Navigating Off-Season Motivation, Emotions, And Expectations Ep 117
6 Nov 2025 · 35 min
In this episode of the Find Your Edge podcast, Coach Chris (Christina Fiumara Newport) and Coach Carly discuss the challenges endurance athletes face during the off‑season. They begin by promoting the Endurance Edge Triathlon Training Camp (April 22‑26, Lake Jocassee, SC) and then dive into why motivation often feels low after a race season ends. They distinguish motivation (goal‑directed drive) from the surrounding emotions that can mask it, noting how seasonal changes (shorter daylight, loss of open‑water swims, social group shifts) and life stressors affect athletes’ feelings. The hosts explore perfectionism and the pressure to stay constantly “high‑performing,” encouraging listeners to lean out of perfectionism, avoid unhealthy comparison, and practice curiosity about their internal state. Practical tools are offered: journal prompts, the “10‑minute rule” for low‑commitment workouts, marking optional sessions in TrainingPeaks (gray zone), and allowing flexibility in training plans. They stress the importance of life balance, taking intentional breaks (e.g., a December reset), and recognizing athletic identity beyond race results. Throughout, the tone is conversational, supportive, and motivational, with frequent affirmations that listeners are “amazing” and deserve grace. The episode ends with calls to action for listener questions, social media contact, and subscription information.
Chapters
Every endurance athlete remembers the moment when things finally click. Your swim feels smoother, your pacing makes sense, your fueling works, and suddenly the sport feels not only easier, but more fun. And for many athletes, that moment happens at training camp. That's exactly why we created the Endurance Edge Triathlon Training Camp happening April 22nd through 26th at Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. For 4 incredible days, you'll train in a small group with expert coaches, sports nutrition support, and sports psychology guidance, all designed to help you train smarter, race stronger, and finally connect the dots in your performance. We swim in crystal clear mountain water, ride beautiful and challenging roads, run scenic trails, and spend the rest of the time recovering, learning, laughing, and eating some seriously amazing chef-prepared food. Mm-hmm. Camp is intentionally small, just 20 athletes, so you get real coaching, true connection, and amazing breakthroughs. So if you want an experience that can transform your entire season, we invite you to join us. Head to theenduranceedge.com and click training camp and reserve your spot with just a $100 deposit. Come train hard, learn a ton, and leave stronger than you ever imagined. I'll see you there. Hi friends, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I am Coach Chris and I am here with Coach Carly because we're here to drink coffee or water or whatever and have a little chat about the season change, the transition from like being in season to off season. And then what the heck do I do with myself? Uh, why aren't I motivated? Maybe I'm motivated, maybe it's something else. So let's chat about that. And, and, um, I'll kind of kick it off that I've got— it's this sort of all started because an athlete was like, oh well, I'm just trying to find my motivation. And you said, and I was like, oh, we need to start recording right now.
I wasn't sassy, y'all, for the record. No, you get sassy. But I wasn't.
We are never sassy.
But what you described made me say, are they, are they, is it a motivation thing or is it the emotion that they're having surrounding their motivation at the moment? Because they're two different things. But sometimes we let our emotions get in the way and then we feel like we're unmotivated, but we're not. We're just not excited about our motivation.
Okay, say more, pretty please.
Okay, so I'll say the, the more grandiose example that everyone can sort of resonate with is like, I've decided to sign up for my big exciting race, right? And you hit take all my money and you sign up, and then like that week You show up every morning, you hit all your workouts to a T, motivation is high, right? 'Cause you're really excited about it. And then you sort of fall into this rhythm and the motivation dips, right? And we see this big wave. It's in flux with the excitement we're feeling about it. We're not gonna stay feeling like, oh my gosh, I'm doing this really excited race every morning at 5:00 AM for the next year. It's just not gonna happen. And so sort of separating the two a little bit and getting curious, really, if it's just that you're not excited about it at the moment. Because let me tell you, swimming at an outdoor pool through the winter is not something that sparks super joy for me, but that doesn't mean I'm not motivated towards the goal I'm working for. I'm just not super excited about it. What surrounds that goal at the moment. Does that make sense?
