The musings of a multidimensional multisport athlete
Ali Brauer Was A Rising Pro. Then It All Came Apart.
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
-
This is the story of how one promising young triathlete met an all-too-common fate, written by Kristen Seymour of Triathlete Magazine. Click here to read.
"There are many less-than-glamorous aspects in the sport of triathlon. Peeing into a chamois pad, the volatile snot rockets that don’t make it over your shoulder, the chronic chlorine stench, funky toenails, oozing blisters… These are the things triathletes constantly encounter yet rarely speak up about because it’s simply part of the sport; enduring discomfort is part of the sport. But how much discomfort is too much? Where is the line drawn between drive and destruction? Last February, author Kristen Seymour with Triathlete Magazine published a phenomenally informative article discussing Ali Brauer’s experience as a professional triathlete who met an all-too-common fate via overtraining, even when she was doing everything right. 'Often, we hear about RED-S and overtraining syndrome (OTS) in the context of disordered eating, or athletes who didn't listen to their coaches and went overboard. But this is not my story'. I had the opportunity to interview Ali, who is a...
A few months ago, I made the decision to stop all structured training in an effort to regain my health. I've been struggling with Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) for over a year now, and after a lot of trial and error, it became clear that I needed more rest - mentally through less structured training, and physically through less training in general. Throughout this unstructured period, I have placed emphasis on moving my body in ways that bring me joy. Accordingly, I have freed myself up to try new things purely for enjoyment. This is in major contrast to the last four years of my career, during which enjoyment was tossed aside in favor of an "all-in" mindset and an all-consuming pursuit of success - and during which I operated under the idea that anything non-triathlon-specific would detract from my triathlon endeavors. But recently, through my efforts to combat burnout, I have realized that this is not the case at all. In fact, these non-triathlon-specific ...
Sport is full of peaks and valleys, and recently, I have been navigating what feels like a vast valley in my career. A mere six weeks after leaving the full-time training environment that had been my home for four years, and just five weeks after moving back across the country to my true home, I raced at 70.3 Mont-Tremblant. Leading into the race, I had a gut feeling that I was pushing myself a bit too much to get to the start line. But I had already signed up, this race was on my bucket list, my training numbers looked good, and I was determined to make it there. Make it there I did – even after a comedy of errors leading up to race day, including delayed baggage and perpetual bike issues – but ultimately, Mont-Tremblant made it painfully clear that I needed to take a step back, give myself some grace, and allow my body and mind to recover from what was an extremely stressful period in my life. I never felt right on race day, and after faking my way through the swim in what felt like ...
Comments
Post a Comment