Friday, June 30, 2017

My last triathlon for a while

My race report for the Smiths Falls Classic is up. It was a fun race, albeit one with some execution errors, but nice to get the AG win after a bit of a drought. However, I'm pulling the plug on triathlon for a while.

Maintaining a consistent training schedule after the birth of our third child has been difficult, and swimming has been the biggest challenge. I can run and bike whenever - I've got a bike trainer and treadmill in my basement. What I don't have is my own pool, and the ones available to me are a) a fair distance away and b) only available for lane swimming at very specific times. Simply put, it's just not flexible enough for me at this point in my life. Many weeks I'd either have to skip swimming entirely, or I'd slink out of the house leaving my wife to deal with 3 screaming kids. I haven't been able to make any real swim progress as a result, and while I enjoy swimming, trying to fit it into my life is, at this point anyways, a source of aggravation. More significantly, trying to be a good swimmer is making me worse of a husband and father.

My pool membership expired at the end of June, and I'm not renewing it. I'm still running and biking, and will likely switch to duathlon for the foreseeable future. I'll come back to triathlon in a few years when the kids are older. So goodbye triathlon, you've done a lot for me over these past few years. You've gotten me fitter than I've ever been in my life. You've provided the motivation for me to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle. You've provided a platform for me to challenge myself, and to set and achieve new goals. I've met some cool people, and had a lot of fun.

So I'm not done with multisport - I've got my eye on a duathlon in August. And there are more triathlons in my future. Just not for a while.

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