Mindset, motivation and multiple sports, the Tri Me Tapes are the audio journal of an amateur athlete, Abi Dawson.
Seeking a new challenge and an opportunity to improve her mindset Abi made the commitment to try new sports and compete.
Initially, she identified triathlon as a true test of grit, physicality and most importantly mental fortitude.
Join Abi and her partner in crime Matt as they discuss the journey to competition, the highs, the lows and lessons learnt along the way.
In this tape of Tri-Me Tapes Podcast, Abi makes the tough choice to quit training for triathlon, we discuss the rationale behind it and lessons learnt along the way. Plus we prepare for a new challenge in series 2 of the Tri-Me Tapes. Thanks for sharing the experience with us so far!
If you are a new listener to The Tri Me Tapes, we would love to hear from you. Please visit our Facebook Page and share your athletic adventures!
In this episode, we discuss:
01:00 Recapping the training & looking at more races
02:50 Preparing your first triathlon season
03:55 Training in Covid Lockdowns
06:06 Swimming training with no access to pools
08:39 Priorities & commitment to training
10:55 Mindset around waiting 12 months to compete & enjoyment of training
13:22 When the fun becomes a stress
13:55 Why is Abi doing the training? Doubt about quitting.
15:27 Training solo and what a team can offer
15:57 Making the choice to quit
17:42 Being okay with changing your perspectives
18:22 Sharing the choice with Coach Jimmy
19:00 Key learnings: Personal development & being part of a team
21:47 Reflections on training overall
23:12 Competitive vs calm dualities
26:10 What's next?
28:42 Crossfit announcement and why crossfit
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Transcription
Matt: What documentary did you watched that inspired you?
Abi: If I end up crying on this, I'll open my heart.
Matt: Its a very personal journey. Tape? Secret tapes.
Abi: It is a personal journey.
Matt: No one is supposed to find these tapes.
Welcome to the Tri-Me Tapes, an audio journal of an amateur athlete. I'm Matt
Abi: And I'm Abi.
Matt: And we're here to discuss Abi's athletic adventures. So we made it to tape eight. If we've got any listeners after the monster that tape seven was, that's a Whopper
Abi: I had a lot to say.
Matt: You did. I couldn't edit it out because it was all pure gold, gold mine of stuffs.
Abi: So I'm glad you think so.
Matt: Hmm.
So tape eight, the final episode. I guess we should jump into those final few blogs. So the first blog, when we finish off in tape seven, you booked your event. You'd had a rest week. You were feeling better. The next blog is called Halt. It just starts with sort of saying your training was building up nicely, four weeks until that first race at Woking.
What was happening for you around then?
Abi: I think I was again feeling more comfortable in the training and more confident. I still think I was on the back foot, a little bit of feeling tired. So maybe not quite as recovered as I should have felt in trying to progress. And maybe I should have communicated that a little bit more with Jimmy.
Matt: Were you looking forward to the event? A month to go where the 12th of March, 2020.
Abi: So I think what was happening at the time was Crowborough, we're going to do a triathlon as well.
Matt: Right? Okay.
Abi: They were putting up more details about their course and where their transition was gonna be.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: And it was if you know, Crowborough, the at Goldsmiths, you would come out of the pool and you had in the middle of the track where there's a gated playground and that's where you would leave your stuff and your bike and your helmet.
And that was all I could envisage. And every time I thought about it, I just thought, Oh my God, I'm going to get stones in my feet. I'm going to trip. I'm going to look like a right muppet. It's so windy around there. It's got its own climate. So I thought, God, and you get blown off my bike, trying to get on the bike.
And I know it was not exactly the same as Woking, but I had planned on maybe doing the Crowborough one as well because it was in the area and it would've just been another
Matt: Before, it was before then?
Abi: No, that was going to be in July.
Matt: When we talked in tape six and seven, there was a little bit of self-doubt as to whether you were going to be any good at triathlon and whether you were actually enjoying it or not, but you'd committed to it. But at this stage, you were thinking about doing two?
Abi: Three, actually, it was advised by Jimmy then that you would do three because your first one you're so inexperienced and it could go completely the wrong way. And that's when you could learn from it. And the next one you would go, you, maybe you could think about where your flaws were and what you could improve. And then the last, like, is it just a little bit of a combination of the two.
Matt: All that built up experience, trying to put it into place and see what you can do.
Abi: Pretty sure that I'd planned on doing the Woking one.
Matt: So the working one was booked and you're going to do the Crowborough one after that. What was the third one?
Abi: I think it was Seven Oaks?
Matt: Okay.