So, yeah. So like as it's getting cooler out and maybe, and the daylight is shorter and we can't do our group runs or rides as much, or to your point, like I don't really wanna swim outside anymore and then open water goes away for that matter.
Mm-hmm.
Open water swimming. Um, so then it's kind of like, oh my gosh, may have— is it because our routines change?
Well, and you also just described a social change too, right? If I meet up with a group every weekend for open water swimming and all of a sudden that group's not doing that anymore, now I have a social change in my pattern. I have a temperature change, which can really impact how we're feeling about things. Uh, so yeah. And generally we get busier around this time of year with holidays and events and all that sort of stuff. So it all shifts. And again, it doesn't mean maybe you are having a dip in motivation. I'm just saying, get curious about it. 'Cause it might not be that you're lacking motivation. It could just be that things are changing right now and your motivation feels different.
Yeah. It feels like to me, this population, and I'm probably talking to you out there, Mr. and Mrs. Hard-Charging Person, who's like, you know, I will reach all the goals professionally and athletically and personally, and I will do them all, all at once. So if that sounds like you, it's almost like we have to be on high all the time. And it's like this expectation, maybe societal pressures or our own pressure that we don't allow ourselves to come down because of this. Maybe it's a fear and maybe that's an emotion that's coming up. Like, well, what happens if I'm not riding my bike outside anymore? What happens if I'm not swimming anymore or way less? Like, will I lose fitness? Will I disappoint myself? Will I disappoint my coach? Will I disappoint the world? I don't know. Chat with me.
Yeah, no, you're, you're like going deeper into Pandora's box with all the different things that could be happening. And again, this time of year just comes with lots of changes to our routines when the weather, especially if you're listening from a state that has like deep winters, which isn't something we really get here. Like honestly, the weather is gorgeous out here right now. It is.
I should not complain at all. I'm like looking outside. I'm like, hello sunshine. You are so like, I'm pretty sure there's not a cloud in the sky. In the sky at all. Yeah. But like if you're living in Iceland, mm-hmm.
Yeah, for sure. But I'm gonna sell it to anyone. Yes. To the grander sort of scheme. And right now, right, anyone that's thinking about their training right now, likely, I mean, there's a few exceptions, but likely they're thinking about a goal that's for next year sometime. So we're thinking a little bit longer term here. And again, to have this expectation and our high achievers that do all the wonderful things often fall into this. It's a, um, manifestation of perfectionism when we think we have to be highly motivated and excited for the thing all of the time. Just like any area of your life, it's gonna wax and wane with the times, and it doesn't mean that the motivation isn't present. It doesn't mean that you shouldn't stick with it, but to expect to be excited to show up and train every day for months or years for some of you on end, because some people don't like to take a break, that's a different podcast. It, it's just, it's not, it's not real life, friends. We gotta take, take some ti— maybe the season is telling you that you do need to chill for a little bit and that's all good. There's nothing wrong with that. There's also nothing wrong with showing up when you don't feel like being there. There's a lot of magic in that part. And then yeah, it's super great when you feel like working out and you go and you do it. Like, yeah, that's great. But it's not gonna be like that all the time and that's okay.
Yeah.
And that just sort of pulling back that level of perfectionism or the desire to have it always feel super great and exciting to be out there, it's just not gonna happen.
Yeah. I mean, hopefully people can resonate with that. Like, have you gone out for every single training and been like, oh my gosh, this is amazing?
For, I mean, anything. I love my job. Love, I love my job. Are there days that I'm like, I just want the day off? Does it have anything to do with my job? No, it's, it's me. It, you know, you just need a break sometimes. Yeah. I love my husband dearly. We've been married for almost 15 years. Do I always wanna like spend time with that man? No, I need a break sometimes. Okay. It's normal. We just, sometimes it's a little different and it's all good. Yeah. Same with your training.
