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Withdrawal-Free Hiatus...

Monday, 19 January 2015 00:10

By Ben Ewers (benewers.blogspot.com)

Well, I actually had no withdrawal symptoms during my 4 month sabbatical from training and racing. The exercise sabbatical was not so kind to my general energy levels or body composition, but I had much more time to enjoy and experience other aspects of living.   In addition, the lack of withdrawal gave me pause, and caused me to contemplate what I get out of triathlons.

This is not my first triathlon sabbatical.   I took 13 years off during the years before my retirement. That sabbatical was driven both by physical injuries and work obligations, and was consequently reasonably "practical". This short sabbatical, although I have been nagged by minor injuries,  was primarily due to a decline in interest.

While I have had some serious successes in multisport, I never dominated at the national level in the age-group categories like Steve Smith did (60-64, now battling cancer).  In my 60's, I have won USAT national championships in Trialthlon and Duathalon, finished 2nd in Aquabike,  3rd at the 70.3 worlds...

(Henderson), and finished 2nd and 5th at Ironman Worlds (Kona). So, clearly, racing just to complete events is not going to motivate me, especially to train at a level that would support the longer distances. And, as I will race at age 69 this year, I will be at a severe disadvantage to all those hungry 65 yr olds who just aged-up.  If you read my prior post on the impact of aging on performance (HERE WE GO 2014), all things equal, from 65 to 70 you will be 10% slower even if you are the dominate age-grouper in your category. READ MORE