The Lonely Triathlete

Jaksot

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  The Disorganized Triathlete 13.09.2026 18min

  I'm always trying to get more organized. But even if I were to succeed, would it help me in triathlon?Come be more organized with me at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTThere’s something I've been thinking about lately, and it has to do with organization.And I know, organization isn't exactly the most exciting topic in the world.But I've been thinking about it in a slightly different way.Because I've realized that I tend to think of organization as something that happens when my life gets too messy.I've got a desk covered in papers.I've got things on my calendar that I haven't dealt with.I've got little projects that I've started but haven't finished.I've got receipts that need to be submitted, notes that I wrote down because I didn't want to forget them, things that I need to file away, things that I need to follow up on.And my first reaction is usually:"God, I really need to get organized."And I think that's true.But a few days ago, I was looking at all of this stuff and I had a slightly different thought.Maybe all of this stuff is also evidence of a life that's being lived.Because those papers didn't just magically appear on my desk.They're there because I'm doing things.I'm interested in things.I'm starting things.I'm trying things.I'm thinking about things.And that doesn't mean that I should leave my desk looking like a disaster forever.But maybe I don't have to look at the mess and immediately see evidence that I'm failing at being organized.Maybe I can look at it and see evidence of a life with some interest in it.And that got me thinking about triathlon.Because if there's one hobby that can generate an absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff, it's triathlon.Three sports.Three sets of equipment.Training plans.Nutrition.Clothing.Shoes.Bikes.Goggles.Fins.Paddles.Snorkels.Heart-rate monitors.Power meters.Bike computers.Lights.Radar.Bottles.Gels.Electrolytes.And then you've got all the little things that have to happen before you actually do the workout.And sometimes I think that's one of the reasons training can feel overwhelming.You don't just have to do the workout.You have to prepare to do the workout.Take swimming, for example.I might have a swim scheduled.And in my head, that sounds pretty simple."Okay, I'm going swimming."But then I actually think about what that involves.I've got to get my swim bag.I've got to make sure I've got my goggles.I've got my cap.I've got my towel.I've got my snorkel.Maybe I've got paddles.Maybe I've got a pull buoy.I've got to know what the workout is.Maybe I've printed it out.And if I'm putting the workout beside the pool, I might even put the damn thing in a Ziploc bag so it doesn't get soaked.And suddenly, "I'm going swimming" has become this little logistical operation.And you can look at that and think:"Jesus. This is a lot of work just to go swimming."And that's where I think organization becomes really important.Because one of the great things about being organized is that it removes friction.If I put my running shoes by the door the night before, that's one less decision I have to make in the morning.If I've already prepared my bike bottles, that's one less thing I have to think about.If my watch is charged, I don't have to discover at the last minute that it's sitting at 14 percent.If my swim bag is already packed, I don't have to go hunting around the house looking for my snorkel.And these things sound incredibly trivial.But they're not.Because motivation is a funny thing.Sometimes you have plenty of motivation.You actually want to go for the run.You actually want to ride your bike.You actually want to get in the pool.And then you encounter five little obstacles.Where are my shoes?My watch is dead.I haven't made my drink.Where's my towel?What am I supposed to do for this workout?And suddenly that little bit of motivation has been chipped away.So I think one of the great purposes of organization is not necessarily to make you more motivated.It's to protect the motivation that you already have.And I really like that idea.But I think there's another layer to this.And that's where the idea of ritual comes in.Because there's a difference between doing something because you have to do it and doing something as part of a ritual.Think about making your coffee in the morning.You could describe it as a series of chores.Fill the machine.Grind the beans.Put the coffee in.Turn it on.Clean it up.Or you could think of it as a little morning ritual.And somehow, that changes the experience.And I think the same thing can happen with training.Take preparing a bottle of carb drink.You can think:"God, I have to make this stupid drink again."Or you can think:"Okay. I'm getting ready for my ride."And you get the bottle.You put the water in.You measure out the carbs.You add the electrolytes.You shake it up.You put it in the fridge.And that's not just a chore anymore.It's part of the ride.It's the beginning of the ride.The same thing with charging your watch.The same thing with laying out your clothes.The same thing with getting your shoes ready.The same thing with packing your swim bag.The same thing with putting that workout into the Ziploc bag.You can look at every one of those things and say:"This is stuff I have to do before I can train."Or you can say:"This is how I prepare to train."And those two sentences sound almost identical.But emotionally, they're completely different.One is a burden.The other is a ritual.And I think there's something really powerful in that distinction.Because we spend so much of our time trying to get to the thing we actually want to do.We rush through the preparation.We rush through getting ready.We think the preparation is just an annoying obstacle between us and the good part.But maybe the preparation is part of the good part.Maybe there's actually some pleasure in getting ready.There's something satisfying about seeing the bike bottles lined up.There's something satisfying about getting your kit laid out.There's something satisfying about knowing that everything is ready to go.And I think that's particularly true in triathlon because there are so many little rituals.You put on the cycling shoes.You get the bottles into the cages.You turn on the trainer.You pull up the workout.You put your headphones on.You get on the bike.And there's a transition that happens.You're no longer sitting around thinking about everything else in your life.You're becoming the person who's about to train.And maybe that's part of the value of ritual.It tells your brain:"Okay. We're doing this now."And I think this also changes the way we think about all of the equipment.Because if you're not careful, all of the stuff that comes with triathlon can feel overwhelming.You start thinking:Why do I have all this stuff?Why do I have five different kinds of nutrition?Why do I have all these swim toys?Why do I need this bike computer?Why do I have a radar?Why do I have this light?Why do I have these shoes?And you can certainly take it too far.Triathlon is an excellent hobby if you want to become an obsessive consumer of tiny improvements.There's always another piece of equipment.There's always another gadget.There's always another thing that might make you three percent faster.And I'm certainly not immune to that.But I've also started thinking that some of that stuff is part of what makes the sport interesting.Take swimming.Maybe you've got a snorkel.You can use it to work on your body position.You've got paddles.You can feel what your catch is doing.You've got fins.You've got a pull buoy.And suddenly swimming isn't just:"Get in the pool and swim back and forth."There's this whole little world of things to explore.And the bike is the same.You can get interested in power.You can get interested in aerodynamics.You can get interested in tires.You can get interested in nutrition.You can get interested in bike fit.You can get interested in training.And I think that's one of the things I love about triathlon.There's always something to be curious about.And that brings me back to my messy desk.Because maybe the desk and the triathlon gear aren't actually that different.The desk is covered with evidence of all the things I'm interested in.And the garage, or the swim bag, or the training calendar, is covered with evidence of all the things I'm interested in as well.And I don't think the answer is to eliminate all of that.I think the answer is to organize it.Not because those things are bad.But because I want to be able to enjoy them.And that's an important distinction.Organization shouldn't necessarily be about simplifying your life to the point where there's nothing left in it.Maybe it's about organizing your life well enough that you can enjoy its complexity.Because triathlon is complex.And that's part of the fun.But there's a danger here, too.Because you can take this idea of preparation and ritual too far.You can become so focused on preparing that you never actually do the workout.You can spend an hour researching the perfect nutrition strategy for a 45-minute run.You can spend all day organizing your training instead of training.You can convince yourself that you need one more piece of equipment before you can really get started.And that's not what I'm talking about.The ritual is supposed to lead you into the activity.It's not supposed to replace the activity.So I think there's a balance.Prepare enough that you remove the friction.Organize enough that you don't have to make a hundred little decisions.But then actually go and do the thing.And maybe that's the real purpose of organization.It's not about having a perfect desk.It's not about having a perfect calendar.It's not about having everything checked off.It's about making room for the things you care about.And that brings me back to something I've been thinking about a lot lately.Sometimes I look at my calendar and I see all of these unfinished things.And my immediate reaction is:"There's too much here."But maybe another way to look at it is:"Look at all the things I get to be interested in."And I think the same thing can happen with triathlon.You look at your training calendar and you think:"Oh my God. I've got all these workouts."You look at your swim bag and think:"Look at all this stuff I have to carry."You look at your bike and think:"Look at all these things I have to check."You look at your nutrition and think:"I have to prepare all of this again."Or you can take a moment and think:"How cool is this?"I get to swim.I get to ride my bike.I get to run.I get to learn about my body.I get to experiment with training.I get to figure out what works.I get to prepare for a race.And all of these little rituals are part of that experience.So maybe the goal isn't to get rid of the complexity.Maybe the goal is to make the complexity manageable.And maybe the goal isn't to eliminate all of the unfinished things on my desk.Maybe it's to give those things a place to live.Because there's a difference between being overwhelmed by your life and being surrounded by evidence that you're living an interesting life.And sometimes, honestly, I think I confuse the two.So the next time I'm standing in the kitchen making a bottle of carb drink before a ride, or charging my watch, or putting my shoes beside the door, or stuffing my swim workout into a Ziploc bag...Maybe I'll try not to think:"God, I have to do all this stuff before I can train."Maybe I'll think:"This is the beginning of my training."And maybe that's a small shift.But I think sometimes the small shifts are the ones that change the way we experience our lives.Because the training isn't just the hour on the bike.It's the preparation.It's the anticipation.It's the ritual.It's the workout.It's the recovery.It's thinking about what you're going to do next time.It's all of it.And maybe that's one of the reasons I love this ridiculous sport so much.There's just so much to it.And instead of seeing all of that as one more thing to organize...Maybe I can see it as one more thing to enjoy.
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  [PREVIEW] The Disorganized Triathlete 13.09.2026 5min

  I'm always trying to get more organized. But even if I were to succeed, would it help me in triathlon?TRANSCRIPTThere’s something I've been thinking about lately, and it has to do with organization.And I know, organization isn't exactly the most exciting topic in the world.But I've been thinking about it in a slightly different way.Because I've realized that I tend to think of organization as something that happens when my life gets too messy.I've got a desk covered in papers.I've got things on my calendar that I haven't dealt with.I've got little projects that I've started but haven't finished.I've got receipts that need to be submitted, notes that I wrote down because I didn't want to forget them, things that I need to file away, things that I need to follow up on.And my first reaction is usually:"God, I really need to get organized."And I think that's true.But a few days ago, I was looking at all of this stuff and I had a slightly different thought.Maybe all of this stuff is also evidence of a life that's being lived.Because those papers didn't just magically appear on my desk.They're there because I'm doing things.I'm interested in things.I'm starting things.I'm trying things.I'm thinking about things.And that doesn't mean that I should leave my desk looking like a disaster forever.But maybe I don't have to look at the mess and immediately see evidence that I'm failing at being organized.Maybe I can look at it and see evidence of a life with some interest in it.And that got me thinking about triathlon.Because if there's one hobby that can generate an absolutely ridiculous amount of stuff, it's triathlon.Three sports.Three sets of equipment.Training plans.Nutrition.Clothing.Shoes.Bikes.Goggles.Fins.Paddles.Snorkels.Heart-rate monitors.Power meters.Bike computers.Lights.Radar.Bottles.Gels.Electrolytes.And then you've got all the little things that have to happen before you actually do the workout.And sometimes I think that's one of the reasons training can feel overwhelming.You don't just have to do the workout.You have to prepare to do the workout.Take swimming, for example.I might have a swim scheduled.And in my head, that sounds pretty simple."Okay, I'm going swimming."But then I actually think about what that involves.I've got to get my swim bag.I've got to make sure I've got my goggles.I've got my cap.I've got my towel.I've got my snorkel.Maybe I've got paddles.Maybe I've got a pull buoy.I've got to know what the workout is.Maybe I've printed it out.And if I'm putting the workout beside the pool, I might even put the damn thing in a Ziploc bag so it doesn't get soaked.And suddenly, "I'm going swimming" has become this little logistical operation.And you can look at that and think:"Jesus. This is a lot of work just to go swimming."And that's where I think organization becomes really important.Because one of the great things about being organized is that it removes friction.If I put my running shoes by the door the night before, that's one less decision I have to make in the morning.If I've already prepared my bike bottles, that's one less thing I have to think about.If my watch is charged, I don't have to discover at the last minute that it's sitting at 14 percent.If my swim bag is already packed, I don't have to go hunting around the house looking for my snorkel.And these things sound incredibly trivial.But they're not.Because motivation is a funny thing.Sometimes you have plenty of motivation.You actually want to go for the run.You actually want to ride your bike.You actually want to get in the pool.And then you encounter five little obstacles.Where are my shoes?My watch is dead.I haven't made my drink.Where's my towel?What am I supposed to do for this workout?And suddenly that little bit of motivation has been chipped away.So I think one of the great purposes of organization is not necessarily to make you more motivated.It's to protect the motivation that you already have.And I really like that idea.But I think there's another layer to this.And that's where the idea of ritual comes in.Because there's a difference between doing something because you have to do it and doing something as part of a ritual.Think about making your coffee in the morning.You could describe it as a series of chores.Fill the machine.Grind the beans.Put the coffee in.Turn it on.Clean it up.Or you could think of it as a little morning ritual.And somehow, that changes the experience.And I think the same thing can happen with training.Take preparing a bottle of carb drink.You can think:"God, I have to make this stupid drink again."Or you can think:"Okay. I'm getting ready for my ride."And you get the bottle.You put the water in.You measure out the carbs.You add the electrolytes.You shake it up.You put it in the fridge.And that's not just a chore anymore.It's part of the ride.It's the beginning of the ride.The same thing with charging your watch.The same thing with laying out your clothes.The same thing with getting your shoes ready.The same thing with packing your swim bag.The same thing with putting that workout into the Ziploc bag.You can look at every one of those things and say:"This is stuff I have to do before I can train."Or you can say:"This is how I prepare to train."And those two sentences sound almost identical.But emotionally, they're completely different.One is a burden.The other is a ritual.And I think there's something really powerful in that distinction.Because we spend so much of our time trying to get to the thing we actually want to do.We rush through the preparation.We rush through getting ready.We think the preparation is just an annoying obstacle between us and the good part.But maybe the preparation is part of the good part.Maybe there's actually some pleasure in getting ready.There's something satisfying about seeing the bike bottles lined up.There's something satisfying about getting your kit laid out.There's something satisfying about knowing that everything is ready to go.And I think that's particularly true in triathlon because there are so many little rituals.You put on the cycling shoes.You get the bottles into the cages.You turn on the trainer.You pull up the workout.You put your headphones on.You get on the bike.And there's a transition that happens.You're no longer sitting around thinking about everything else in your life.You're becoming the person who's about to train.And maybe that's part of the value of ritual.It tells your brain:"Okay. We're doing this now."And I think this also changes the way we think about all of the equipment.Because if you're not careful, all of the stuff that comes with triathlon can feel overwhelming.You start thinking:Why do I have all this stuff?Why do I have five different kinds of nutrition?Why do I have all these swim toys?Why do I need this bike computer?Why do I have a radar?Why do I have this light?Why do I have these shoes?And you can certainly take it too far.Triathlon is an excellent hobby if you want to become an obsessive consumer of tiny improvements.There's always another piece of equipment.There's always another gadget.There's always another thing that might make you three percent faster.And I'm certainly not immune to that.But I've also started thinking that some of that stuff is part of what makes the sport interesting.Take swimming.Maybe you've got a snorkel.You can use it to work on your body position.You've got paddles.You can feel what your catch is doing.You've got fins.You've got a pull buoy.And suddenly swimming isn't just:"Get in the pool and swim back and forth."There's this whole little world of things to explore.And the bike is the same.You can get interested in power.You can get interested in aerodynamics.You can get interested in tires.You can get interested in nutrition.You can get interested in bike fit.You can get interested in training.And I think that's one of the things I love about triathlon.There's always something to be curious about.And that brings me back to my messy desk.Because maybe the desk and the triathlon gear aren't actually that different.The desk is covered with evidence of all the things I'm interested in.And the garage, or the swim bag, or the training calendar, is covered with evidence of all the things I'm interested in as well.And I don't think the answer is to eliminate all of that.I think the answer is to organize it.Not because those things are bad.But because I want to be able to enjoy them.And that's an important distinction.Organization shouldn't necessarily be about simplifying your life to the point where there's nothing left in it.Maybe it's about organizing your life well enough that you can enjoy its complexity.Because triathlon is complex.And that's part of the fun.But there's a danger here, too.Because you can take this idea of preparation and ritual too far.You can become so focused on preparing that you never actually do the workout.You can spend an hour researching the perfect nutrition strategy for a 45-minute run.You can spend all day organizing your training instead of training.You can convince yourself that you need one more piece of equipment before you can really get started.And that's not what I'm talking about.The ritual is supposed to lead you into the activity.It's not supposed to replace the activity.So I think there's a balance.Prepare enough that you remove the friction.Organize enough that you don't have to make a hundred little decisions.But then actually go and do the thing.And maybe that's the real purpose of organization.It's not about having a perfect desk.It's not about having a perfect calendar.It's not about having everything checked off.It's about making room for the things you care about.And that brings me back to something I've been thinking about a lot lately.Sometimes I look at my calendar and I see all of these unfinished things.And my immediate reaction is:"There's too much here."But maybe another way to look at it is:"Look at all the things I get to be interested in."And I think the same thing can happen with triathlon.You look at your training calendar and you think:"Oh my God. I've got all these workouts."You look at your swim bag and think:"Look at all this stuff I have to carry."You look at your bike and think:"Look at all these things I have to check."You look at your nutrition and think:"I have to prepare all of this again."Or you can take a moment and think:"How cool is this?"I get to swim.I get to ride my bike.I get to run.I get to learn about my body.I get to experiment with training.I get to figure out what works.I get to prepare for a race.And all of these little rituals are part of that experience.So maybe the goal isn't to get rid of the complexity.Maybe the goal is to make the complexity manageable.And maybe the goal isn't to eliminate all of the unfinished things on my desk.Maybe it's to give those things a place to live.Because there's a difference between being overwhelmed by your life and being surrounded by evidence that you're living an interesting life.And sometimes, honestly, I think I confuse the two.So the next time I'm standing in the kitchen making a bottle of carb drink before a ride, or charging my watch, or putting my shoes beside the door, or stuffing my swim workout into a Ziploc bag...Maybe I'll try not to think:"God, I have to do all this stuff before I can train."Maybe I'll think:"This is the beginning of my training."And maybe that's a small shift.But I think sometimes the small shifts are the ones that change the way we experience our lives.Because the training isn't just the hour on the bike.It's the preparation.It's the anticipation.It's the ritual.It's the workout.It's the recovery.It's thinking about what you're going to do next time.It's all of it.And maybe that's one of the reasons I love this ridiculous sport so much.There's just so much to it.And instead of seeing all of that as one more thing to organize...Maybe I can see it as one more thing to enjoy.
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  I Need a Pro 07.09.2026 16min

