I was listening to Triathlon Taren the other day. He mentioned how he and others have felt a kind of depression due to so many race cancelations and travel restrictions. I get it. After all, this is 2020 A.C. [1] Anno COVIDI .
Even though I know what he’s talking about, I don’t feel the same. First, let me say that I have a lot of sympathy for everyone feeling down or struggling with lockdowns, layoffs and deaths. If that is you, you may want to stop reading this post now and click over to something else, because the rest of this post is a bit sunny and I don’t want you to feel like I’m rubbing your nose in anything. I’m not.
This year has actually been very good for me and my triathlon future. I’m sure the performance gains are completely unrelated to any effects of the COVID pandemic, but I have definitely thrived in this environment. I train by myself most of the time anyway.
For everyone out there mentally and emotionally struggling with race cancelations and postponements, I want to offer some advice:
Keep your eye on the future
That’s the only way I know how to get through this. I expect my KQ[2] Kona Qualification ambitions will deliver results in about five years. It could even be 10 years before I qualify. With that in mind, I can suffer through almost anything in the short term… and that’s what this pandemic is. It will be downgraded in the next year or two and life will get back to a new normal.
This is very similar to how I handled my post race depression. I just made plans for race #2 long before I started race #1. After the November 2009 IRONMAN® Arizona, I fell into a deep depression. It impacted my whole life: family, work, training. In the video below, I ponder the causes of such depression and talk about what I did in 2016 to prevent it.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. I want to see you at a race in 2021 (or 2022 if necessary).
Until next time…
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