a five or six hour ride in the weekend, you know, that's over sixty percent of your training load done. Um so it's gonna those big weeks are gonna take take some some doing.

SPEAKER_02 27:59

I yeah, I I agree. I think as well, I've known I've known some people that have done less than ten hours for an Iron Man and it does catch up with you. Uh it means you will be walking a lot of the run. I I just think as well, if you can commit to a build and put in you know, some of those key uh ingredients during the week, you long ride, your long run, race day's gonna be fun as well. So you want it to be fun. It's like a cater training day. So if you if you're not out there to race, if you're there just to complete it, um you still wanna be at some level of fitness and maybe have some of those key sessions to just see, hey, am I on track? Am I able to hold this speed or this sort of pace? Um, uh what does that look like on race day? Do I think I can go around in let's say fifteen hours or seventeen hours? Like it's it it becomes it it becomes physically, you know, it's challenging as well. So I I think for me I've always found race days a celebration of all the training. So if you can if you can put in those hours as much as you sort of can without you know uh getting divorced or losing your job, then um it's a win for everyone as well.

SPEAKER_03 29:18

Yeah, I think it's a pretty key point and I have heard someone say Iron Man's the divorce sport um until you find a partner that's doing Iron Man as well, and then you're okay. Um so it is a it's a really tricky balance to maintain it. And you know, I've seen age groupers in their key blocks doing um 18 to 22 hours and then also taking weeks off and and doing stuff between 24 and 26 hours if they're really committed to Kona or something um different. And it's all gonna be relative to what people's goals are gonna be, but I think Kellan's right, you want to enjoy your race day. Um so if you are thinking about ticking off an Iron Man, then think about what that's gonna mean on a weekly basis and whether that's achievable and and whether or not maybe doing a half Iron Man to start or something on a more consistent basis is gonna be a more enjoyable experience on a regular basis for you because sport's supposed to be fun and we also want to be healthy. Um and if you're not prepared for an Iron Man, you're probably not gonna be that healthy afterwards for a few weeks. Um there's gonna be some pretty big niggles that come up.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

Yeah, I think longevity in the sport is key too. And if you're going out and you're having poor experiences at events, financially it costs a lot, and also mentally. Um, you know, before I got fit, I did a few bike races where I just got absolutely toweled up. And after like the second or third one, I was like, we need to pull off and go out here and get going because it's like it's wasting, it's it's a waste of money, it's a waste, a little bit of waste of time, and it's sort of for me, it's sort of not respecting the event or yourself as well. It's like, hey, let's just let's commit to this, even if it's just different blocks. You choose two races a year, you're like, hey, I'm just gonna commit to this, and do a 10-week block or 16-week block, um, and try and make it like challenge yourself and go for it and make it a good experience, try and tick off things along the way in your training peaks. And um it needs to be enjoyable, you need to make sure it's fun and sustainable. Because I think if you're just going out to these events and you're having a bad time, uh you're not gonna be, you know, pickleballers in your future and triathlon will not be there.

SPEAKER_00 31:24

So yeah. That's so right, and uh you you see it, like, oh, I see it a fair bit. I think there's like the exciting point of registering for a race. Like we all love that feeling of pressing the button and going, yes, I've got X amount of weeks before the race is happening. But if you don't really enjoy the meat and the sandwich and doing the repetitive stuff over and over again, it's um yeah, it's gonna be a bit of a slog or it's just a constant race deferral. You know, you see those people who have the hopes and dreams they wanted to do the thing, but just have not been able to string it together. And you see that there it happens a lot, right? And um, and that doesn't feel good either. So yeah, totally agree.

unknown 32:09

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:10

Well look, that's been a great chat team. Thanks for um engaging today on thinking about what we how we manage our weeks and fatigue and sharing some experiences. And we uh looking forward to seeing how your experience goes in the heat m and uh telling us about those learnings over there.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

Yeah, love it. Well, that's a wrap. But if you want to keep the conversation going, come find us on Instagram at cartel.coaching. And for coaching camps and community, you can check out our web page. I've linked it in the show notes. See you next time.