  I don't want to leave any stone unturned for my turn at the World Championships. I need a professional that can help me spot weaknesses before they cause a problem. So, who does that type of work? Finding them has proven a bit of a challenge.Come join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTTHE LONELY TRIATHLETEEpisode: Finding the Right Athletic TherapistThere's a funny thing I've discovered about being a triathlete as I get older.I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that have absolutely nothing to do with going faster.Well... that's not entirely true.I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that will allow me to go faster without breaking myself in the process.And that has led me down a bit of a rabbit hole lately.I've been trying to find an athletic therapist—or physiotherapist, or whatever the appropriate professional is—who can look at me and say:"Okay, Todd. You're 58. You're doing all this swimming, cycling and running. Here's what you're doing well, here's what you're doing badly, here's what's missing, and here's what I'd change."Not because I have an injury.I don't.And that's actually the point.I'm looking for somebody who can help me be proactive about my strength and conditioning and injury prevention.And I've discovered that finding that person is apparently harder than I thought.So let me tell you about my first attempt.THE ASSIGNMENTI went looking for a physiotherapist because I figured physiotherapists know bodies.They understand movement. They understand injuries. They understand rehabilitation.And I thought, surely there are physiotherapists who also work with athletes who aren't injured.That's what I wanted.I wasn't looking for somebody to tell me how to recover from a torn Achilles.I wanted somebody to look at my current strength program and say:"Does this make sense for a triathlete?"Because I've spent a fair amount of time developing my strength routine.I'm not interested in becoming a bodybuilder.I'm not trying to see how much I can deadlift.I want the minimum necessary strength stimulus that produces the maximum possible benefit for triathlon performance, while minimizing the risk of injury.That's the sweet spot I'm looking for.And I wanted somebody with enough expertise to tell me whether I've actually found it.Maybe I'm missing something obvious.Maybe I'm doing an exercise that provides almost no benefit for triathlon.Maybe I'm doing too much.Maybe I'm not doing enough.Maybe there's some glaring imbalance in my mobility or strength that I'm completely unaware of.That's the kind of professional eye I wanted.And I also wanted to talk about my injury history and perhaps get some advice about injury prevention.And, somewhat optimistically, I was also hoping to have somebody look at my supplements.Not necessarily prescribe anything—just look at what I'm taking and say:"Yeah, that makes sense."Or:"Why on earth are you taking that?"Because there's an awful lot of nonsense in the supplement world, and I'd rather have an informed professional challenge some of my assumptions.So that's what I thought I was going to get.WHAT I ACTUALLY GOTI went to see this physiotherapist.We did an intake.We talked about my history. We talked about injuries. We talked about what I was looking for.And then...I squatted.And squatted.And squatted some more.And at some point I found myself wondering:How many squats are we doing here?[Laugh]And then there was some walking around the office.And some twisting.And some questions about whether I felt tight here or tight there."Does that feel tight?""Does that feel different?""How about when you rotate?"And I'm thinking...Okay.I'm not a physiotherapist.I don't pretend to know what an appropriate physical assessment should look like.But this didn't feel particularly objective to me.It felt very cursory.Very rudimentary.And I didn't come away thinking:"Wow. This person has identified three things about my body that I never would have known."Instead, I was thinking:"I just did a lot of squats."[Laugh]And then things took a turn that I wasn't really expecting.I ended up on the massage table.And he performed something called visceral massage.Now, I'm going to be careful here because I'm not interested in turning this into a podcast episode about something I don't fully understand.There are people who believe visceral manipulation or visceral massage can have therapeutic benefits.Fine.But it wasn't what I had come looking for.And what really confused me was the explanation I was given for how problems with your internal organs could potentially contribute to pain elsewhere in your body.The basic idea, as it was explained to me, was that inflammation or tension involving your organs could somehow contribute to systemic inflammation and ultimately manifest itself as things like back or neck pain.And I remember sitting there thinking:Okay...[Laugh]I'm going to need a little more evidence before I'm signing up for a regular organ massage program.And again, maybe there's something to it.I'm not qualified to say there isn't.But that's another important distinction I've learned through this whole process.I don't necessarily want somebody who believes the same things I believe.I want somebody who can explain to me what they believe, what the evidence says, and how confident they are that it applies to me.That's a very different thing.AND THEN... NOTHINGAt the end of the appointment, we talked about potentially working together.He said he could help me with massage.He said we'd talk about my exercise program.He said we'd talk about my supplements.He even mentioned hydrogen water.And I thought:Okay. Maybe this is going somewhere.And then...Nothing.I never heard from him again.No email.No follow-up.Nothing.And I was disappointed.But after thinking about it, I don't actually think the lesson is:"That physiotherapist was terrible."Maybe he wasn't.Maybe he would be fantastic for somebody with a completely different set of needs.Maybe his approach works very well for some people.Maybe I just wasn't his ideal client.And maybe—and this is important—I didn't do a particularly good job of explaining what I wanted.Because I think I had this idea in my head that when I said:"I want a performance-oriented assessment of my strength and conditioning program, with injury prevention as a secondary goal..."that would be self-explanatory.Maybe it wasn't.WHAT AM I ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR?So I started doing some research.And I've spent a surprising amount of time trying to figure out what the hell I'm actually looking for.Because I think I've realized that I'm not really looking for a conventional physiotherapy appointment.I'm not injured.I don't need rehabilitation.I'm looking for somebody who understands endurance athletes.Ideally somebody who understands triathlon.And even better, somebody who understands the particular problems that come with being a middle-aged—or, apparently, officially an older—triathlete.[Laugh]Because the questions I'm asking aren't necessarily:"Why does my knee hurt?"They're more like:"Is my right side weaker than my left?""Is there something about my hip mobility that could eventually cause a problem?""Is my strength program addressing the things that matter most for swimming, cycling and running?""Am I wasting time doing exercises that aren't giving me much return?""Is there something I'm neglecting?""Does my strength program complement my endurance training—or is it interfering with it?"Those are the questions I want answered.And perhaps most importantly:Is there something about me that I can't see because I'm too close to the problem?That's where I think a good professional can be incredibly valuable.TRY NUMBER TWOSo I've gone back to the drawing board.I've been looking at physiotherapists in the Victoria area, and I've found somebody at the University of Victoria who seems much more closely aligned with what I'm looking for.She has experience working with endurance athletes—triathletes, cyclists, runners, rowers.And she has connections to the triathlon world as well.So suddenly I'm seeing some green flags.And I'm about to make another appointment.And I'm going into this one with a much clearer idea of what I want.I'm not looking for a massage.I'm not looking for somebody to tell me that something feels tight.I'm not looking for a treatment plan because I'm injured.I want an assessment.I want somebody to look at me from the perspective of an endurance athlete and identify anything that's potentially limiting my performance or increasing my injury risk.And then I want them to look at my strength program.Here's what I'm doing.Here's how often I'm doing it.Here's what I'm trying to accomplish.Does it make sense?Is there anything missing?Is there anything unnecessary?And is there anything that you would change based on what you've seen in the physical assessment?That's it.I don't think that's an unreasonable request.AND MAYBE I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS BACKWARDSThere's another thing I've realized through this.I've always thought of physiotherapists as people you go see when something goes wrong.You hurt your shoulder.You hurt your knee.Your back is killing you.You go to the physiotherapist.They fix you.You go home.But maybe that's a little too simplistic.Maybe as I get older, having a good physiotherapist or athletic therapist in my toolbox is actually part of being a responsible athlete.Not because I expect to get injured.Quite the opposite.Because I don't want to get injured.And if somebody who understands endurance sports can spend an hour looking at me and identify something that I haven't noticed, that could potentially save me months of frustration down the road.And it might improve my performance today.That's a pretty good return on investment.THE BIGGER LESSONI think the bigger lesson for me is that the right professional is just as important as the profession."Physiotherapist" is a pretty broad label.There are physiotherapists who specialize in post-surgical rehabilitation.There are physiotherapists who work with chronic pain.There are physiotherapists who work with professional athletes.There are physiotherapists who are experts in pelvic health.There are physiotherapists who are fantastic manual therapists.And there are people who specialize in performance.Those aren't necessarily interchangeable.So if you're an athlete looking for this kind of help, I think you need to be very specific about what you're asking for.Don't just say:"I want to see a physiotherapist."Say:"I'm an endurance athlete. I'm not currently injured. I'm looking for a performance-oriented assessment. I want somebody to evaluate movement, strength, mobility and asymmetries, and then review my strength and conditioning program with an emphasis on performance and injury prevention."That's a much better description of what I'm looking for.And that's what I'm going to ask for this time.I'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOESSo...Attempt number one: not a great success.Attempt number two: coming up.And I'm actually quite interested to see what happens.Because maybe the answer is:"Todd, your strength program is actually pretty good. Don't change much."That would be great.Maybe she'll find something obvious that I've completely missed.That would also be great.And maybe she'll tell me:"You don't need to be doing half the stuff you're doing."Honestly?That might be the best outcome of all.Because one of the things I'm increasingly conscious of as I get older is that more training isn't necessarily better training.I want every piece of my training program to have a purpose.Swimming has a purpose.Cycling has a purpose.Running has a purpose.Strength training has a purpose.Recovery has a purpose.And if I'm going to spend 30 or 40 minutes in the gym, I want to know that those 30 or 40 minutes are actually making me a better triathlete.So that's the experiment.I'm going to find somebody who understands the athlete I'm trying to become—not just the body I happen to have today.And we'll see what she says.I'll report back.Because if I finally find the person I've been looking for, I suspect there are a lot of other aging triathletes who would like to know about them too.And maybe that's the real lesson here.Sometimes the hardest part of injury prevention isn't doing the exercises.It's finding somebody who can tell you which exercises you should actually be doing in the first place.
• 
  [PREVIEW] I Need a Pro 07.09.2026 5min

