After a few weeks of vacation and a departure from triathlon to do SwimRun NC, I feel refreshed and my motivation is high.  Normally, at this time of year, I find myself struggling to feel good about working out.  Thanksgiving and the Holidays are just around the corner and that usually means eating and drinking too much.  This normally further reduces the desire to workout too, as I get ready to enjoy time with family.

I am not sure why I feel so different this year. 

Maybe it is because I have retired, and don’t have the additional stress that comes from work.  I am a lot less stressed these days. Not having to get up super early to work out also means I am getting more sleep, which is the ultimate recovery tool. So maybe that is it.

It might also be the fact, that at this time of year, I look back on my year of racing.  This has been a very good year for me.  I will be writing a few blogs posts, summarizing my year, within the next few weeks.  Thinking about these posts and the year in general, has helped with motivation.

I think looking ahead to 2022 is also helping.  Next year I will age-up into the 60-64 age group. Aging up is always motivating, because you wonder how competitive you will be in the older group.  I have started to plan out some races for next year and have committed to one race already (it is a 70.3 and one of the races on the spreadsheet photo above). The planning is fun and helps focus the mind on training.

I am not sure which of these is helping the most, but my motivation is high, and I’ll take that any day of the week.