So is it, is it that we need to lean into the, or lean out of perfectionism and change our expectations? Or, you know, cuz I just, I, I fear for folks that they're gonna be, disappointing themselves, or maybe they're disappointing someone else. I don't know. Very— you're welcome, Pandora's Box. I don't, you know, like so many different things.
Yes. I, I, I would circle that back to my statement of get curious cuz that's, that's a different answer for each person. To some people, maybe, maybe if you're training for an Ironman, could lean into a little more perfectionism. Yeah. I'd say most of the time we're saying we need to lean a little out of the perfectionism. But that's not, you know, it's not a blanket statement for everyone. Everyone has different skills and tendencies and habits. So it would depend on them. But I would say to, to get curious is my biggest thing. Think about how often, if we circle this back to your original example, right now, I'm not excited to get out and train right now, or As more specifically said, I don't feel motivated to get out and train right now. Why? What are the things that's making you feel that way? Are there other things that are contributing to that emotion? Again, maybe like work stress or family stress or something else that's kind of just making you blah already. And then like the blah about training is kind of just making it real fierce.
But to your point, like getting curious, do you have some ideas of Like you, you sort of mentioned one, like let's say if we were to create a few journal prompts for people, like literally writing out of the question, like, why do I not feel motivated right now? I feel like so many generations are not taught to, like you had brought up emotions.
Mm-hmm.
They're not taught to be like, this is the emotion you might be experiencing. You know, like I know my generation was like, go sit in the corner. Mm-hmm. And good luck with that emotion. You're like, I don't know what I'm feeling.
Yes.
Nobody really taught me. So like, uh, so is it motivation? Is it emotion? I don't know. Do it like— I, I had this tendency, you very well know this about me, is that I like to ask 6 questions at once. So I'm used to it now.
That's okay. I'll back that up a couple. And so I hope you guys all enjoy all of the squirrel moments that Chris and I have.
Well, that's why we're calling it Coffee Talk.
You know, when we have casual conversation, it— yeah, it— we It goes everywhere. When we get curious about what's happening, why am I feeling this way? How often is it happening is a big one. Has it just been like the last week? Then meh. If this is becoming a longer-term pattern, okay, let's think a little bit more about it. I always look at that 50/50 rule. If we're tipping into most of the time, I, I'm not enjoying this, what's going on? Is our life out of balance? Do we have extra stressors? Are we burnt out? All of that sort of stuff. If it's less than that 50%, and you know, we've just had like a couple weeks where it's whatever, then let's ride the wave a little bit. Just let's see what happens. Keep checking in with yourself about what you're experiencing. Um, to yourself about like your point about what prompts could we maybe use? Yes, definitely explore that. Like what's happening? When is it happening? What am I feeling when it's happening? What are the contributing factors? But let's look at the opposite too. All right. I haven't wanted to get to the pool in 3 weeks. What would make me excited to get to the pool this week? What, like, do I need to go have an unstructured workout? Do I need to go join the group? Do I need to go, I don't know, do all drills instead of speed?
Cuz we're in a speed, uh, or just, or just get in the water and just start swimming. Yeah. And then just don't stop.
Yeah. But, but again, get curious. What would make it exciting? Okay, let's try it. Did it work? Let's do more of that. So again, thinking about what, what's going on. Do— is it something we actually need to change or should we give ourselves a little grace and just ride the wave? And then what could we do to start sparking some enjoyment? Because if we're not having fun, friends, we need to be having fun. That's why we're here. Yeah.
Lifelong enjoyment is at the end of the day what this company is all about. Like, you, you deserve to be and feel healthy, like, via your movement and habits and behaviors and nutrition choices. And, you know, you're probably not going to sustain the same level of fitness or same level of doing the same activity all the time. So it kind of has to, like, you know, be like a palm tree. We're just, like, bending here and there.