  I don't want to leave any stone unturned for my turn at the World Championships. I need a professional that can help me spot weaknesses before they cause a problem. So, who does that type of work? Finding them has proven a bit of a challenge.TRANSCRIPTTHE LONELY TRIATHLETEEpisode: Finding the Right Athletic TherapistThere's a funny thing I've discovered about being a triathlete as I get older.I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that have absolutely nothing to do with going faster.Well... that's not entirely true.I'm becoming increasingly interested in things that will allow me to go faster without breaking myself in the process.And that has led me down a bit of a rabbit hole lately.I've been trying to find an athletic therapist—or physiotherapist, or whatever the appropriate professional is—who can look at me and say:"Okay, Todd. You're 58. You're doing all this swimming, cycling and running. Here's what you're doing well, here's what you're doing badly, here's what's missing, and here's what I'd change."Not because I have an injury.I don't.And that's actually the point.I'm looking for somebody who can help me be proactive about my strength and conditioning and injury prevention.And I've discovered that finding that person is apparently harder than I thought.So let me tell you about my first attempt.THE ASSIGNMENTI went looking for a physiotherapist because I figured physiotherapists know bodies.They understand movement. They understand injuries. They understand rehabilitation.And I thought, surely there are physiotherapists who also work with athletes who aren't injured.That's what I wanted.I wasn't looking for somebody to tell me how to recover from a torn Achilles.I wanted somebody to look at my current strength program and say:"Does this make sense for a triathlete?"Because I've spent a fair amount of time developing my strength routine.I'm not interested in becoming a bodybuilder.I'm not trying to see how much I can deadlift.I want the minimum necessary strength stimulus that produces the maximum possible benefit for triathlon performance, while minimizing the risk of injury.That's the sweet spot I'm looking for.And I wanted somebody with enough expertise to tell me whether I've actually found it.Maybe I'm missing something obvious.Maybe I'm doing an exercise that provides almost no benefit for triathlon.Maybe I'm doing too much.Maybe I'm not doing enough.Maybe there's some glaring imbalance in my mobility or strength that I'm completely unaware of.That's the kind of professional eye I wanted.And I also wanted to talk about my injury history and perhaps get some advice about injury prevention.And, somewhat optimistically, I was also hoping to have somebody look at my supplements.Not necessarily prescribe anything—just look at what I'm taking and say:"Yeah, that makes sense."Or:"Why on earth are you taking that?"Because there's an awful lot of nonsense in the supplement world, and I'd rather have an informed professional challenge some of my assumptions.So that's what I thought I was going to get.WHAT I ACTUALLY GOTI went to see this physiotherapist.We did an intake.We talked about my history. We talked about injuries. We talked about what I was looking for.And then...I squatted.And squatted.And squatted some more.And at some point I found myself wondering:How many squats are we doing here?[Laugh]And then there was some walking around the office.And some twisting.And some questions about whether I felt tight here or tight there."Does that feel tight?""Does that feel different?""How about when you rotate?"And I'm thinking...Okay.I'm not a physiotherapist.I don't pretend to know what an appropriate physical assessment should look like.But this didn't feel particularly objective to me.It felt very cursory.Very rudimentary.And I didn't come away thinking:"Wow. This person has identified three things about my body that I never would have known."Instead, I was thinking:"I just did a lot of squats."[Laugh]And then things took a turn that I wasn't really expecting.I ended up on the massage table.And he performed something called visceral massage.Now, I'm going to be careful here because I'm not interested in turning this into a podcast episode about something I don't fully understand.There are people who believe visceral manipulation or visceral massage can have therapeutic benefits.Fine.But it wasn't what I had come looking for.And what really confused me was the explanation I was given for how problems with your internal organs could potentially contribute to pain elsewhere in your body.The basic idea, as it was explained to me, was that inflammation or tension involving your organs could somehow contribute to systemic inflammation and ultimately manifest itself as things like back or neck pain.And I remember sitting there thinking:Okay...[Laugh]I'm going to need a little more evidence before I'm signing up for a regular organ massage program.And again, maybe there's something to it.I'm not qualified to say there isn't.But that's another important distinction I've learned through this whole process.I don't necessarily want somebody who believes the same things I believe.I want somebody who can explain to me what they believe, what the evidence says, and how confident they are that it applies to me.That's a very different thing.AND THEN... NOTHINGAt the end of the appointment, we talked about potentially working together.He said he could help me with massage.He said we'd talk about my exercise program.He said we'd talk about my supplements.He even mentioned hydrogen water.And I thought:Okay. Maybe this is going somewhere.And then...Nothing.I never heard from him again.No email.No follow-up.Nothing.And I was disappointed.But after thinking about it, I don't actually think the lesson is:"That physiotherapist was terrible."Maybe he wasn't.Maybe he would be fantastic for somebody with a completely different set of needs.Maybe his approach works very well for some people.Maybe I just wasn't his ideal client.And maybe—and this is important—I didn't do a particularly good job of explaining what I wanted.Because I think I had this idea in my head that when I said:"I want a performance-oriented assessment of my strength and conditioning program, with injury prevention as a secondary goal..."that would be self-explanatory.Maybe it wasn't.WHAT AM I ACTUALLY LOOKING FOR?So I started doing some research.And I've spent a surprising amount of time trying to figure out what the hell I'm actually looking for.Because I think I've realized that I'm not really looking for a conventional physiotherapy appointment.I'm not injured.I don't need rehabilitation.I'm looking for somebody who understands endurance athletes.Ideally somebody who understands triathlon.And even better, somebody who understands the particular problems that come with being a middle-aged—or, apparently, officially an older—triathlete.[Laugh]Because the questions I'm asking aren't necessarily:"Why does my knee hurt?"They're more like:"Is my right side weaker than my left?""Is there something about my hip mobility that could eventually cause a problem?""Is my strength program addressing the things that matter most for swimming, cycling and running?""Am I wasting time doing exercises that aren't giving me much return?""Is there something I'm neglecting?""Does my strength program complement my endurance training—or is it interfering with it?"Those are the questions I want answered.And perhaps most importantly:Is there something about me that I can't see because I'm too close to the problem?That's where I think a good professional can be incredibly valuable.TRY NUMBER TWOSo I've gone back to the drawing board.I've been looking at physiotherapists in the Victoria area, and I've found somebody at the University of Victoria who seems much more closely aligned with what I'm looking for.She has experience working with endurance athletes—triathletes, cyclists, runners, rowers.And she has connections to the triathlon world as well.So suddenly I'm seeing some green flags.And I'm about to make another appointment.And I'm going into this one with a much clearer idea of what I want.I'm not looking for a massage.I'm not looking for somebody to tell me that something feels tight.I'm not looking for a treatment plan because I'm injured.I want an assessment.I want somebody to look at me from the perspective of an endurance athlete and identify anything that's potentially limiting my performance or increasing my injury risk.And then I want them to look at my strength program.Here's what I'm doing.Here's how often I'm doing it.Here's what I'm trying to accomplish.Does it make sense?Is there anything missing?Is there anything unnecessary?And is there anything that you would change based on what you've seen in the physical assessment?That's it.I don't think that's an unreasonable request.AND MAYBE I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS BACKWARDSThere's another thing I've realized through this.I've always thought of physiotherapists as people you go see when something goes wrong.You hurt your shoulder.You hurt your knee.Your back is killing you.You go to the physiotherapist.They fix you.You go home.But maybe that's a little too simplistic.Maybe as I get older, having a good physiotherapist or athletic therapist in my toolbox is actually part of being a responsible athlete.Not because I expect to get injured.Quite the opposite.Because I don't want to get injured.And if somebody who understands endurance sports can spend an hour looking at me and identify something that I haven't noticed, that could potentially save me months of frustration down the road.And it might improve my performance today.That's a pretty good return on investment.THE BIGGER LESSONI think the bigger lesson for me is that the right professional is just as important as the profession."Physiotherapist" is a pretty broad label.There are physiotherapists who specialize in post-surgical rehabilitation.There are physiotherapists who work with chronic pain.There are physiotherapists who work with professional athletes.There are physiotherapists who are experts in pelvic health.There are physiotherapists who are fantastic manual therapists.And there are people who specialize in performance.Those aren't necessarily interchangeable.So if you're an athlete looking for this kind of help, I think you need to be very specific about what you're asking for.Don't just say:"I want to see a physiotherapist."Say:"I'm an endurance athlete. I'm not currently injured. I'm looking for a performance-oriented assessment. I want somebody to evaluate movement, strength, mobility and asymmetries, and then review my strength and conditioning program with an emphasis on performance and injury prevention."That's a much better description of what I'm looking for.And that's what I'm going to ask for this time.I'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT GOESSo...Attempt number one: not a great success.Attempt number two: coming up.And I'm actually quite interested to see what happens.Because maybe the answer is:"Todd, your strength program is actually pretty good. Don't change much."That would be great.Maybe she'll find something obvious that I've completely missed.That would also be great.And maybe she'll tell me:"You don't need to be doing half the stuff you're doing."Honestly?That might be the best outcome of all.Because one of the things I'm increasingly conscious of as I get older is that more training isn't necessarily better training.I want every piece of my training program to have a purpose.Swimming has a purpose.Cycling has a purpose.Running has a purpose.Strength training has a purpose.Recovery has a purpose.And if I'm going to spend 30 or 40 minutes in the gym, I want to know that those 30 or 40 minutes are actually making me a better triathlete.So that's the experiment.I'm going to find somebody who understands the athlete I'm trying to become—not just the body I happen to have today.And we'll see what she says.I'll report back.Because if I finally find the person I've been looking for, I suspect there are a lot of other aging triathletes who would like to know about them too.And maybe that's the real lesson here.Sometimes the hardest part of injury prevention isn't doing the exercises.It's finding somebody who can tell you which exercises you should actually be doing in the first place.
• 
  Rest Week Thoughts 01.09.2026 9min

  I learned some things about myself in my week of easier training last week (the so-called rest week). Maybe you can relate?Join us at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete.comTRANSCRIPTLast week I completed my 1st "rest week" of my year long program. Not rest week, easy week. Not even easy week, easier week. Still keep the same frequency but drop a bit of volume and drop lots of intensity. Happened to coincide with a vacation week which made it a little harder to execute (once got in trouble at work for saying that word, same with "pitting" someone against each other.) But aaaaaaanyway.Here's what was on my mind: I missed the structure of a normal week - getting up early, doing my training, having it done before the rest of the demands of my day piled up. As it was also vacation, I also missed a couple of workouts because I was into other things or I was out all day and not home until late evening. And that bothered me. I don't like missing planned workouts. But when I really thought about it, I realized IT WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. After all, if you are going to miss any workout, at least let it be an easy "non-critical" or what we use in triathlon training paracme a non-breakthrough effort. After all, the rest week (sorry, easier week) is supposed to reduce stress not only on your body but also on your mind. But this doesn't come naturally to me, I know how important training is, how its a slippery slope to let one workout go because that can easily become 2 then 3 then your whole year is shot! A least, that's the fear lurking in the back of my mind.So, I continue to remind myself that a missed easier week workout is simply not a big deal. I also re-learned that as much as I might grumble about early morning training sessions, they really are the best time to do them for me. However, I still don't want to get blindly "get them over with" for two reasons: I think I get more from a session if I understand the WHY of the session, if I prepare myself for the session as in being ready if someone goes wrong (like suddenly struggling with an effort) and second, and probably most importantly, I want to ENJOY these sessions! This is how I'm choosing to spend some of my life force, my precious time on this earth. I want to be mindful and present in the effort, I don't want to go on auto pilot and just "get it done".Another thing I learned about myself last week was how naturally lazy I am, haha. On one hand, I am extremely dedicated and committed to this sport, I am very organized and show tremendous willpower and fortitude and grit. On the other hand, I can't always be bothered to use my foam roller or my IR sauna blanket or my ventilatory inhalation thing-a-ma-bob, or even do those special stretches my PT gave me. SIGH. And once again, it's because I leave certain behaviours down to change, I'll get to them when I feel inspired or have a bit of time. No, that doesn't work, I need to SCHEDULE them into my day. I need to pair them with something else that I have either scheduled or do regularly. Otherwise, the chances are good that I just won't do them.Who knew I'd learn so much about myself during a easy week?Thanks for listening to my insights, I hope you found some of them valuable and perhaps applicable to you. As always, I wish you the best training and/or racing week and I'll talk to you again soon.Peace!
• 
  [PREVIEW] Rest Week Thoughts 01.09.2026 5min

  I learned some things about myself in my week of easier training last week (the so-called rest week). Maybe you can relate?TRANSCRIPTLast week I completed my 1st "rest week" of my year long program. Not rest week, easy week. Not even easy week, easier week. Still keep the same frequency but drop a bit of volume and drop lots of intensity. Happened to coincide with a vacation week which made it a little harder to execute (once got in trouble at work for saying that word, same with "pitting" someone against each other.) But aaaaaaanyway.Here's what was on my mind: I missed the structure of a normal week - getting up early, doing my training, having it done before the rest of the demands of my day piled up. As it was also vacation, I also missed a couple of workouts because I was into other things or I was out all day and not home until late evening. And that bothered me. I don't like missing planned workouts. But when I really thought about it, I realized IT WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. After all, if you are going to miss any workout, at least let it be an easy "non-critical" or what we use in triathlon training paracme a non-breakthrough effort. After all, the rest week (sorry, easier week) is supposed to reduce stress not only on your body but also on your mind. But this doesn't come naturally to me, I know how important training is, how its a slippery slope to let one workout go because that can easily become 2 then 3 then your whole year is shot! A least, that's the fear lurking in the back of my mind.So, I continue to remind myself that a missed easier week workout is simply not a big deal. I also re-learned that as much as I might grumble about early morning training sessions, they really are the best time to do them for me. However, I still don't want to get blindly "get them over with" for two reasons: I think I get more from a session if I understand the WHY of the session, if I prepare myself for the session as in being ready if someone goes wrong (like suddenly struggling with an effort) and second, and probably most importantly, I want to ENJOY these sessions! This is how I'm choosing to spend some of my life force, my precious time on this earth. I want to be mindful and present in the effort, I don't want to go on auto pilot and just "get it done".Another thing I learned about myself last week was how naturally lazy I am, haha. On one hand, I am extremely dedicated and committed to this sport, I am very organized and show tremendous willpower and fortitude and grit. On the other hand, I can't always be bothered to use my foam roller or my IR sauna blanket or my ventilatory inhalation thing-a-ma-bob, or even do those special stretches my PT gave me. SIGH. And once again, it's because I leave certain behaviours down to change, I'll get to them when I feel inspired or have a bit of time. No, that doesn't work, I need to SCHEDULE them into my day. I need to pair them with something else that I have either scheduled or do regularly. Otherwise, the chances are good that I just won't do them.Who knew I'd learn so much about myself during a easy week?Thanks for listening to my insights, I hope you found some of them valuable and perhaps applicable to you. As always, I wish you the best training and/or racing week and I'll talk to you again soon.Peace!
• 
  Get In Your Feels 24.08.2026 21min