Abi: Which is apparently really hard course when I said it to people, so I was like, yeah, maybe I won't but,
Matt: We'll see how we go on the first two, but you didn't, you didn't do any of them. COVID came along,
Abi: Crushed my dreams
Matt: And kyboshed your dreams. How did that affect your training?
Abi: At first? Because it was a lockdown, most places were shut, especially like gyms. So the strength training that I could do, I had limited weights. So you would use dumbbells or kettlebell that I borrowed from my gym. And you could go out for exercise. I think that the guidance was very limited to where you could go. So people were taking the Mickey a little bit of going a little bit further distance on their bike and taking advantage of the clear roads as well because no one was going anywhere which was quite cool. Like I did like that. And runs were still the same cause obviously I go out for a run, but then there was that rule where you could only go out once a day for exercise when they said about like the period of time that you could go out.
Well, I thought, well, if I do my bike ride, which is maybe like an hour and a half, and I'm going to go out for a run, are they going to watch me?
Matt: They're going to Hawkeye. We'll get you on the satellites.
Abi: She's, she's been out already
Matt: Camera, tickets, while you're running.
Abi: But it is so new that it literally did feel like that. It was like, Oh my God, like, what are we allowed to do? What aren't we allowed to do.
Matt: To be fair, where you were running, you decided to change from track and road running to trail running
Abi: Because it was more fun.
Matt: Because it was more fun because it drew your attention away from the running more than.
Abi: I liked the scenery. I liked dodging the roots on the ground. *laughs* I did actually, I do like dodging. I do like looking at the ground and I like watching my step
Matt: OK
Abi: and I feel like I can just push a little bit harder. Whereas, with each stride on a road run, I'm thinking, Oh my God, my knee or that was really heavy-footed. Pick up your feet and all that sort of stuff, but whereas on a trail run, you're just thinking,
Matt: Stay on your feet, stay on your feet, stay on your feet,
Abi: Yippee Wahooo!
Matt: Skipping through the woods. Um, so there was no swimming, obviously. There was no swimming you were doing.
Abi: Can I just say? This is revolutionary for some, for maybe some, but there was, I think Jimmy might have done this with some of his clients, but they put like a couple of resistance bands hooked on something and then you would hold those resistance bands, arms above your head. Yeah. Hold the resistance bands hinge from your hips, and then you would go straight arms and like pull back. So like you were doing a front crawl and that's how people were training. Like keeping up there,
Matt: You didn't fancy that? We had the resistance bands and everything. Why don't you tell me that it an option?
Abi: I did do some banded work. It's not exactly like out of the ordinary. I just thought, I thought it was funny that I did think it was a joke at first, but
Matt: I think one of the things the one of the skills that you sort of learnt, re-learnt or learnt doing triathlon training was finding your balance point in the water and that can only be done in water. So that was something you really needed to gain strength in, doing any kind of banded work. Wasn't what you needed to improve?
Abi: No. However, I think it's a bit like riding a bike. I'd be really interested to see what I'd be like in the water now, trying to remember all those skills that I learned, because I think I'd like pick it up quite quick.
Matt: Right.
Abi: But maybe that, I don't know if that's to do with swimming or if that's to do with just me. Cause I probably enjoyed out of the three that, that was my favourite and I had to be really conscious of what I was doing because it had such a limited time in the pool.
Matt: What was the one you had to put the most attention to? And you've mentioned that in other tapes that the swimming was the thing that you had to build into your schedule first because it was a public poll and it wasn't open 24 hours and you know, your shifts as well.
Abi: And there was more technique or guidance for technique.
Matt: Right.
Abi: Whereas the others is like, just get the, get the hours in.
Matt: Okay. So turbo training as well still?
Abi: I was turbo training yeah. We were moving as well.
Matt: We did move right in the middle of this, yeah.
Abi: So stuff was getting packed. That was stressful. Things were just chaos, like all over the place. And obviously then trying to find the right time to, well, COVID, you'd have all the time in the world, but it's still sort of the right time and the motivation to get up and go and do it when you've got my things to pack.
Matt: Yeah, we had lots to do. And was training a priority at that moment when there were bigger fish to fry, on all fronts for you?
Abi: Yes, it was. I think we had a conversation that it actually was, it was my priority.
Matt: Yeah, it was because you'd committed to it. And you felt that anything other than a hundred percent was the wrong intention to have like you couldn't, you didn't want to take your foot off the gas because you'd come so far. And you'd recently got over a real low trough period of sort of being almost exhausted with it. He didn't want to just sort of let everything else getting the way of it.
Abi: Yeah, I remember that was kind of the first thing that was set up? Did I train on the day that we? No, I didn't train on the day that we moved maybe the day after? Think I trained?
Matt: Yeah. You're turbo training in the garden, weren't you?
