External influences

I've been thinking this week about how other people's actions influence our (specifically, mine) thoughts and decisions. It started because at the beginning of every year, I contemplate my race schedule for the year. Last year I didn't have a strong desire to do any triathlons, so I only did one. But all year, as I kept up with my tri friends, I felt like I was missing something. Most of the people I know that do tri's, I keep up with through another website. I can track their training and they were ramping up their volume for the Half-Ironman distance. I had to resist the urge to do more because I felt like a slacker. Several of them have moved up to the Full Ironman distance too. It was (and is) often hard to compare my logs to those people and I have to remember my plan, not theirs.

I posted this in my training blog on January 7, 2008:
"I'll still not sure what tri season holds for me. I don't feel the urge to switch my focus to where I must train 6-8 times a week. I'm just not motivated to S/B/R quite yet. I'm enjoying being active but not locked in to a schedule. Maybe it's just me being stubborn. Part of me is thinking that I have the rest of my life to do tri's, what's the rush? A serious lack of focus. Maybe I've just been brainwashed by the guys at the shop."

And this was a friend's response: "What I am sure of, though, is that it really doesn't matter. It's all about what works for you and what makes you happy and if what you're doing right now is doing that then it's most definitely the right thing." And this on another day: "Your head will be in the game when you're ready and it's right for you. There's a lot more to life than triathlon... most people around here get that."

These were short responses that stayed in the back of my mind the rest of the year. Really, this is what it's about. It's important to not get wrapped up in what other people are doing because if I'm happy... it doesn't matter what others are doing.