  I used to race according to a bunch of different metrics including the old stand-byes of heart rate and power. Then I got rid of my watch and raced with a new super power!Come join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTApologies to everyone for a screw up I made last week. You see, I thought I had uploaded the audio to my podcast but I didn't. So what you would have seen was my written transcript only. I corrected that mistake yesterday so if you haven't heard last week's podcast, it's there now.And now, onto this weeks' thoughts.When to comes to your race performance during a race, how do you know if you are doing well? How do you know if you are hitting your splits or your power curve or your heart rate? In other words, what measurement are you using to track how things are going?You see, when I first started I needed to know a few metrics in each sport so I could determine if I was doing my training (and, or course, racing) as prescribed.In the swim, I tracked distance. Warm up xM, drills for xM, main set x lengths with x rest. The problem was, I didn't know how fast or slow I was supposed to go. So then I moved into tracking speed - xM "on" :45, which meant swim a certain distance and if I had time left from the initial :45, I would rest and then do another length, resting until the :45 was used up, etc. The problem with that was sometimes the ":45" was too long -Id arrive at the end of the length and just sit there for such a long time. In oher cases, the interval was to short because I'd just finish my length and have 3 seonds of rest before I'd have to take off again. Eventually, I stuck with RPE and would swim a certain distance at an effort of x/10, 4 being quite relaxed, 7 being confortable fast and 9 or 10 full out sprint. Problem was, how fast was "relaxed"? How fast was "hard"? I knew what all out was. For a time I even trained by heart rate, almost like I was running but in the water. I sorta worked? But not really. It was hard to figure out what do do so I ended up just focusing on the distace and effort was either EASY or HARD.On the bike, I trained exclusievly by heart rate. I made the assupmtion that my maximum heart rate was 15 beats/min less than my run max and treated my bike just like a run. It worked pretty well, until I got into situations where it seemed that I was biking harder or slower than I wanted to because of hills or wind. I then shifted to focussing on distace with effort alteranating between EASY and HARD.Running was the easiest. I trained by heart rate. Forget pace, I did a maximum heart test by running uo and down a hill 5 times inceasngly faster each time until the final all=out effort where I imagined a bear was chasing me, then I added 3 bpm to extra measure. My training was then set according to 5 ZONES. It was simple and measurable. Then I read a few books on running by heart rate and realized that I needed to be setting my zone by heart rate reserve. All of a sudden, things started to feel complicated again. But my and large, training by heart rate was the way I went.During races, I was lost as to my effort in the swim. On the bike, I focussed on heart rate and on the run, I watched heart rate and pace. I raced this way for years and grew comfortable with the measurements. In the bike and run, if I saw my heart rate too high, I'd pull back. Conversely, if I saw my HR too low, I'd convince myself to speed up.About 10 years ago, I realized something that revolutionized my racing. With my experience in traing and racing and tracking a number of metrics, I started getitng very good at perceiving, without looking at a watch, how fast or hard I was going. Even better, I was able to sense how hard I was able to push muself without bonking by just listeing to my body. At any given time in a race, I could tell you within 2 bpm what my HR was or within 1-2kmhr what my speed was. After I had trained for a while accoding to POWER on the bike, I could also estimate by current power output with incredible prescision. But again, the important point wasn;t that I knew my number it was that I knew how sustainable that effort was given my envoronment - wind, hills, heat, energy. And this changed everythign for me 5 years ago.I raced for the first time without my watch or power meter. I raced 100% by feel. I knew how fast I could swim at a 7/10 effort so that was my goal. I knew what an 8/10 felt like on the bike - I knew what it felt like on the flats, up a hill, into the wind, early or late in a race. So an 8/10 was by goal. But I also knew if I was havig a day where I could push an 8 earlier, or an 8.5 later. I was no longer help back by a number. And on the run, I knew how hard I could and SHOULD push myself according to how I felt, I didn't race according to what the numbers told me. I think in years past, I may have held myself back with an artificial ceiling, limiting myself to a specific HR number rather than trusting my feelings.My racing friends thought I was crazy! You are cycling and running without a watch? How will you know if you are on plan? How will you know when you can push harder or determine if you aren't pusing hard engouh. And I get it, I was very nervous to get into a race and "fly blind" so to speak. But the reality is, without a watch, without tracking my metrics in a race, I'm racing more free than ever before. I can decide to speed up, maintain, or slow down based entirely on my subjective feeling. It was and continues to be an incredibly FREEING feeling! It no longer feels like I am racing without a plan, it feels like I am always in the driver's seat, not a GPS watch or some pre-determined numbers but ME, deciding on a moment by moment basis how I am doing. I trust my feelings. After each race I think about how I executed my strategy. Did I have more gas in the tank after the run? How did I feel in the last 2 KM? Upon reflection, I may realize that I am able to suffer more in the final 2km and so I rest what I expect to feel for the next race. And I've made mistakes, I cycled at much too fast a speed for my 70.3 last year and I know how I FELT (I felt great) but the next time I do a 70.3, that sensation needs to feel even less strenuous than "great", it needs to feel "really good and I have a a bunch left over in the tank."All this to say, I encourage you, even challenge you, to do a race without your measuremnt devices. Go based on feel and perception of effort. Once you make the association between approprite effort and performance that day, you will have gained a new super power. You can race anywhere, unshakled by devices, to great effect. You just have to trust yourself. Until next time,Peace
• 
  [PREVIEW] Get In Your Feels 24.08.2026 5min

  I used to race according to hard metrics - hear rate, power, you name it. Then I got rid of my watch and gained a super power.TRANSCRIPTApologies to everyone for a screw up I made last week. You see, I thought I had uploaded the audio to my podcast but I didn't. So what you would have seen was my written transcript only. I corrected that mistake yesterday so if you haven't heard last week's podcast, it's there now.And now, onto this weeks' thoughts.When to comes to your race performance during a race, how do you know if you are doing well? How do you know if you are hitting your splits or your power curve or your heart rate? In other words, what measurement are you using to track how things are going?You see, when I first started I needed to know a few metrics in each sport so I could determine if I was doing my training (and, or course, racing) as prescribed.In the swim, I tracked distance. Warm up xM, drills for xM, main set x lengths with x rest. The problem was, I didn't know how fast or slow I was supposed to go. So then I moved into tracking speed - xM "on" :45, which meant swim a certain distance and if I had time left from the initial :45, I would rest and then do another length, resting until the :45 was used up, etc. The problem with that was sometimes the ":45" was too long -Id arrive at the end of the length and just sit there for such a long time. In oher cases, the interval was to short because I'd just finish my length and have 3 seonds of rest before I'd have to take off again. Eventually, I stuck with RPE and would swim a certain distance at an effort of x/10, 4 being quite relaxed, 7 being confortable fast and 9 or 10 full out sprint. Problem was, how fast was "relaxed"? How fast was "hard"? I knew what all out was. For a time I even trained by heart rate, almost like I was running but in the water. I sorta worked? But not really. It was hard to figure out what do do so I ended up just focusing on the distace and effort was either EASY or HARD.On the bike, I trained exclusievly by heart rate. I made the assupmtion that my maximum heart rate was 15 beats/min less than my run max and treated my bike just like a run. It worked pretty well, until I got into situations where it seemed that I was biking harder or slower than I wanted to because of hills or wind. I then shifted to focussing on distace with effort alteranating between EASY and HARD.Running was the easiest. I trained by heart rate. Forget pace, I did a maximum heart test by running uo and down a hill 5 times inceasngly faster each time until the final all=out effort where I imagined a bear was chasing me, then I added 3 bpm to extra measure. My training was then set according to 5 ZONES. It was simple and measurable. Then I read a few books on running by heart rate and realized that I needed to be setting my zone by heart rate reserve. All of a sudden, things started to feel complicated again. But my and large, training by heart rate was the way I went.During races, I was lost as to my effort in the swim. On the bike, I focussed on heart rate and on the run, I watched heart rate and pace. I raced this way for years and grew comfortable with the measurements. In the bike and run, if I saw my heart rate too high, I'd pull back. Conversely, if I saw my HR too low, I'd convince myself to speed up.About 10 years ago, I realized something that revolutionized my racing. With my experience in traing and racing and tracking a number of metrics, I started getitng very good at perceiving, without looking at a watch, how fast or hard I was going. Even better, I was able to sense how hard I was able to push muself without bonking by just listeing to my body. At any given time in a race, I could tell you within 2 bpm what my HR was or within 1-2kmhr what my speed was. After I had trained for a while accoding to POWER on the bike, I could also estimate by current power output with incredible prescision. But again, the important point wasn;t that I knew my number it was that I knew how sustainable that effort was given my envoronment - wind, hills, heat, energy. And this changed everythign for me 5 years ago.I raced for the first time without my watch or power meter. I raced 100% by feel. I knew how fast I could swim at a 7/10 effort so that was my goal. I knew what an 8/10 felt like on the bike - I knew what it felt like on the flats, up a hill, into the wind, early or late in a race. So an 8/10 was by goal. But I also knew if I was havig a day where I could push an 8 earlier, or an 8.5 later. I was no longer help back by a number. And on the run, I knew how hard I could and SHOULD push myself according to how I felt, I didn't race according to what the numbers told me. I think in years past, I may have held myself back with an artificial ceiling, limiting myself to a specific HR number rather than trusting my feelings.My racing friends thought I was crazy! You are cycling and running without a watch? How will you know if you are on plan? How will you know when you can push harder or determine if you aren't pusing hard engouh. And I get it, I was very nervous to get into a race and "fly blind" so to speak. But the reality is, without a watch, without tracking my metrics in a race, I'm racing more free than ever before. I can decide to speed up, maintain, or slow down based entirely on my subjective feeling. It was and continues to be an incredibly FREEING feeling! It no longer feels like I am racing without a plan, it feels like I am always in the driver's seat, not a GPS watch or some pre-determined numbers but ME, deciding on a moment by moment basis how I am doing. I trust my feelings. After each race I think about how I executed my strategy. Did I have more gas in the tank after the run? How did I feel in the last 2 KM? Upon reflection, I may realize that I am able to suffer more in the final 2km and so I rest what I expect to feel for the next race. And I've made mistakes, I cycled at much too fast a speed for my 70.3 last year and I know how I FELT (I felt great) but the next time I do a 70.3, that sensation needs to feel even less strenuous than "great", it needs to feel "really good and I have a a bunch left over in the tank."All this to say, I encourage you, even challenge you, to do a race without your measuremnt devices. Go based on feel and perception of effort. Once you make the association between approprite effort and performance that day, you will have gained a new super power. You can race anywhere, unshakled by devices, to great effect. You just have to trust yourself. Until next time,Peace
• 
  A New Triathlon Challenge 17.08.2026 16min