Well, your happiness and your sanity at the end of the day If we don't have those going on, what, what are we doing here? Like, it's gotta be fun again, most of the time. Mm-hmm. Some days are gonna not be so great and that's okay. It's also why we do this. We like the challenge, right? So yeah. Yeah.
Like pull, like pulling teeth, like, oh, I don't wanna get up this morning.
Yeah.
My, my trick, and unless it's going somewhere, is, and by that I mean like I am going to a pool workout with the group. Like if I am going I'm generally going to be committed to that. Like I will get in the water and I will stay the whole time, generally speaking, unless something is just terribly off. But if I'm going out on my own, I usually try to do the 10-minute rule. Like I'll start and I'll just be like, you know what? I'm just going to go to the end of the street and back. That's going to be my 10 minutes. At the end of 10 minutes, I'm like, okay, all right. This is not so bad. Like I'm feeling okay. Maybe I keep going or maybe I just don't. Yep. And the end. And like move on with my day.
Yeah. But that also has a level of like a layer of perfectionism pulled back from that, right?
Oh, tell me more about that.
Well, to be able to have that flexibility and not beat yourself up. Training Peaks wasn't green that day. I went out, I did my 10 minutes and I was like, that's it. It's, it's better for me to, to head home, to be able to be comfortable with that outcome. That's not perfectionism, which is great. Yeah.
Ooh, I feel so perfect right now.
The irony.
The irony. Like I made Carly excited. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, it is.
You did. That's great. It's also something if my athletes are listening, You might be one of the ones that I've had that role with, and particularly exactly what we're talking about. I've had athletes go through seasons where they're like, this is, I'm, I don't wanna show up. I don't wanna go to classes. I don't wanna train for the thing that I said I was gonna do. And again, it's almost always this time of year, my friends. It's totally normal. Yeah. Let's normalize it. But I often implement that exact role that you're talking about. I'm like, all right, what is the least objectionable thing? Okay. You, you wanna go run. That's what gets you most excited right now. Let's do it. That's what we're gonna focus on. We're gonna have a 10-minute rule. And after that 10 minutes, if you're just like, no, I don't wanna do it, turn around and come back and you're gonna get a big old high five from me that you showed up for yourself for 10 minutes and gave it a try. 'Cause every time we show up for ourselves in some capacity, we get high fives. It's a great job.
Yeah. Which is making me think, and perhaps this is a bit of a channel change, but making me think from a coaching end of things. I feel like there are times when like the workouts need to be, there are certain workouts that need to be done and then you get to a certain point where it's like, if you miss that, okay, I don't care. You know? And maybe that's on our part, like providing more clarity to the athlete. Like, and I wish TrainingPeaks had this like, like, like a gray zone, you know? Like if it's not done, don't show up red.
Yeah.
Like this is like an optional workout that just, The, maybe it just disappears. I don't know. Like, or turns gray or turns some neutral, just stays white. I don't know. I feel like people get so attached.
Yeah. Well, I, I do, I do exactly what you're talking about. I try to do that of, I will write in the title of a workout, this is optional. And if, if come Friday, cuz Friday's usually my day that I spend a good chunk in training plans, if I see that they're red, they're coming out. We're not, if, if they're an athlete that I know will see red and, and have a hard time with that, I'm pulling them. We're not, they're not there. They're, they're gone. Look, poof, they never existed.
I love that. People are like, but TrainingPeaks said, I'm like, there's a human behind that. You realize?
Mm-hmm.
Well, hopefully, I mean, AI, I don't know about.
And, uh, on, on our end of things. Yes.
There's a human on our end of things. Not the like pre-made training plans, like, but I mean, I'm sure you could still delete things. But it is very refreshing too. I feel like for me personally, if I do take a break or when I take a break, I just come back so much fresher. Yeah. And then I'll get into something and be like, oh, okay. I think it's just that mental, the mental break.
Yeah.
And the physical break.
