Kitsap Tri Babes

Dear Tri Babes,

For those of you who are feeling slightly "out of sorts," perhaps even oddly "depressed," please know that you are NOT crazy and you are NOT alone. Each year, once my official triathlon training ends, I experience a type of "post-triathlon depression." And, year after year, I hear other Tri Babes, admitting that they feel the same way. I'm not EXACTLY sure why this happens. But, I DO know that it is a documented and wide-spread phenomenon in the triathlon community. The party is now over -- of COURSE you are a little sad.

I think that one part of this "post training season depression" is the fact that for the past 4 months, your life has been programmed. You have been told what to do each day and were able to feel a daily sense of accomplishment when you checked your daily training off your "to-do" list. Now, you are free to do whatever you want. You had come to count on the regimentation of the training - now you feel abandoned by the "freedom" in your schedule.

I think that another factor is that you know you have reached a pinnacle of sorts. You know you can't sustain the level of training you have been engaged in and you know that it is really "all downhill from here." When you were training, that was a glorious phrase; it meant the hardest part of the work-out was over and you could now reap your rewards. But, now, it is a depressing phrase; it means you expect to lose some fitness, gain some weight, relapse into some bad habits, etc.

Yet another factor in this post training depression is the reality that reality very rarely lives up to ideal expectations. Perhaps you didn't lose quite as much weight as you had hoped; maybe you didn't comPLETE quite as quickly as you dreamed you would; perhaps your finish line feelings were not exactly what you expected they would be; perhaps you confronted aspects of yourself that you wish were non-existent.

If you are experiencing any of the above, I am truly sorry. I hate that anything associated with the Tri Babe experience is even slightly less than wonderful. However, as a veteran of 17 triathlon seasons, I can promise you that this post training depression is temporary. It is a natural emotional vicissitude that you need to patiently suffer through. Eventually, your emotional boat will "right itself."

If these thoughts and ideas were not sufficient, please visit the following video link . . . it is sure to "pink up" your winter training!!!

~ Lisa Be Pinkly Promising that it WILL get better!!!