  As I embark on an ambitious (overly ambitious?) new triathlon plan I am discovering that it is going to be its very own challenge. How do I fit in more workouts than ever yet maintain my sanity and health?Check out more at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTSo, this week concludes the first week of my training season in my journey to Germany. Where I am taking things to another level.Specifically, I'm going to be taking things to another level in terms of exercise VOLUME.For most days of the week, I'm going to be doing two workouts a day. And I have to find a way—or, I should say, I AM finding a way—to also squeeze in two strength-training sessions into my week.At first, I thought this was ambitious but doable.And after one week under my belt, I now realize how truly ambitious it's going to be. In a number of ways.The first way is just schedule-wise.Trying to fit in two workouts a day doesn't seem that hard. It doesn't sound that hard. And I've done it before with no real problem.But I've only done it before occasionally.I've never had it comprise five of my six training days.And doing double workouts for five of your six training days is a COMPLETELY different experience than trying to fit in one or two doubles in a week.So, schedule-wise, I'm going to have to figure this out.So far, doing an early-morning SOMETHING—usually a bike—followed by an afternoon, or a noon, sorry, a LUNCHTIME run, works very well because I can eat at my desk while I work.I can blast out at noon for a 30-minute workout, get back to my desk, and I can eat and work.And that leaves the evening free for personal things, and for relationship stuff, and for other things.And that's important to me.Because one of the things I'm trying to figure out with this training block isn't simply, “How much training can I cram into my life?”It's, “How much training can I do while still HAVING a life?”Those are two very different questions.When it comes to swimming, though, most days I'm going to have to try to get out for an early-morning swim.And that means I've got to get out of the house earlier than normal—maybe 7:15 at the latest—in order to be back in time for work.So I could do an early-morning swim and then an afternoon cycle or an afternoon run.And I keep saying “afternoon.”I mean lunchtime.Because I'm working.I can't just take the time off and go do these long sessions whenever I want.I have to find some way to squeeze them in.And that's what I mean about scheduling.It's going to be a challenge.I think I can do it.I mean, I did it this last week.But I had some hiccups.I went to the lake at 7:30 in the morning, and there was blue-green algae.So I couldn't swim in the lake.I had to turn around, drive all the way back home, and figure out another way of doing things.And that's going to happen.There are going to be these constant little scheduling challenges.And I hope, for the most part, I CAN figure out something that works for most days so I'm not always having to figure out how to do it.Because that would get really old really fast.If I had to wake up every day and think, “Okay, how am I going to make this work today?”I'm not sure that's sustainable.So that's challenge number one.*Challenge number two is the ENERGY required to do two workouts a day.*I was fine this week until Thursday.And then it all really started hitting me.I was feeling quite fatigued.And TrainerRoad thankfully gave me Friday off and offered me up some easier workouts.And I was grateful for that.Because I could feel the fatigue.And that's something I'm going to have to learn to manage, not just REACT to.I'm going to have to manage it PROACTIVELY.Because I can see how, over the course of even a couple of months of this, I could bury myself in a hole that I would have a hard time getting out of.And that's not the objective.The objective isn't to see how tired I can make myself.The objective is to train, recover, adapt, and get better.And if I don't recover, then I'm missing a really important part of that equation.So focusing on energy preservation when I'm not working out is going to be really key.And that may mean adding an extra half hour to my sleep.Which is not easy for me to do.Because I don't LIKE sleeping.I'm too busy having fun to sleep. Heh hehI get eight hours a night and that's pretty good.But I'm going to have to be really, really cognizant of whether eight hours is going to cut it.And I'm going to have to be prepared to go to eight and a half hours—or even longer—if required.And certainly all of my recovery protocols need to be put into play.My infrared sauna blanket.My red-light therapy.My massage gun.My nutrition.Extra protein.You name it.That all has to be on point.Because if I'm going to increase the training load, I can't just increase the training load.I have to increase the recovery that supports that training load.And that's ANOTHER thing I'm learning this week.The training itself is actually only part of the challenge.There's the training.There's the scheduling.There's the recovery.There's the sleep.There's the nutrition.And then there's everything else going on in life.And that brings me to what I think may actually be the BIGGEST challenge of all.And that's not something that's easy to quantify.It's the fact that triathlon is on my mind all the time now.And don't get me wrong.I love it.I love thinking about it.I love talking about it.I love engaging in it.I love the process.I love the idea of starting with a body that's rested from good sleep, providing it some good pre-workout nutrition, giving it a training stimulus, and then responding with nutrition and hydration and recovery.I LOVE all of that.But I really don't want to become IMBALANCED.I don't want to give up too much of my mental real estate for triathlon-related stuff when I am also wanting to work on my novel.I'm also wanting to engage with my brother and my kids and my wife.I want to do some reading.There's lots of reading.There are a lot of things I want to do.Triathlon is not my life.It's merely a significant, important part of it.And I think that's something I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of over the course of this training season.Because there's a common joke that goes around:How can you tell a triathlete if you're at a party?It's the person who's always talking about triathlon.I think that's the punchline.I probably butchered it.But you know what I mean.Triathletes can become quite obsessed.Or maybe “obsessed” isn't even the right word.They become very, very focused.And there's a reason for that.Triathlon requires so much from you.It requires planning.It requires effort.It requires gear.It requires nutrition.It requires recovery.It requires travel.It requires time.And when you put all of those things together, it's really easy for the sport to become the main part of your life.And then, when you get to a party and somebody asks you what you've been up to, well...You've been running.You've been biking.You've been swimming.You've been thinking about running, biking, and swimming.You've been thinking about what you're going to eat while you're running, biking, and swimming.You've been thinking about what equipment you're going to use.You've been thinking about your next race.You've been thinking about your training plan.And suddenly, that's what you have to talk about.And I don't want to be THAT GUY.I want to be able to talk about other things.I want to read.I want to write.I want to spend time with the people I love.I want to be engaged with the world outside of triathlon.And I think that's particularly important for me because this is going to be a big training year.I'm on a journey to Germany.I've got a goal.I've got a destination.And I'm going to be taking the training seriously.But taking something seriously doesn't necessarily mean allowing it to consume you.And I think that's going to be one of the interesting experiments of this year.Can I train at a level that I've never trained at before while still maintaining balance in the rest of my life?Can I become better at triathlon without making triathlon my entire identity?Can I pursue something with real ambition while still being flexible when other things matter more?Because there are going to be days when training has to take a back seat.There are going to be days when life gets in the way.And I don't necessarily mean that in a negative sense.Sometimes life is more important.Sometimes relationships are more important.Sometimes your mental health is more important.Sometimes you need to go do something completely unrelated to triathlon.And I think that's okay.Actually, I think that's necessary.So this first week has been a really interesting lesson.I started out thinking, “Okay, this is ambitious but doable.”And now I'm thinking, “Okay... this is really ambitious.”But that's not necessarily a bad thing.I'm excited.I am VERY excited.This is going to be a challenge, much like the sport itself is a challenge.And I think the training season is going to be another unique sport, per se.Another unique challenge.I don't know how to DO all the things I want to do.I'm not sure if I can excel at all of the things I want to do.But I'm going to try.And I'm curious.And I'm interested in how it goes.And I'm going to be flexible and adaptable.That's probably the biggest lesson from this first week.I don't need to have the entire year figured out right now.I need to figure out what works.I need to pay attention to what doesn't work.I need to make adjustments.And then I need to keep moving forward.Because that's really what this journey to Germany is about.It's not just about the race.It's about the process of becoming the athlete who can show up in Germany and perform at the level that I want to perform at.And becoming that athlete isn't simply about putting more hours into training.It's about learning how to manage my time.Learning how to manage fatigue.Learning how to recover.Learning how to prioritize.And learning how to maintain balance.And maybe that's the real challenge.Not whether I can do two workouts a day.I can do two workouts a day.The question is whether I can do two workouts a day, five days a week, for months and months, while still being the person I want to be outside of those workouts.That's a much more interesting question.And I don't know the answer yet.And that's okay.I'm going to find out.And I'm going to share that process with you.Because that's what I love about this podcast.I don't have all the answers.I'm figuring this out as I go.And I suspect that many of you listening are doing the same thing in your own sports and your own lives.Maybe you're a triathlete.Maybe you're a cyclist.Maybe you're a runner.Maybe you lift weights.Maybe your challenge has nothing to do with sport at all.But whatever sport you're into, whatever activity you're passionate about, you're into it because it fills something in you.It fills a need.Maybe it's competition.Maybe it's good health.Maybe it's time outside.Maybe it's social time.Maybe it's the feeling of getting better at something.Maybe it's simply the feeling of challenging yourself.Whatever it is, we do these things because they are worthy of being done.And I think that's worth remembering.Because sometimes, when you're trying to improve, it's easy to turn something you love into another obligation.And I don't want to do that.I want to keep the fun.I want to keep the curiosity.I want to keep the challenge.I want to keep the feeling that I'm lucky to be able to do this.Because I am.So, that's where I am after week one.A little tired.A little trepidatious—if that's a word.But excited.Invested.Interested.Motivated.And having fun.I don't know exactly how I'm going to make all of this work.But I'm going to try.And I'm going to pay attention.And I'm going to adapt.And every week, I'll share with you the things I think about on this journey.The things I struggle with.The things I have victories over.The things I learn.And hopefully, every once in a while, something I learn will resonate with you.Maybe you'll identify with me here and there.And maybe you can take something from my journey and use it to enhance your own.That's the whole point.So, week one is in the books.The journey to Germany has officially begun.And apparently, I have a lot to learn.Until next time.Peace.
• 
  [PREVIEW] A New Triathlon Challenge 17.08.2026 5min

  As I embark on an ambitious (overly ambitious?) new triathlon plan I am discovering that it is going to be its very own challenge. How do I fit in more workouts than ever yet maintain my sanity and health?TRANSCRIPTSo, this week concludes the first week of my training season in my journey to Germany. Where I am taking things to another level.Specifically, I'm going to be taking things to another level in terms of exercise VOLUME.For most days of the week, I'm going to be doing two workouts a day. And I have to find a way—or, I should say, I AM finding a way—to also squeeze in two strength-training sessions into my week.At first, I thought this was ambitious but doable.And after one week under my belt, I now realize how truly ambitious it's going to be. In a number of ways.The first way is just schedule-wise.Trying to fit in two workouts a day doesn't seem that hard. It doesn't sound that hard. And I've done it before with no real problem.But I've only done it before occasionally.I've never had it comprise five of my six training days.And doing double workouts for five of your six training days is a COMPLETELY different experience than trying to fit in one or two doubles in a week.So, schedule-wise, I'm going to have to figure this out.So far, doing an early-morning SOMETHING—usually a bike—followed by an afternoon, or a noon, sorry, a LUNCHTIME run, works very well because I can eat at my desk while I work.I can blast out at noon for a 30-minute workout, get back to my desk, and I can eat and work.And that leaves the evening free for personal things, and for relationship stuff, and for other things.And that's important to me.Because one of the things I'm trying to figure out with this training block isn't simply, “How much training can I cram into my life?”It's, “How much training can I do while still HAVING a life?”Those are two very different questions.When it comes to swimming, though, most days I'm going to have to try to get out for an early-morning swim.And that means I've got to get out of the house earlier than normal—maybe 7:15 at the latest—in order to be back in time for work.So I could do an early-morning swim and then an afternoon cycle or an afternoon run.And I keep saying “afternoon.”I mean lunchtime.Because I'm working.I can't just take the time off and go do these long sessions whenever I want.I have to find some way to squeeze them in.And that's what I mean about scheduling.It's going to be a challenge.I think I can do it.I mean, I did it this last week.But I had some hiccups.I went to the lake at 7:30 in the morning, and there was blue-green algae.So I couldn't swim in the lake.I had to turn around, drive all the way back home, and figure out another way of doing things.And that's going to happen.There are going to be these constant little scheduling challenges.And I hope, for the most part, I CAN figure out something that works for most days so I'm not always having to figure out how to do it.Because that would get really old really fast.If I had to wake up every day and think, “Okay, how am I going to make this work today?”I'm not sure that's sustainable.So that's challenge number one.*Challenge number two is the ENERGY required to do two workouts a day.*I was fine this week until Thursday.And then it all really started hitting me.I was feeling quite fatigued.And TrainerRoad thankfully gave me Friday off and offered me up some easier workouts.And I was grateful for that.Because I could feel the fatigue.And that's something I'm going to have to learn to manage, not just REACT to.I'm going to have to manage it PROACTIVELY.Because I can see how, over the course of even a couple of months of this, I could bury myself in a hole that I would have a hard time getting out of.And that's not the objective.The objective isn't to see how tired I can make myself.The objective is to train, recover, adapt, and get better.And if I don't recover, then I'm missing a really important part of that equation.So focusing on energy preservation when I'm not working out is going to be really key.And that may mean adding an extra half hour to my sleep.Which is not easy for me to do.Because I don't LIKE sleeping.I'm too busy having fun to sleep. Heh hehI get eight hours a night and that's pretty good.But I'm going to have to be really, really cognizant of whether eight hours is going to cut it.And I'm going to have to be prepared to go to eight and a half hours—or even longer—if required.And certainly all of my recovery protocols need to be put into play.My infrared sauna blanket.My red-light therapy.My massage gun.My nutrition.Extra protein.You name it.That all has to be on point.Because if I'm going to increase the training load, I can't just increase the training load.I have to increase the recovery that supports that training load.And that's ANOTHER thing I'm learning this week.The training itself is actually only part of the challenge.There's the training.There's the scheduling.There's the recovery.There's the sleep.There's the nutrition.And then there's everything else going on in life.And that brings me to what I think may actually be the BIGGEST challenge of all.And that's not something that's easy to quantify.It's the fact that triathlon is on my mind all the time now.And don't get me wrong.I love it.I love thinking about it.I love talking about it.I love engaging in it.I love the process.I love the idea of starting with a body that's rested from good sleep, providing it some good pre-workout nutrition, giving it a training stimulus, and then responding with nutrition and hydration and recovery.I LOVE all of that.But I really don't want to become IMBALANCED.I don't want to give up too much of my mental real estate for triathlon-related stuff when I am also wanting to work on my novel.I'm also wanting to engage with my brother and my kids and my wife.I want to do some reading.There's lots of reading.There are a lot of things I want to do.Triathlon is not my life.It's merely a significant, important part of it.And I think that's something I'm going to have to keep reminding myself of over the course of this training season.Because there's a common joke that goes around:How can you tell a triathlete if you're at a party?It's the person who's always talking about triathlon.I think that's the punchline.I probably butchered it.But you know what I mean.Triathletes can become quite obsessed.Or maybe “obsessed” isn't even the right word.They become very, very focused.And there's a reason for that.Triathlon requires so much from you.It requires planning.It requires effort.It requires gear.It requires nutrition.It requires recovery.It requires travel.It requires time.And when you put all of those things together, it's really easy for the sport to become the main part of your life.And then, when you get to a party and somebody asks you what you've been up to, well...You've been running.You've been biking.You've been swimming.You've been thinking about running, biking, and swimming.You've been thinking about what you're going to eat while you're running, biking, and swimming.You've been thinking about what equipment you're going to use.You've been thinking about your next race.You've been thinking about your training plan.And suddenly, that's what you have to talk about.And I don't want to be THAT GUY.I want to be able to talk about other things.I want to read.I want to write.I want to spend time with the people I love.I want to be engaged with the world outside of triathlon.And I think that's particularly important for me because this is going to be a big training year.I'm on a journey to Germany.I've got a goal.I've got a destination.And I'm going to be taking the training seriously.But taking something seriously doesn't necessarily mean allowing it to consume you.And I think that's going to be one of the interesting experiments of this year.Can I train at a level that I've never trained at before while still maintaining balance in the rest of my life?Can I become better at triathlon without making triathlon my entire identity?Can I pursue something with real ambition while still being flexible when other things matter more?Because there are going to be days when training has to take a back seat.There are going to be days when life gets in the way.And I don't necessarily mean that in a negative sense.Sometimes life is more important.Sometimes relationships are more important.Sometimes your mental health is more important.Sometimes you need to go do something completely unrelated to triathlon.And I think that's okay.Actually, I think that's necessary.So this first week has been a really interesting lesson.I started out thinking, “Okay, this is ambitious but doable.”And now I'm thinking, “Okay... this is really ambitious.”But that's not necessarily a bad thing.I'm excited.I am VERY excited.This is going to be a challenge, much like the sport itself is a challenge.And I think the training season is going to be another unique sport, per se.Another unique challenge.I don't know how to DO all the things I want to do.I'm not sure if I can excel at all of the things I want to do.But I'm going to try.And I'm curious.And I'm interested in how it goes.And I'm going to be flexible and adaptable.That's probably the biggest lesson from this first week.I don't need to have the entire year figured out right now.I need to figure out what works.I need to pay attention to what doesn't work.I need to make adjustments.And then I need to keep moving forward.Because that's really what this journey to Germany is about.It's not just about the race.It's about the process of becoming the athlete who can show up in Germany and perform at the level that I want to perform at.And becoming that athlete isn't simply about putting more hours into training.It's about learning how to manage my time.Learning how to manage fatigue.Learning how to recover.Learning how to prioritize.And learning how to maintain balance.And maybe that's the real challenge.Not whether I can do two workouts a day.I can do two workouts a day.The question is whether I can do two workouts a day, five days a week, for months and months, while still being the person I want to be outside of those workouts.That's a much more interesting question.And I don't know the answer yet.And that's okay.I'm going to find out.And I'm going to share that process with you.Because that's what I love about this podcast.I don't have all the answers.I'm figuring this out as I go.And I suspect that many of you listening are doing the same thing in your own sports and your own lives.Maybe you're a triathlete.Maybe you're a cyclist.Maybe you're a runner.Maybe you lift weights.Maybe your challenge has nothing to do with sport at all.But whatever sport you're into, whatever activity you're passionate about, you're into it because it fills something in you.It fills a need.Maybe it's competition.Maybe it's good health.Maybe it's time outside.Maybe it's social time.Maybe it's the feeling of getting better at something.Maybe it's simply the feeling of challenging yourself.Whatever it is, we do these things because they are worthy of being done.And I think that's worth remembering.Because sometimes, when you're trying to improve, it's easy to turn something you love into another obligation.And I don't want to do that.I want to keep the fun.I want to keep the curiosity.I want to keep the challenge.I want to keep the feeling that I'm lucky to be able to do this.Because I am.So, that's where I am after week one.A little tired.A little trepidatious—if that's a word.But excited.Invested.Interested.Motivated.And having fun.I don't know exactly how I'm going to make all of this work.But I'm going to try.And I'm going to pay attention.And I'm going to adapt.And every week, I'll share with you the things I think about on this journey.The things I struggle with.The things I have victories over.The things I learn.And hopefully, every once in a while, something I learn will resonate with you.Maybe you'll identify with me here and there.And maybe you can take something from my journey and use it to enhance your own.That's the whole point.So, week one is in the books.The journey to Germany has officially begun.And apparently, I have a lot to learn.Until next time.Peace.
• 
  Training Without Losing the Plot 10.08.2026 15min