I'm also realizing that I feel like most of the times when I come on the podcast, I end up talking about like being okay with taking breaks. Pinky breaks. I promise y'all, I push my athletes. Okay. Yeah.
Oh yes.
They train so hard. Yes. But very much part of my job is helping them find grace. Again, this isn't across the board for every athlete I've worked with, but it's really common. You guys are high performers. You wanna do your best. You wanna show up all the time. And I deeply find it part of my job to help you find the grace to be okay with the when we're in a season that we're not gonna be peak, and that's okay. We, it'll, we can peak another time.
Yeah.
Right now, life is also important. Life is always important. Life balance is really important. It's like the number one predictor of longevity in sport. But how can we support that?
How about that? If you are out of balance, You probably ain't gonna keep doing it, and you probably ain't gonna keep doing a lot of other things, honestly, like your marriage or relationships. If you are just wanting to train all the time, or maybe not, it's not even wanting, like you just are, like, is there something else that maybe you are hiding from? That's Pandora's box.
But I mean, maybe I've— and To sort of bring in this other level of a lot of it also can come from comparison. Mm-hmm. You know, a lot, a, a lot of y'all might be shifting into, uh, uh, more of an off season, we'll say, even though we like to say there isn't an off season. For some of y'all, there isn't. Some people, Coach Peter. We love-hate you guys.
Okay. Yeah.
I, I love-hate you. I'm so excited for the life that you get to live. This is not happening over here. Okay. Mm-hmm.
No.
And it's real easy for us to, like, I know for me, and I've, I don't know if I've shared this on the podcast before. I know I've shared it with some of my athletes. When I, especially if I've had like an Ironman year, even if I've done like a couple of 70.3s in a season, I take December off my training plan and whatever platform I'm using, there's nothing in it. And that scares a lot of people to think about. Yeah.
Yeah.
I know December for me is a reset month. I wanna spend it with my family. I'm catching up on time that I haven't gotten to spend with them. I'm hosting Friendsmas and all my friends are coming over. Like, it is for the heart and soul. It's not for fitness. Okay. Yeah. Will I somewhat pay for that come January? Yeah, of course. When I get back to it in January, I'm gonna be like, ooh, okay. Yeah. Haven't sat on the bike in a month. Here we go. But my heart and soul go into every January so full. From filling all my other cups in December that I can now come back to my fitness cup and work on my fitness again. Now, I don't think that's great for everybody. I know some of y'all are like, if I ever tried to do that, I would go absolutely insane. I am very regimented. If I do not have something on my training plan for the morning, I will go crazy. It's not for everyone. My point is. Reflect and know when you need some period of time like that. I have figured out that come every December, I, I think I went through 3 seasons of trying to have like a very regimented December to set me up for a great start of the year. And I wasn't hitting it. I didn't wanna go. I was skipping things. I was bailing on 'em. And I was like, what is going on? And I did exactly what I'm talking about in this podcast. I sat down and was like, what's happening? Why? Like, I love training. I love triathlon. It is clearly my life. Y'all know that at this point, right? Like for me to not wanna be doing those things, something else is happening. Something's off balance. And when I sat down and, and looked at what's going on, I was like, of course, look at all these other things that I'm like not quite making enough time for because I'm trying to fit in this training and it's just not, it's not working right now.
Yeah.
So that's what I do and it works for me. It might not work for you. But find that version for you when you come into this season, this off-season. But more so back to that comparison, right? You might look at Peter and be like, man, Peter's coming in. And I somewhat say this jokingly. I don't know what Peter's up to. Peter, I hope things are great. I'll see you in a couple days. But, uh, I don't know that he's heavily training right now.
Um, oh no, he's got Haines City, so he is training right now.
Of course he is.
But he, uh, to his point, you know, cuz he said this on the podcast, like he's rocked out some fitness this year, so he's kind of like, he's kind of gliding.
Okay.
You know, like there's not any, yes. I mean, gliding for somebody who has a VO2 max in the 60s, like vomit. No, I'm just kidding.
