Whoa! Be Careful,You Don't Want to Hurt Yourself

How many times have you been ready to engage in a new sport only to have someone way more sensible say the line, "Be careful you don't want to hurt yourself?"

It happened to me just recently as I'm training for a triathlon with our wonderful new (and British) Catch Your Limit team member Emma Good. I'm the personality type that gets super excited, gung-ho whenever I get a new hobby. In fact ever since childhood I'd switch hobbies and become a super passionate enthusiast from theater to marine biology to rocket science.

I've done strength training for a long time but training for endurance events is entirely different. Emma and I have devised a deadly training schedule that includes long runs, swimming, strength training, pilates and cycling. Our schedule will exhaust you simply to look at it.

As a super passionate newbie and as an idiot I often don't have the wisdom or the sense to say, "my body could go running this evening even though I did a strength training session and a cycling session this morning but what will tonight's session do to my training the rest of the week?" Fortunately, I have a training partner, Emma who has the experience to know better.

The triathlon we're training for is in September. We have a long time to physically prepare for the race. Emma knows this and her patience and understanding of pace will be critical in order for us to avoid death by exhaustion and nagging injuries prior to the race.

As much as I love myself I can't imagine having a partner just like me. We'd certainly never make it. We'd end up dead on a trail somewhere in Tallahassee. Having a person on your team that plays the role Emma is playing on our two-person team is critical. Who on your team is willing to step back and say, "Whoa guys, this is a long race, not a sprint."? Are the people on your team empowered to fill that role or are they afraid that they'll appear to be afraid of your reaction or the reaction of the rest of the team? Who is willing and committed to consider how today's actions will effect tomorrow?