  A year of training lies ahead of me. What should I focus on? What is my plan? How am I going to get through this massive year of effort?Join the club on Patreon www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTAs I get ready to start a brand-new one-year training block, I’ve been thinking a lot less about the actual workouts and a lot more about how I want to approach the year.Because one year is a long time.And I think that’s the first thing I want to remember.A year is long enough that individual workouts really don't matter all that much.I’m going to have bad workouts.I’m going to have great workouts.There will be weeks where everything comes together perfectly, and there will be weeks where life gets in the way.And I don't want to stress about that.I want to focus on the workout that’s in front of me.What am I trying to accomplish today?And what can I do to give myself the best chance of accomplishing it?And, bonus points if I think about that the day before.Get a good night's sleep.Make sure my gear is clean.Get the bottles ready.Have whatever nutrition I need ready to go.Know what the workout is.Remove as much friction as possible.Because I think there’s a difference between being disciplined and making things unnecessarily difficult for yourself.If I can prepare today so that tomorrow's workout is easier to execute, that’s a win.Give the new plan a chanceI’m also stepping up my training volume.I’m moving from what I’d call a medium-volume plan to a high-volume plan.And that might turn out to be too much.I honestly don't know yet.But I don't need to know yet.I want to give it a solid few months before I start deciding whether it’s working.I think athletes can sometimes make the mistake of constantly adjusting the experiment before they've actually given the experiment enough time to produce a result.So I'm going to try to resist that.I'm going to train.I'm going to pay attention to how I feel.I'm going to pay attention to my performance and recovery.And then, after I've accumulated enough information, I'll make some decisions.Keep triathlon in perspectiveThe other thing I really want to remember is that triathlon isn't my life.It's an important part of my life.I love it.But it's not my life.My relationships and my mental health come first.Triathlon comes second.And that means I need to be willing to be flexible when those things conflict.If something important comes up with my partner, or with family, or I’m having a difficult day mentally, I don't want to look at my training plan and think, Well, I've got to get this workout done.Sometimes the workout loses.And that's okay.In fact, I think that's part of being a serious athlete.A training plan is a tool for supporting your life.Your life isn't supposed to become a tool for supporting your training plan.Habit stackingOne thing I want to experiment with this year is habit stacking.I've got a lot of training.But I've also got travel time to and from the pool or gym, preparation, cleanup, nutrition, recovery, stretching, mobility—all of those little things surrounding the actual workout.And if I treat every one of those things as a completely separate task, it can start to feel like training takes over my entire day.So I want to find ways to attach those things to things that are already happening.Maybe I listen to something specific during the drive.Maybe certain recovery habits happen immediately after training.Maybe my weekly training reflection happens alongside my personal journaling.The idea is to make these things part of an existing rhythm rather than creating ten more things I have to remember to do.Routine is a tool, not a prisonAnd that leads into another one.I really like routine.Probably too much sometimes.Routine makes life efficient.You know what you're doing.You know when you're doing it.You don't have to make a decision every time.But I don't want to become fixed on my routine.Because life isn't always efficient.Sometimes the weather changes.Sometimes plans change.Sometimes somebody needs something from you.Sometimes you just wake up and realize that today isn't going to go according to plan.And I want to be able to adapt without feeling like I've somehow failed.Routine is a mechanism for efficiency.It's not the objective.Actually enjoy the trainingThis one might be the most important.I want to enjoy the training.Because there are definitely days when I just get the workout done.I look at the clock.I look at the intervals.I get through the session.Check.Done.And there's value in consistency. Absolutely.But sometimes I think I'm missing the experience itself.I'm swimming.I'm riding my bike.I'm running.I'm lifting weights.My body is moving.And I want to notice that.Notice how it feels.Notice the movement.Notice the thoughts that come into my head.Notice the emotion.Notice the feeling of being outside.Notice the feeling of getting stronger.Because this isn't just a transaction where I put in 60 minutes and receive some future fitness benefit.This is my life happening right now.And I want to enjoy more of it.Reflect—but don't create another choreI also think it would be useful to spend a little time at the end of each week reflecting.What went well?What didn't?What did I learn?Was there anything I could do differently next week?But—and this is important—I don't want to turn that into another item on my productivity checklist.Weekly reflection: DONE.That defeats the purpose.Maybe I habit-stack it with personal journaling.I've wanted to become more consistent with journaling anyway, so perhaps that's where the training reflection belongs.A few minutes to step back and look at the week.Not judge it.Just notice it.Food should be more than fuelI also want to periodically revisit my nutrition.Not constantly.Not obsessively.But every once in a while, step back and ask:Is this actually working for me?Am I enjoying what I'm eating?Am I making food fun?Because food is fuel, especially when you're training a lot.But food is also one of the great pleasures of life.And I don't want every meal to become a calculation of protein, carbohydrates, sodium and calories.There should be room for enjoying food.Share the experienceAnother thing I want to do this year is find new ways to share the experience.That's one reason I'm interested in video.I've been podcasting for years now, but there's something really fun about telling the story visually.Showing the training.Showing the places I ride.Showing the process.Being creative.And I think that's another way of enjoying the sport.Not everything has to be about performance.Sometimes it's just fun to create something.Stay organizedAnd finally: stay organized.Because nothing makes training more stressful than getting to the moment when you're supposed to train and realizing:Oh crap. My gear isn't washed.Or:Where's that piece of equipment?Or:I wish I'd bought that thing three weeks ago.Or:I forgot to charge this.All of those little things create friction.And yes, staying organized takes time.Washing the gear.Putting things away.Replacing things before they run out.Charging things.Preparing nutrition.Getting tomorrow's stuff ready tonight.But I don't think that time is wasted.I think it's an investment in making the actual experience of training smoother and more enjoyable.And ultimately, that's what I want this year to be about.Not just getting fitter.Not just hitting numbers.Not just completing workouts.I want to build a year of training that fits into my life.A year where I'm prepared, but flexible.Disciplined, but not rigid.Focused, but not obsessive.Where I take the training seriously, but remember that triathlon isn't the most important thing in my life.And where, as much as possible, I actually enjoy the experience of doing it.Because I've got a whole year ahead of me.There's no need to rush it.I just need to show up today and make today a good day to train.
• 
  New Chapter Ahead 03.08.2026 13min

  The time seems right. It's now or never. This might be the end. We never know what tomorrow will bring, or next month or next year. Since that is the case, maybe I should start documenting my exploits sooner rather than later.Join us on Patreon! www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTIt's funny...this week I sat down to think about what I was going to talk about, and I realized I don't actually have a lot of exciting training news.Which, I suppose, is exactly the point.I'm still in this maintenance phase. Three rides a week. Two VO₂ max sessions and one endurance ride. That's it.TrainerRoad is predicting I'll lose maybe two or three percent of my FTP over the next week or so. And I'm actually okay with that. If I lose five or six watts over a month, that's a small price to pay for getting some physical and mental recovery after a long season.Because the alternative is doing nothing.And if I stop riding altogether, I know what happens. I lose thirty, forty, maybe even fifty watts. Then it takes me three or four months to earn that fitness back again.So right now my goal isn't to get stronger.It's simply to stay close enough to where I finished this season that, when I start my next training block, I can hit the ground running.Which makes for a pretty boring podcast.There really isn't much to say.The workouts are getting done.Fitness is staying relatively stable.Everything is...fine.But then something happened this week that completely took over my attention.I bought a drone.Well...not just a drone.I bought the new DJI Neo 2.I bought a DJI Osmo Action camera.I picked up a chest harness so I can record rides from my perspective.I already had the DJI Mic Mini, so now I can actually narrate while I'm riding or running without sounding like I'm talking through a hurricane.And ever since these boxes showed up at my house, I've been like a kid with a new toy.I've been testing them.Learning how they work.Figuring out camera angles.Learning how the drone follows me.Seeing what kind of footage I can get while riding and running.And the interesting part is...I don't think this is actually about the cameras.It's about what the cameras allow me to do.For years this podcast has documented what's happening inside my head.You've listened to me talk about races.Training.Self-doubt.Confidence.Injuries.Motivation.Discipline.All of those things work incredibly well in an audio format.But this week I realized something.Audio only tells half the story.I've spent years saying things like..."I had an amazing ride today.""The climb was brutal.""The ocean was calm.""The sunrise was incredible."You hear those words......but you've never actually seen any of it.You've never seen the roads I ride every week.You've never seen the climbs.You've never seen the places where I run.You've never stood beside the ocean where I swim.You've only experienced them through my descriptions.And that's when it hit me.Maybe this journey deserves more than words.Maybe it deserves pictures.Maybe it deserves video.Not because I think video is somehow better than audio.It's just......different.There are things that video can communicate that words simply can't.Imagine watching a drone slowly pull away as I'm climbing one of my local hills.No narration.Just breathing.Wind.The sound of tires on pavement.Sometimes silence tells the story better than words ever could.Or imagine seeing the roads that I've talked about for years.Instead of picturing them in your imagination......you'd actually be there.You'd see where I train.You'd see what I see.You'd experience a little piece of the journey alongside me.And I find that incredibly exciting.Now...I don't know exactly what this becomes.I'm experimenting.I'm learning.I'm making mistakes.I'm trying different shots.Trying different editing styles.Trying to figure out what feels authentic.I don't even know where these videos will eventually live.I'm intentionally not overthinking that part.Right now the important thing is simply documenting.Capturing.Recording.Because I realized something else this week.One day...this version of me won't exist anymore.I'm fifty-eight years old.Hopefully my best race is still ahead of me.Hopefully Germany in 2027 is the peak.That's certainly what I'm training toward.But none of us really know.Maybe Germany will be the highest point of my athletic life.Maybe it won't.Maybe I'll surprise myself.Maybe life has other plans.I honestly don't know.But wouldn't it be incredible to have a visual record of this entire journey?Not just race day.Everybody records race day.I'm talking about the Tuesday morning interval session.The rainy ride when I didn't feel like training.The quiet endurance ride where nothing special happened.The run where I questioned everything.The swim where everything finally clicked.Those ordinary moments...Those are actually the story.The race is just the ending.The story is everything that happens beforehand.And maybe that's really why these cameras excite me so much.Because they're giving me a chance to preserve something that otherwise would disappear.Five years from now...I'll be able to look back and remember exactly where I was.Not because Strava says I rode 82 kilometres.Not because Garmin tells me my average heart rate.But because I'll actually be able to see it.I'll see the roads.The weather.My posture on the bike.The way I moved.The expression on my face.I'll remember things that numbers could never capture.And maybe that's something we all lose sight of as endurance athletes.We're surrounded by data.FTP.Power.Heart rate.Pace.Cadence.VO₂ max.Training Stress Score.Recovery scores.Sleep scores.We measure everything.But the numbers don't remember the experience.The numbers don't remember the sunrise.They don't remember the laughter with training partners.They don't remember the eagle flying overhead during an early morning ride.They don't remember the feeling of finally reaching the top of a climb.The numbers tell us what happened.They don't tell us what it felt like.And maybe...that's what I want these cameras to capture.Not better workouts.Better memories.Because this isn't just a training plan anymore.This is becoming a chapter of my life.It's my road to Germany.Or maybe...my Highway to Hamburg.I haven't decided what to call it yet.But whatever the title ends up being, I know one thing.I don't want to remember this journey only through graphs on Garmin Connect.I want to remember what it looked like.I want to remember what it sounded like.I want to remember how it felt.And maybe, someday, some of you will come along for that ride too.I don't know exactly what this is going to become. Maybe it's a video diary. Maybe it's a documentary. Maybe it's just a collection of moments that only I end up appreciating. But I do know this: if I'm going to spend the next year chasing one of the biggest goals of my athletic life, I don't want to remember it only through numbers on a Garmin screen. I want to remember what the roads looked like, what the water looked like, what the climbs looked like, and maybe even what I looked like. Because one day, this version of me won't exist anymore. And I think it's worth preserving while it does.Until then, I'm not replacing the podcast, not at all. I think audio works formany or you, most of you. It allows you join me on your commute, your own runs, or while doing dishes. Video is simply another window into the same journey.One where you might see a drone image of me cycling from behind up a steep hill, switching to a first person POV as I race down the other side, followed by me stading at a lookout and waxing poetic on the difficulties of rear derailluers or my favourite flavour of carb drink.That's it from me.Until next time, peace.
• 
  [PREVIEW] New Chapter Ahead 03.08.2026 5min