Abi: Yeah, after we had that like humongous pizza, because we did all the heavy lifting and everything ourselves, and we sat on the sofa, just wanting to smother ourselves in
Matt: ... pizza.
Abi: Pizza. We do that now, every now and then.
Matt: Just an insight into our lives that people just do not need. So, yeah, so it is your focus. It was your priority. But from my point of view, at the time we're talking end of March, early April, you are letting triathlon training rule your life.
And I use those words very carefully. You are letting triathlon training rule your life. It dictated everything. It dictated your mood, your diet, your time. Talk me through like how it felt for you. Obviously, lockdown was a big deal. The swimming was stopped, but you could ride, you could run. You did have weights in the garden.
Abi: I liked the fact that I was being pushed and I thought that because I was being pushed, that I was getting quite good or better or progressing. So I liked having that push, confident, somewhat confident in my ability.
Matt: So because Jimmy was still programming new stuff
Abi: Yeah
Matt: and it was getting harder.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: That you felt like that was progression.
Abi: Yeah
Matt: Cause it was getting harder, but it wasn't, the novelty's worn off. The skill sets have been developed.
Abi: It wasn't a novelty. I think I really needed the competition to know the baseline of where I was at.
Matt: And how is that affecting your training, knowing that competition had been cancelled? How was that affecting your mindset going into training?
Abi: I thought it was pointless. Not pointless, but just kind of like fizzled out.
Matt: At the time, you said that you couldn't wait a whole year to understand whether you liked or were good at the sport?
Abi: Yeah. So I think that, because it, this is the first time that I've tried something, a new sport because I've always been involved in hockey.
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: I didn't know whether I should really still enjoy it because I hadn't got anything to mark it against. Whereas, like in hockey, like if you score goals or if, you know, that you've done a quite good performance. So you've got women at the match kind of thing.
Matt: You've got that team spirit as well. You win as a team. That's nice.
Abi: Yeah. That's instant feedback. Whereas all my training had been by myself and I didn't love it. So,
Matt: So there wasn't, you didn't have that perspective of completion of a training session was a win or progress in a training session that you wouldn't have been able to do that wasn't a win. You weren't getting that buzz from the training.
Abi: I always think that. I do think that's a win. Every time I do a training session, and I would always go into it like a hundred percent. And each time that I would do a training session, I'd finish it and be like, that was good.
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: But also like, Jesus Christ thank God, that's over because it was hard. And I liked it, but it was challenging, but I always needed to get motivated to set up my bike, to go out for a run. It wasn't ever like, Oh, like I get to train today. It was like, Good God, it's today. I need to plan what time I'm going to do it so I can plan to fuel myself. I can plan what's how I'm going to recover. I need to know how many days I've got to recover. And then the reduction of my training being like, I don't have didn't have swimming.
I was like, Oh, I was like the best part that I liked. And now that's gone too. So no, I'm just going to be like running and biking and the bike was really hard. The running, I haven't I'd still had niggles.
Matt: Was it making you unhappy?
Abi: Probably.
Matt: Well.
Abi: I think, yeah, I was stressed.
Matt: Yeah. So the whole process of training for a triathlon has now turned into a stress.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: And if we go back to tape one, this was about building a better mindset, overcoming adversity. Do you not think this is a brilliant opportunity to overcome adversity at this moment? April 2020, the world's locked down. You can't train the way you want to train. Okay, you got to wait 12 months to do your event.
Abi: You're saying adapt and overcome?
Matt: At the time, did you not see that as an opportunity or?
Abi: No. I had a battle with myself of being like you've said, you're going to do it so bloody do it. And then I had the other little angel or devil, I don't know which one would come at this angle, but basically saying, why carry on?
Matt: Right?
Abi: How are you doing it for?
Matt: Right.
Abi: What are you doing it for?
Matt: Well, I mean, that's, again, that's been the purpose of all the tapes. The whole purpose of this exercise is, why are you doing it?
Abi: Yeah, and it was for mindset. And I think like over a few conversations that I had for various people UBM one was that it doesn't matter that I don't do it now and that, and to actually come to a decision and stop it is as much as a strength as it is to carry on, I thought. Especially if it makes I'm shocking making decisions, especially like, if it means that I look weak or that I've not done something that I said I was going to do.
Matt: Yeah. Certainly do you into that sort of penultimate blog, which is called, Corona Calls It. You decide in this blog that, that's it you're training as a triathlete. You can't go on.
Abi: I can't go on. Clawing to the door. Yeah.
Matt: But you're saying this competing may have lit more fire in my belly to continue. However, I know that I need to find new challenges that push me to be better. And that's where you got to with triathlon. It wasn't having any positive outcome beyond getting better, the physical.
