Knowing Your WHY

Why? Why should I train for this? What should my next race be? Should I do something outside my comfort zone? Should I try something new? Should I do races that my friends or teammates are doing? These are questions I still ask myself pretty regularly. I was thinking a lot about this and my upcoming year on a recent run.

This cycle of questioning to some level happens more towards the start of a new year when we focus on the upcoming year’s goals, but we are also faced with these internal questions on a more regular basis. When we are training, you never know when the questions and/or doubt might creep in. This happens to athletes at all levels. When we are faced with these questions, sometimes we don’t have a good enough answer. Sometimes not knowing why or having that sense of doubt can end a workout or even take us into slump where we don’t feel like working out at all. The winter can amplify these doubts and make us really question our why.

I think knowing your why is important, but it doesn’t have to be a magical answer. It also doesn’t have to be a definitive answer. Your why can be general or specific, flexible or concrete. Your goals are important no matter how big or small. It’s your “why” so don’t get caught up chasing some magical answer or definitive reasoning to backup your answer

We often look to others for our why. We see what others are doing, and we want to do that too. It’s great that other people’s experiences motivate us and give us ideas. This club is an amazing way to get inspired by others! Tiff and I loved doing IMLP in 2015 with so many other Gators and again in 2017 with team Oswald, but Tiff and I agree that we both had our own “why” for each race. It absolutely adds so much to an experience when you can embrace the suck together, but I would never last if I was just doing something because others were doing it.

Many of the Gators have a very clear purpose for their training, and some even do races to support amazing causes. Remember though, your why doesn’t have to be the same as others. If you get inspired by someone else, want to do a race to train with a group, or want to train and race for a specific cause, that’s awesome. If you really want to do something completely different and on your own, go for it. Whatever you do, make sure you do it for you.

I turn 40 in July, and I have been thinking about what I can do to make this coming year as good as any I’ve ever had. My goals this year take me in a different direction away from the regular training of the tri club. I definitely miss and will continue to miss the group workouts. I want to continue to do big things, but I did recently get caught up searching for a magical “why.” I’m someone though that just likes to do things to see if I can. It has to excite me and interest me to the point where I can’t stop thinking about it. I know that when I reach a goal, there’s always something bigger out there. I’m constantly searching for the next big thing. So, I guess that’s my why. No magical answer and no real good reason. And that’s OK!

So, make sure you set big goals, but be honest with yourself. Do things that excite you and are maybe slightly out of reach. The process isn’t always easy, but if you really want it, you’ll go after it. I’ll touch more on the process in another post in the near future, and I’ll touch on perspective and priorities in another. Until then, Gator Done!