  The time seems right. It's now or never. This might be the end. We never know what tomorrow will bring, or next month or next year. Since that is the case, maybe I should start documenting my exploits sooner rather than later.TRANSCRIPTIt's funny...this week I sat down to think about what I was going to talk about, and I realized I don't actually have a lot of exciting training news.Which, I suppose, is exactly the point.I'm still in this maintenance phase. Three rides a week. Two VO₂ max sessions and one endurance ride. That's it.TrainerRoad is predicting I'll lose maybe two or three percent of my FTP over the next week or so. And I'm actually okay with that. If I lose five or six watts over a month, that's a small price to pay for getting some physical and mental recovery after a long season.Because the alternative is doing nothing.And if I stop riding altogether, I know what happens. I lose thirty, forty, maybe even fifty watts. Then it takes me three or four months to earn that fitness back again.So right now my goal isn't to get stronger.It's simply to stay close enough to where I finished this season that, when I start my next training block, I can hit the ground running.Which makes for a pretty boring podcast.There really isn't much to say.The workouts are getting done.Fitness is staying relatively stable.Everything is...fine.But then something happened this week that completely took over my attention.I bought a drone.Well...not just a drone.I bought the new DJI Neo 2.I bought a DJI Osmo Action camera.I picked up a chest harness so I can record rides from my perspective.I already had the DJI Mic Mini, so now I can actually narrate while I'm riding or running without sounding like I'm talking through a hurricane.And ever since these boxes showed up at my house, I've been like a kid with a new toy.I've been testing them.Learning how they work.Figuring out camera angles.Learning how the drone follows me.Seeing what kind of footage I can get while riding and running.And the interesting part is...I don't think this is actually about the cameras.It's about what the cameras allow me to do.For years this podcast has documented what's happening inside my head.You've listened to me talk about races.Training.Self-doubt.Confidence.Injuries.Motivation.Discipline.All of those things work incredibly well in an audio format.But this week I realized something.Audio only tells half the story.I've spent years saying things like..."I had an amazing ride today.""The climb was brutal.""The ocean was calm.""The sunrise was incredible."You hear those words......but you've never actually seen any of it.You've never seen the roads I ride every week.You've never seen the climbs.You've never seen the places where I run.You've never stood beside the ocean where I swim.You've only experienced them through my descriptions.And that's when it hit me.Maybe this journey deserves more than words.Maybe it deserves pictures.Maybe it deserves video.Not because I think video is somehow better than audio.It's just......different.There are things that video can communicate that words simply can't.Imagine watching a drone slowly pull away as I'm climbing one of my local hills.No narration.Just breathing.Wind.The sound of tires on pavement.Sometimes silence tells the story better than words ever could.Or imagine seeing the roads that I've talked about for years.Instead of picturing them in your imagination......you'd actually be there.You'd see where I train.You'd see what I see.You'd experience a little piece of the journey alongside me.And I find that incredibly exciting.Now...I don't know exactly what this becomes.I'm experimenting.I'm learning.I'm making mistakes.I'm trying different shots.Trying different editing styles.Trying to figure out what feels authentic.I don't even know where these videos will eventually live.I'm intentionally not overthinking that part.Right now the important thing is simply documenting.Capturing.Recording.Because I realized something else this week.One day...this version of me won't exist anymore.I'm fifty-eight years old.Hopefully my best race is still ahead of me.Hopefully Germany in 2027 is the peak.That's certainly what I'm training toward.But none of us really know.Maybe Germany will be the highest point of my athletic life.Maybe it won't.Maybe I'll surprise myself.Maybe life has other plans.I honestly don't know.But wouldn't it be incredible to have a visual record of this entire journey?Not just race day.Everybody records race day.I'm talking about the Tuesday morning interval session.The rainy ride when I didn't feel like training.The quiet endurance ride where nothing special happened.The run where I questioned everything.The swim where everything finally clicked.Those ordinary moments...Those are actually the story.The race is just the ending.The story is everything that happens beforehand.And maybe that's really why these cameras excite me so much.Because they're giving me a chance to preserve something that otherwise would disappear.Five years from now...I'll be able to look back and remember exactly where I was.Not because Strava says I rode 82 kilometres.Not because Garmin tells me my average heart rate.But because I'll actually be able to see it.I'll see the roads.The weather.My posture on the bike.The way I moved.The expression on my face.I'll remember things that numbers could never capture.And maybe that's something we all lose sight of as endurance athletes.We're surrounded by data.FTP.Power.Heart rate.Pace.Cadence.VO₂ max.Training Stress Score.Recovery scores.Sleep scores.We measure everything.But the numbers don't remember the experience.The numbers don't remember the sunrise.They don't remember the laughter with training partners.They don't remember the eagle flying overhead during an early morning ride.They don't remember the feeling of finally reaching the top of a climb.The numbers tell us what happened.They don't tell us what it felt like.And maybe...that's what I want these cameras to capture.Not better workouts.Better memories.Because this isn't just a training plan anymore.This is becoming a chapter of my life.It's my road to Germany.Or maybe...my Highway to Hamburg.I haven't decided what to call it yet.But whatever the title ends up being, I know one thing.I don't want to remember this journey only through graphs on Garmin Connect.I want to remember what it looked like.I want to remember what it sounded like.I want to remember how it felt.And maybe, someday, some of you will come along for that ride too.I don't know exactly what this is going to become. Maybe it's a video diary. Maybe it's a documentary. Maybe it's just a collection of moments that only I end up appreciating. But I do know this: if I'm going to spend the next year chasing one of the biggest goals of my athletic life, I don't want to remember it only through numbers on a Garmin screen. I want to remember what the roads looked like, what the water looked like, what the climbs looked like, and maybe even what I looked like. Because one day, this version of me won't exist anymore. And I think it's worth preserving while it does.Until then, I'm not replacing the podcast, not at all. I think audio works formany or you, most of you. It allows you join me on your commute, your own runs, or while doing dishes. Video is simply another window into the same journey.One where you might see a drone image of me cycling from behind up a steep hill, switching to a first person POV as I race down the other side, followed by me stading at a lookout and waxing poetic on the difficulties of rear derailluers or my favourite flavour of carb drink.That's it from me.Until next time, peace.
• 
  Is a Triathlete's Body Designed to be Lazy? 26.07.2026 11min

  One week out of structured training and I already feel like a lazy slouch. But maybe that's natural?Please join us over at wwwpatreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTHey everybody, and welcome back to The Lonely Triathlete.I've been in a bit of an unusual place over the last couple of weeks.My racing season is over. I had my final race on July 12th, and now I'm in what coaches would call a maintenance phase. Instead of training six days a week, I'm only riding three. Two VO₂ max sessions and one endurance ride. That's it. The goal isn't to get faster right now. The goal is simply to hold onto the fitness I've built before I begin my next training block for the 2027 World Championships in Germany.On paper, this should be easy.Three rides a week.No swimming.No running.No pressure.And yet...I'm finding it harder to motivate myself to do three workouts than I was when I was doing six.That got me thinking.Is the human body actually designed to be...lazy?Now, "lazy" is probably the wrong word, but it's the word that came to mind.Why does taking just a little time off seem to wake up this voice in our heads that says, "You could skip today. You've earned it."If you've ever taken a week off because of vacation, illness, or simply burnout, you've probably experienced the same thing.The amazing thing is that physiologically, you haven't lost much fitness at all.Research consistently shows that if you've built a strong aerobic base, one or even two weeks of reduced training causes surprisingly little decline—especially if you keep a little intensity in the program. That's exactly why I'm still doing those VO₂ max intervals. They're enough to remind my body, "Hey, we're still athletes over here."So the body isn't falling apart.The interesting part is that the mind often changes faster than the body.Why?Because your brain is constantly trying to manage energy.For almost all of human history, calories weren't unlimited. They were precious. Our ancestors weren't rewarded for going out and doing hill repeats for fun. They were rewarded for surviving, conserving energy when they could, and spending it only when there was a good reason.So in many ways, our brains evolved to be efficient, not enthusiastic.When your brain senses that there isn't an urgent reason to burn energy, it starts negotiating."Maybe tomorrow.""One more cup of coffee.""You've had a busy day."Sound familiar?What's fascinating is that during a structured training block, those negotiations almost disappear.Why?Because you're no longer making decisions.You're following a routine.Monday is intervals.Tuesday is easy.Wednesday is strength.Thursday is another hard session.The routine does the thinking for you.But remove the structure for just a week, and suddenly every workout becomes a fresh decision.And decisions require motivation.I actually think that's why maintenance can feel harder than full training.It's not because the workouts are harder.It's because momentum has slowed down.I've often said that motivation is overrated.Identity is much more powerful.I'm not someone who trains because I feel motivated.I'm someone who trains because that's who I am.Right now, my schedule has changed.My identity hasn't.I'm still a triathlete.I'm simply in a different season.I think that's an important reminder for all of us.Not every month is about building fitness.Some months are about absorbing the work.Some months are about recovery.Some months are about letting your body and mind catch up.And that's exactly where I am.The funny thing is, I know this intellectually.I've read the research.I've experienced it before.And yet I'm still having the same conversations with myself before each ride.That's comforting in a strange way.It reminds me that discipline isn't something you achieve once.It's something you practice over and over again.Now, speaking of the next season...I've been working on something that I'm REALLY excited about.Some of you know that I qualified for the 2027 World Age Group Championships in Hamburg, Germany.Over the next year, I want to document that journey in a way I've never done before.I've ordered a follow-me sports drone.I've got a new action camera on the way.And I'm going to start experimenting with video.I'm calling the project—at least for now—Journey to Germany.I don't know exactly what form it's going to take.Some of it may end up on YouTube.Some might be exclusive to Patreon.I'm still figuring all of that out.But what excites me isn't the equipment.It's the opportunity to let you experience the process with me.Not just race day.Not just podiums.The rainy Tuesday morning ride.The workout that almost didn't happen.The trail runs.The recovery days.The small victories that nobody else usually sees.I've spent years talking into a microphone about training.Now I'd like to show you what that training actually looks like.And maybe that's fitting, because this next chapter feels different.I'm 58 years old, heading toward 59.For more than twenty-five years, I've somehow continued setting personal bests.Every few years I think, "Well...this is probably it. This is where improvement finally stops."And then somehow...Another personal best.I honestly don't know where my ceiling is anymore.Maybe I've already found it.Maybe it's still ahead of me.I don't know.But I don't want to spend the next year wondering.I'd rather find out.And if I'm going to find out, I thought it might be fun to bring all of you along for the ride.Thanks so much for listening. And if you want to hear more from me and even drop me a line, why don'tyou head on over to patreon.com and search for the lonely triathlete.If today's episode resonated with you—especially if you're struggling with motivation after taking some time off—I hope it reminds you that nothing is wrong with you. Your brain is simply doing what it evolved to do.Our job as endurance athletes isn't to eliminate that resistance.It's to gently, consistently, keep showing up anyway.Until next time...I'll be on my personal road to Germany.Peace
• 
  [PREVIEW] Is a Triathlete's Body Designed to be Lazy? 26.07.2026 5min

  One week off structured training and already I feel like a lazy slob. Maybe that's natural?TRANSCRIPTHey everybody, and welcome back to The Lonely Triathlete.I've been in a bit of an unusual place over the last couple of weeks.My racing season is over. I had my final race on July 12th, and now I'm in what coaches would call a maintenance phase. Instead of training six days a week, I'm only riding three. Two VO₂ max sessions and one endurance ride. That's it. The goal isn't to get faster right now. The goal is simply to hold onto the fitness I've built before I begin my next training block for the 2027 World Championships in Germany.On paper, this should be easy.Three rides a week.No swimming.No running.No pressure.And yet...I'm finding it harder to motivate myself to do three workouts than I was when I was doing six.That got me thinking.Is the human body actually designed to be...lazy?Now, "lazy" is probably the wrong word, but it's the word that came to mind.Why does taking just a little time off seem to wake up this voice in our heads that says, "You could skip today. You've earned it."If you've ever taken a week off because of vacation, illness, or simply burnout, you've probably experienced the same thing.The amazing thing is that physiologically, you haven't lost much fitness at all.Research consistently shows that if you've built a strong aerobic base, one or even two weeks of reduced training causes surprisingly little decline—especially if you keep a little intensity in the program. That's exactly why I'm still doing those VO₂ max intervals. They're enough to remind my body, "Hey, we're still athletes over here."So the body isn't falling apart.The interesting part is that the mind often changes faster than the body.Why?Because your brain is constantly trying to manage energy.For almost all of human history, calories weren't unlimited. They were precious. Our ancestors weren't rewarded for going out and doing hill repeats for fun. They were rewarded for surviving, conserving energy when they could, and spending it only when there was a good reason.So in many ways, our brains evolved to be efficient, not enthusiastic.When your brain senses that there isn't an urgent reason to burn energy, it starts negotiating."Maybe tomorrow.""One more cup of coffee.""You've had a busy day."Sound familiar?What's fascinating is that during a structured training block, those negotiations almost disappear.Why?Because you're no longer making decisions.You're following a routine.Monday is intervals.Tuesday is easy.Wednesday is strength.Thursday is another hard session.The routine does the thinking for you.But remove the structure for just a week, and suddenly every workout becomes a fresh decision.And decisions require motivation.I actually think that's why maintenance can feel harder than full training.It's not because the workouts are harder.It's because momentum has slowed down.I've often said that motivation is overrated.Identity is much more powerful.I'm not someone who trains because I feel motivated.I'm someone who trains because that's who I am.Right now, my schedule has changed.My identity hasn't.I'm still a triathlete.I'm simply in a different season.I think that's an important reminder for all of us.Not every month is about building fitness.Some months are about absorbing the work.Some months are about recovery.Some months are about letting your body and mind catch up.And that's exactly where I am.The funny thing is, I know this intellectually.I've read the research.I've experienced it before.And yet I'm still having the same conversations with myself before each ride.That's comforting in a strange way.It reminds me that discipline isn't something you achieve once.It's something you practice over and over again.Now, speaking of the next season...I've been working on something that I'm REALLY excited about.Some of you know that I qualified for the 2027 World Age Group Championships in Hamburg, Germany.Over the next year, I want to document that journey in a way I've never done before.I've ordered a follow-me sports drone.I've got a new action camera on the way.And I'm going to start experimenting with video.I'm calling the project—at least for now—Journey to Germany.I don't know exactly what form it's going to take.Some of it may end up on YouTube.Some might be exclusive to Patreon.I'm still figuring all of that out.But what excites me isn't the equipment.It's the opportunity to let you experience the process with me.Not just race day.Not just podiums.The rainy Tuesday morning ride.The workout that almost didn't happen.The trail runs.The recovery days.The small victories that nobody else usually sees.I've spent years talking into a microphone about training.Now I'd like to show you what that training actually looks like.And maybe that's fitting, because this next chapter feels different.I'm 58 years old, heading toward 59.For more than twenty-five years, I've somehow continued setting personal bests.Every few years I think, "Well...this is probably it. This is where improvement finally stops."And then somehow...Another personal best.I honestly don't know where my ceiling is anymore.Maybe I've already found it.Maybe it's still ahead of me.I don't know.But I don't want to spend the next year wondering.I'd rather find out.And if I'm going to find out, I thought it might be fun to bring all of you along for the ride.Thanks so much for listening. And if you want to hear more from me and even drop me a line, why don'tyou head on over to patreon.com and search for the lonely triathlete.If today's episode resonated with you—especially if you're struggling with motivation after taking some time off—I hope it reminds you that nothing is wrong with you. Your brain is simply doing what it evolved to do.Our job as endurance athletes isn't to eliminate that resistance.It's to gently, consistently, keep showing up anyway.Until next time...I'll be on my personal road to Germany.Peace
• 
  When Race Season Ends 21.07.2026 13min