Gliding for Peter is peak training for many of us, just for perspective here. But my point being, if you have someone in your circle that is like Peter that is still like just nailing their training, is, is going for it. You're looking at them like, man, how do I do that? Like, why don't I feel like doing this right now? Why aren't I hitting my numbers like they are? Why aren't— well, whatever you might be thinking, right? That's that person. I will never train like Peter. Mm-hmm. In my dreams, maybe I'll train like Peter, but in real life, my genetics will never train like Peter. Again, do what you need to be doing. Don't compare yourself to someone else and what they're doing. Yeah. Because then you just feel crummy about it. And we're not all supposed to be hitting November and December like we have an Ironman on January 1st.
Ooh. Yeah. Good point. I, I like the thought of, uh, training peaks looking a little different and shoot, even when I'm in season, I typically will put 3 workouts on my calendar in terms of like, these are the things that I need to hit.
Yeah.
And then the other days I wake up and I'm like, seems like a good day to go for a run. And then I go for a run. Like, but I know, okay, well let's not push it too hard because I know that tomorrow I've got this more intense ride or—
Yeah.
Whatever. So different degrees sounds like of what is expected of yourself and trying not to compare yourself to others, trying not to be too perfect.
Yeah. Well, and just know that especially here in the US, we have this hustle culture of any, any high performer. And when we say high performer, we're talking like career and business and what you're achieving outside of your career. And, you know, 16-hour days that you're putting in and trying to have a family on top of that. Like, it's Bonkers, y'all. And if you're gonna allow yourself to listen to people or take advice about motivation or routines in a day, like we were talking about morning routines, things like that, is that person truly living a life that you want to be living? Is there— do you think they're having the balance that you want to balance? Do they have little kids at home like you do? Do they have a spouse like you do? Do they You know, I'm willing to bet they have a lot of other supports in, in their life that are taking certain things off of their plate and giving them time to do whatever it is that you're sort of looking at, like, ooh, I should find time to do that in my day. Do you have the time in your day? I'm willing to bet you probably don't, because the athletes that I know that come through our doors, They're busy, y'all. I mean, we got a couple retirees that are living the good life. They're still busy.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. But just again, reflect on what's actually going on in your world and what you prioritize and what you want to be prioritizing before you go seeing what someone else is doing and think, oh, I should do that with my time too. Cause we all got different things going on and we all have different support systems to help us get through our 24 hours. So, yeah.
So it sounds like reflect on potential gaps in motivation, maybe what emotions could that be instead of a lack of motivation? And is there any unnecessary perfectionism showing up or comparison? I would also like to add that people You're freaking amazing. Yeah, like, if nobody's told you today, Carly and I will tell you today, right in this moment, every day. You are freaking amazing, and you are loved, and you are perfect just the way you are. Anything you want to add?
Uh, I mean, I feel like I've talked this whole time, so I don't know that I have rambled on at this point. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed it, but yeah, y'all just quit being so hard on yourself. Yeah. Give yourself a little grace. You're doing amazing. It's okay if you don't wake up excited. I would also question if maybe, and I'll say this because frequently when we head into off-season, we sort of pick something that we're gonna focus on, on the off-season that we didn't really have time to when our volume was higher. And is there some resistance for whatever you have selected that you are trying to focus on right now? Cuz that might be more of a indicator of what's going on. Maybe you're not super busy in the holiday season and, and everything is super balanced and you're like, Carly, that was a crock of baloney. And I'd be like, all right, well then what are you so scared of about getting faster in the pool? Cuz if you're, if you're saying that's what you need to be doing, what's the resistance there?
Yeah. I, for me personally in this season, having finished Worlds and now I'm like, oh, but I, I need to pick a goal. I'm like, uh, maybe I just shouldn't yet. I don't know. I'm trying to let it be very organic. And as I'm maybe searching for things or people are, you know, the team are talking about various things, I'm like, ooh, is that exciting? And they're like, mm, not really.