  What do we do when the racing season ends? Put our feet up and chill out? And lose all that hard earned fitness? Not this time.Come join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTWhat do you do when your race season is over?I've been asking myself that question all week.For almost an entire year, my life revolved around one goal: qualify for the World Championships.Six days a week I trained. Every workout had a purpose. Every interval session, every endurance ride, every swim, every run—it all pointed toward one day on the calendar.When my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., I didn't have to negotiate with myself. I knew why I was getting up.There was no debate.The goal made the decision for me.And after nearly a year of consistent training...I qualified.It was one of the most satisfying athletic achievements of my life.Then, because I'm human—and because my ego wasn't quite finished—I signed up for one more race.I wanted to prove to myself that qualifying wasn't a fluke.Fortunately, that race went well too.Mission accomplished.And now...The triathlon season around here is over.So now what?For years, I've handled the offseason the same way.I take the entire month of August off.No structured training.No TrainerRoad.No worrying about fitness.I sleep in.Go for casual rides.Eat a little more.Enjoy life.Honestly...It's wonderful.I think every athlete deserves periods of genuine recovery.The body needs it.The mind definitely needs it.But over the years I've noticed something.Recovery quietly turns into detraining.By September my FTP has usually dropped about thirty watts.Thirty watts doesn't sound dramatic.But here's what I've learned.The problem isn't losing thirty watts.The problem is how long it takes to earn them back.Every autumn I spend two or three months simply returning to where I was before I stopped training.Only then can I begin building new fitness.It's like climbing halfway up a mountain, hiking back down to the parking lot, and then spending weeks just getting back to the place where you turned around.This year...I don't want to do that.Instead, I'm going to experiment.Rather than stopping completely, I'm going to shift into what I'd call a maintenance phase.Just three rides each week.One longer endurance ride.Two quality sessions—threshold or VO₂ max work.The objective isn't to improve.The objective is simply to hold onto as much fitness as I reasonably can while giving both my body and mind a chance to recover.It sounds simple.But psychologically...It's proving much harder than I expected.I just got back from a five-day cycling trip with friends.And I say "cycling" in quotation marks because we were riding e-bikes at a wonderfully relaxed pace.Before I go any further, let me just say this...Seattle is an incredible cycling city.Bike lanes everywhere.Protected paths through parks.Trails beside rivers.Routes along the ocean.It feels like a city designed by people who actually ride bikes.If you've never cycled there, I highly recommend it.But once I got home...Reality hit.Only one week has passed since my last race.One week.And already I feel...Less motivated.Less fit.Which is funny because physiologically I probably haven't lost very much fitness at all.Fitness doesn't disappear in seven days.Research on endurance athletes consistently shows that most aerobic adaptations are remarkably resilient over short breaks. You may notice your legs feel a little flat, but meaningful losses in aerobic capacity and threshold power usually take several weeks—not several days—to develop.So if my body hasn't changed very much...Why do I already feel different?I think the answer has very little to do with physiology.I think it has everything to do with purpose.Sports psychologists often talk about the power of goal-directed behavior. Clear goals don't just tell us what to do—they organize our attention, our habits, and even our identity. When we know why we're training, our brains spend far less energy debating whether we should train.Motivation isn't something we magically possess.It's something our goals create.There's another concept in psychology called Self-Determination Theory. It suggests that people stay motivated when three basic psychological needs are being met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.Autonomy means we feel we're choosing our actions.Competence means we feel ourselves improving.Relatedness means we feel connected to other people through what we're doing.During race season, triathlon checks every one of those boxes.I choose to train.Every workout gives me evidence that I'm improving.And every race connects me to a community of people pursuing similar goals.Then suddenly...The season ends.The races disappear.The training plan ends.The improvements become harder to measure.And without realizing it, one or more of those psychological needs begins to fade.No wonder motivation feels different.I don't think I'm losing discipline.I think I've temporarily lost direction.Last week I knew exactly who I was.I was someone trying to qualify for Worlds.Today...I'm just a guy standing in the garage wondering if I really need to ride the trainer tonight.That identity shift is surprisingly unsettling.I suspect many athletes experience this after a major goal.Maybe runners after a marathon.Cyclists after a gran fondo.Parents after their kids leave home.Professionals after retirement.When a chapter ends, we're left asking a surprisingly uncomfortable question:"Who am I now?"Maybe that's the real challenge of the offseason.Not maintaining fitness.Maintaining purpose.I've been thinking a lot about how to solve that.And I don't think the answer is to immediately find another massive goal.I think it's smaller than that.I think I simply need a plan.Not a vague intention.A written plan.For the next couple of months that means maintenance riding, a few local 10K races just for fun, and volunteering at some triathlon events so I stay connected to the community.After that...I'll begin building my roadmap toward next year's World Championships.But this time I want to do something I've never really done before.I'm going to write the entire thing out.The milestones.The training blocks.The recovery periods.The races.Everything.Because visible plans reduce decision fatigue.When the workout is already on paper, you don't wake up asking, "Should I train today?"You simply execute the next step.That's what goals do.They remove uncertainty.They replace motivation with routine.And maybe that's the lesson I'm learning this week.Purpose isn't something that accidentally appears.It's something we intentionally build.When one season ends, another one doesn't magically begin.We have to create it.So that's my project this week.Not increasing my FTP.Not becoming fitter.Simply creating enough structure that, when September arrives, I haven't lost the fitness—or the sense of purpose—that took an entire year to build.I'll let you know how it goes.Until next time...Peace.
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  [PREVIEW] When Race Season Ends 21.07.2026 5min

  What do we do when the racing season ends? Put our feet up and chill out? And lose all that hard earned fitness? Not this time.TRANSCRIPTWhat do you do when your race season is over?I've been asking myself that question all week.For almost an entire year, my life revolved around one goal: qualify for the World Championships.Six days a week I trained. Every workout had a purpose. Every interval session, every endurance ride, every swim, every run—it all pointed toward one day on the calendar.When my alarm went off at 6:00 a.m., I didn't have to negotiate with myself. I knew why I was getting up.There was no debate.The goal made the decision for me.And after nearly a year of consistent training...I qualified.It was one of the most satisfying athletic achievements of my life.Then, because I'm human—and because my ego wasn't quite finished—I signed up for one more race.I wanted to prove to myself that qualifying wasn't a fluke.Fortunately, that race went well too.Mission accomplished.And now...The triathlon season around here is over.So now what?For years, I've handled the offseason the same way.I take the entire month of August off.No structured training.No TrainerRoad.No worrying about fitness.I sleep in.Go for casual rides.Eat a little more.Enjoy life.Honestly...It's wonderful.I think every athlete deserves periods of genuine recovery.The body needs it.The mind definitely needs it.But over the years I've noticed something.Recovery quietly turns into detraining.By September my FTP has usually dropped about thirty watts.Thirty watts doesn't sound dramatic.But here's what I've learned.The problem isn't losing thirty watts.The problem is how long it takes to earn them back.Every autumn I spend two or three months simply returning to where I was before I stopped training.Only then can I begin building new fitness.It's like climbing halfway up a mountain, hiking back down to the parking lot, and then spending weeks just getting back to the place where you turned around.This year...I don't want to do that.Instead, I'm going to experiment.Rather than stopping completely, I'm going to shift into what I'd call a maintenance phase.Just three rides each week.One longer endurance ride.Two quality sessions—threshold or VO₂ max work.The objective isn't to improve.The objective is simply to hold onto as much fitness as I reasonably can while giving both my body and mind a chance to recover.It sounds simple.But psychologically...It's proving much harder than I expected.I just got back from a five-day cycling trip with friends.And I say "cycling" in quotation marks because we were riding e-bikes at a wonderfully relaxed pace.Before I go any further, let me just say this...Seattle is an incredible cycling city.Bike lanes everywhere.Protected paths through parks.Trails beside rivers.Routes along the ocean.It feels like a city designed by people who actually ride bikes.If you've never cycled there, I highly recommend it.But once I got home...Reality hit.Only one week has passed since my last race.One week.And already I feel...Less motivated.Less fit.Which is funny because physiologically I probably haven't lost very much fitness at all.Fitness doesn't disappear in seven days.Research on endurance athletes consistently shows that most aerobic adaptations are remarkably resilient over short breaks. You may notice your legs feel a little flat, but meaningful losses in aerobic capacity and threshold power usually take several weeks—not several days—to develop.So if my body hasn't changed very much...Why do I already feel different?I think the answer has very little to do with physiology.I think it has everything to do with purpose.Sports psychologists often talk about the power of goal-directed behavior. Clear goals don't just tell us what to do—they organize our attention, our habits, and even our identity. When we know why we're training, our brains spend far less energy debating whether we should train.Motivation isn't something we magically possess.It's something our goals create.There's another concept in psychology called Self-Determination Theory. It suggests that people stay motivated when three basic psychological needs are being met: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.Autonomy means we feel we're choosing our actions.Competence means we feel ourselves improving.Relatedness means we feel connected to other people through what we're doing.During race season, triathlon checks every one of those boxes.I choose to train.Every workout gives me evidence that I'm improving.And every race connects me to a community of people pursuing similar goals.Then suddenly...The season ends.The races disappear.The training plan ends.The improvements become harder to measure.And without realizing it, one or more of those psychological needs begins to fade.No wonder motivation feels different.I don't think I'm losing discipline.I think I've temporarily lost direction.Last week I knew exactly who I was.I was someone trying to qualify for Worlds.Today...I'm just a guy standing in the garage wondering if I really need to ride the trainer tonight.That identity shift is surprisingly unsettling.I suspect many athletes experience this after a major goal.Maybe runners after a marathon.Cyclists after a gran fondo.Parents after their kids leave home.Professionals after retirement.When a chapter ends, we're left asking a surprisingly uncomfortable question:"Who am I now?"Maybe that's the real challenge of the offseason.Not maintaining fitness.Maintaining purpose.I've been thinking a lot about how to solve that.And I don't think the answer is to immediately find another massive goal.I think it's smaller than that.I think I simply need a plan.Not a vague intention.A written plan.For the next couple of months that means maintenance riding, a few local 10K races just for fun, and volunteering at some triathlon events so I stay connected to the community.After that...I'll begin building my roadmap toward next year's World Championships.But this time I want to do something I've never really done before.I'm going to write the entire thing out.The milestones.The training blocks.The recovery periods.The races.Everything.Because visible plans reduce decision fatigue.When the workout is already on paper, you don't wake up asking, "Should I train today?"You simply execute the next step.That's what goals do.They remove uncertainty.They replace motivation with routine.And maybe that's the lesson I'm learning this week.Purpose isn't something that accidentally appears.It's something we intentionally build.When one season ends, another one doesn't magically begin.We have to create it.So that's my project this week.Not increasing my FTP.Not becoming fitter.Simply creating enough structure that, when September arrives, I haven't lost the fitness—or the sense of purpose—that took an entire year to build.I'll let you know how it goes.Until next time...Peace.
• 
  Race report - Victoria Half Multisport Festival 13.07.2026 16min

  2nd race in 2 weeks! Was I able to bounce back and race hard or did I crash and burn? listen to find out.Join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete
• 
  [PREVIEW] Race Report - Victoria Half Multisport Festival 13.07.2026 5min

  2nd race in 2 weeks! Was I able to bounce back and race hard or did I crash and burn? listen to find out.Join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathlete
• 
  Triathlon Injuries and the Five Stages of Grief 06.07.2026 12min

  We all get injured and we all deal with it differently. It recently occurred to me that I seem to go through stages of grief when I am injured. And I don't make the best decisions for my long term health until I reach the last stage.Join the fun at www.patreon.com/thelonelytriathleteTRANSCRIPTTriathlon Injuries and The 5 Stages of Grief Today I want to use the 5 Stages of Grief as a framework to talk about how we, as triathletes, often experience injuries.The Five Stages of Grief weren't actually created to explain sports injuries—or even the grief we feel after someone dies. They were originally observations of people facing their own mortality. Modern psychology tells us grief isn't nearly that tidy. But I've found those five emotions to be a surprisingly useful lens for understanding what happens in my own head every time an injury threatens a session or perhaps a season.As a quick recap, 3 weeks before my end of June race, I hurt my back. And I mean, I really hurt it. I had to take 8 complete days away from training and there were a few moments where I entertained the possibility that I might not be able to race in the World Championship qualifying race that I had been training for for 9 months. With all of my focus on rest, recovery, nutrition, medical attention and every marginally effective treatment I could think of, I managed to get to a place where I thought I might be able to race pain-free. And then, on the Friday before the Sunday race I hurt a different part of my back or neck. Once again, I faced difficult emotions but with luck on my side (and a million units of pain killer in my system) I managed to perform an all-time best race and secure my invitation to join Team Canada and represent at the World Triathlon Championships in Germany next year.My plan was to recover this past week, then get in some short hard efforts next week and once again race a Standard Distance here in Victoria. A race where I came 2nd in my category last year.Yet when I woke up this morning, I had difficuly walking due to a really sore hip. So, once again, I am forced to take extra time off for injury. And it reminded me that I seem to go through the same emotional journey every single time I get injured. I don't think it's just disappointment—I think it's grief.Not grief because someone died, but grief because, in a way, the athlete I thought I was for the next few weeks suddenly disappeared.So, what are the 5 Stage of Grief? And remember, we don't always go through them all and we don't necessarily go through them in a linear order.Stage 1: Denial"I'll be fine."My typical thoughts:It's just tight.I'll loosen up tomorrow.I'll still do my long run.Maybe I'll just bike instead.As triathletes, or simply very motivated people, we often tend to ignore warning signs because training has taught us to push through discomfort. No pain, no gain, right?And if you are anything like me, you've probably Googled 'Can I run on a torn [blank]?' hoping the internet says yes. You know who you are.Stage 2: Anger"This isn't fair."This is where frustration appears.Examples:Why now?I was finally getting fit.Everyone else is training.I did everything right.The timing is unbelievable!If you find yourself in this stage my advice to you would be to avoid social media because it can be almost unbearable to see friends and competitors on Strava crushing their workouts.Stage 3: BargainingThis is probably the funniest stage."If I only run easy...""What if I skip intervals and do some Base work instead?""I'll wear compression sleeves.""I'll ice it.""I'll take one more recovery day.""I'll only run downhill."This is where athletes become expert negotiators with themselves. Now, there is nothing wrong with trying to find a logical, reasonable compromise to work around an injury but realize this is a very dangerous place to be. There is a fine line between "getting through an injury" and "making it much worse".Stage 4: SadnessThis is the hardest part.The realization sets in:I'm going to lose fitness.That race might be over.My routine is gone.My identity takes a hit.We feel this way because training isn't just exercise — it's structure, stress relief, community, and confidence. Losing it feels much bigger than just missing a workout.Finally, Stage 5: AcceptanceThis is where good decisions FINALLY happen.Instead of asking:"How do I save this race?"You begin asking:"What's the smartest way forward?"Examples:Seeing a physiotherapist.Following a rehab plan.Adjusting goals.Cross-training.Sleeping more.Letting HEALING become the training.I've noticed that I can't skip straight to LOGIC. My brain wants to BARGAIN first. It wants to find shortcuts and loopholes. But eventually I reach acceptance, and that's when I actually start making good decisions. The sooner I recognize the emotional process, the sooner I stop fighting reality and start healing.I think it's been the realization that I need to go through these stages of grief when I am injured that have allowed me to stay calmer, cooler, less emotionally charged from my recent setbacks. It isn't easy at any level but the more quickly I move to acceptance, the more quickly I can begin to heal. And while we can't always control how quickly we get to that level the mere fact of recognizing what is happening to us emotionally is one of the biggest pieces of that puzzle.So, if you're injured right now, maybe give yourself a little grace. You might not just be dealing with sore muscles—you might be grieving the session, sessions or even season you thought you were going to have. That's normal. Just don't make permanent training decisions based on TEMPORARY EMOTIONS.Until next time,Peace