I don't know.
You know, it's gotta be something that really lights me up, but I've, I, I feel like there is some level of expectation of, oh, I do you need to perform in the next year, or the next, like, what are you doing next? And, uh, I would have to say that I don't know. And it's a little bit freeing at the moment. It's uncomfortable, I'm not gonna lie.
Yeah.
But it's also like, I'm kind of, I'm kind of dead because I don't want to, I don't want to commit to something that I'm just like, oh, because then training piece is gonna be solid red. And that does not excite me at all to be like, oh, I just don't wanna do this.
Yeah. I was recently having a conversation about athletic identity, which again, a podcast for another day. I haven't raced since, well, I raced a little bit after I started school, but I haven't raced in just over 2 years now in triathlon. And even you have been like, you coming back? Like, you gonna race?
No. I'm like, we miss you. Hello.
Yeah. Uh, but I was talking about this whole concept and I was like, look, I, I've been a triathlete for over 10 years and I haven't raced in 2. I will still call myself a triathlete and I'm sure some of you might be rolling your eyes and disagreeing with me and that's okay cuz we're all different. I doubt it.
I doubt it.
But I, one, and I'm not gonna get into a big story about why I haven't been racing, but just a lot to go back to school with a little kid and a job. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Uh, and to support all the people that I need to and want to be supporting, I needed to take a step back from racing and having regimented training. Because even taking a non-perfectionistic approach to training, I still have to hit enough of it to be in race shape and I would not be able to be consistent enough to get there with how my life has been. That doesn't change that I live in this world of triathlon. I talk about it every day. It is literally most of my day is spent doing something related to triathlon, which is kind of weird to think about and say out loud, but it's true. But it's taught me a lot going through a couple years of not racing and being so heavily involved in the sport. I've had a lot of self-development and kind of like what you're saying, like, well, I feel like I should be racing and I'm a coach, so I feel like I'm supposed to be training. And I feel like there's an expectation of others that I should be doing something. And then you kind of come out the other side and you're like, okay, that's— it's not a fit for me right now. I'm almost done. Then I'll be back to racing. It'll be really exciting. And I'm excited to get back to it. I'm excited to pick a race that like lights me on fire and gives me like all this intrinsic motivation to get going again. And I'm trusting that it will come when I'm ready for it, but it's okay to take a break too. And look, I'm still here, you guys, and I still love triathlon. Like the world didn't end. If anything, I'm probably more involved with triathlon now than I was then.
Isn't that interesting? Yeah. I mean, I had a very similar experience. Like you were describing with like being in school and having young kids, and there were several years where I did not race at all. And honestly reflecting back on that, I had no space in my emotional or mental capacity to do so. And I think had I tried to do that, I would've physically and mentally been wrecked.
Yeah.
And then, you know, you still have this, these little Bieber boppers who are like, mm, So when's dinner? And are you gonna buy me new clothes? And then I would just be lying in bed in the fetal position, probably bawling my eyes out. And, uh, you know, that's no good for anybody had I been trying to push myself to train and race at that time. So I, like you, have been a triathlete since 2003 when I did my first race, even though there were multiple gaps in there. And I am not ashamed to say that that's part of it. Like, yeah. So hopefully, hopefully folks are able to reflect on their own needs. Like, what is your soul calling you to do right now? And honoring that and respecting it and knowing that hopefully you'll feel fresher physically, mentally, emotionally on the other end. Cheers. That was some good coffee slash water slash whatever's in your cup.
Next time we'll do it in the morning and I'll have my coffee. My coffee is empty, but that's okay. It's more of a high tea time right now.
Yes, yes, for sure. All right, y'all, thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you found this valuable, if you want more, like if you have follow-up questions, you can always comment. You can always send us a DM on Instagram because Carly's on the other end.
I try to be friends.
So huzzah. All right, y'all, we'll catch you next time. Thanks, Carly.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sports and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again, and we'll catch you next time.
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