Abi: And I think I only experienced it in one element. I think that you said it as well, that when I went to go, I trained with the guys at VO2 Max in the pool. And I came away from that really happy because I was more of a team. So is it like, it was just fun. And also people like complimented me and said, like I had a good natural talent and yeah and I liked it.
Matt: It wasn't you.
Abi: That wasn't me going out. I did better than last time or well done Abi.
Matt: Talk me through that, that decision-making process of "I'm quitting something. I said, I wasn't going to quit" over," I'm quitting something that's not making me happy". In fact, it was ruling your life in so many ways that it wasn't the intention.
Abi: I get very emotionally caught up in things. So I think that's why it took over my life. To make that decision was really tough and it drained me. But then to, I think what made it better for me or easier for me, it was talking to other people and then going well, like that's okay. And then for me say, Oh yeah, it was okay.
Matt: How did it feel when you made up the decision in your head, once you made your mind up, once you decided, yeah okay, you're right. This isn't a
Abi: Oh God, I have to text Jimmy and
Matt: I'm asking what, how you felt first before the message to Jimmy before you send that message to Jimmy and say, I'm a quitter.
Abi: I felt elated.
Matt: Did you?
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: I felt like it was lifted off of me and that everything that I could do now for exercise could be what I wanted to do rather than that. And I know that's so wishy-washy with me because I think before it even did triathlon, I would talk about weightlifting and how I lost the love of doing that. And I didn't want to lift a heavier back squat and I didn't see the point of it and blah, blah, blah. And then it just cycles back to actually that is my interest now and yeah.
Matt: Yeah. It's being sort of empathetic to your own decision making like, it's okay that I didn't want to do that then. But I do want to do it now.
Abi: I think that's what as well, what I've learned maybe over the past year, properly about myself is that I do change my mind quite a lot. And I think that's okay.
Matt: Yeah. Maybe it changes how you deliver your opinions or your mind.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: At the time, because you know, full well that you might actually have your mind changed at some point, there's no point being too staunch.
Abi: And I actually like it. I think it's a little bit more freeing than just having an opinion and being like, I'm sticking to this and I know I'm open to other people's perspective or yeah. Yeah, even prove me wrong.
Matt: Yeah. You enjoy that. You don't mind being wrong now?
Abi: No.
Matt: So this message to Jimmy, how did that feel?
Abi: Sinking.
Matt: Sinking, failing.
Abi: It's horrible. But he responded in such a lovely way. And again, made me feel like I did the right thing and that, and he even told me that other people would sort of come to that conclusion at this time because they wanted to spend maybe a little bit more time at home or they had to, but like with their families and
Matt: Yeah. And it's hard and it used up a lot of your energy.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: So that was it, called it. So I guess we should use tape eight to talk about some of the things you've learned from that triathlon training. You said that it's taken the most commitment you've ever put into anything.
Abi: I think I've always been committed, maybe a little bit more in tune with what I'm doing and why I'm doing it because at hockey I would turn up and just be there to have fun. Or when I was playing for East Grinstead, I'd be trying to learn from other people, but I'd always felt like I wasn't intuitive to my own development, my own skill. And I was just that fill the gaps that they needed.
What I'd learned is that I still like being part of a team, whether that is in an individual sport or not, I still want to be involved with other people so that I'm having a little bit more enjoyment or healthy competition should I say, like, I don't always want to be the winner winner, but it's nice to learn from somebody who's better than you or a different new.
Matt: Yeah, but it's some engagement. One of the things you said in Tape Seven was there was massive signs of being lonely. You said when you're in the pool, that was fine because you can't really engage anyone else in the pool, your faces in the water you're cracking on with it.
You've said it's got the most coaching cues attached to it. So there's actually skills to learn every swim session. But you said you were getting lonely on the run. You were getting lonely when you were just doing the turbo sessions for 90 minutes to a two-hour session, you were getting a bit lonely, sort of exercising in the garden.
Abi: Yeah. Or like when I was in the gym, my training sessions would be like just sitting there on the bike. So I'd want to distract myself rather than just sit in there, listen to myself breathe. So I'd just have my headphones in. So the guys were training that beside me. I wouldn't be involved with them or I wouldn't be able to talk because I'd be above the threshold of the time.
Matt: Just literally burning out and then you'd swear about it. So they don't want to engage with you because it affected your mood, but affected your personality. The amount of training you were doing with the triathlon stuff because you were having to find all that energy and motivation just to do it and to do it well because you weren't trying to half-ass in this thing. So it was mustering up everything you had, right?
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: So your objectives of attempting a triathlon were primarily mindset. Primarily to give you a challenge to complete for yourself. Do you think you did that with the training you did for triathlon?
Abi: I think I did that. I think I maybe not necessarily got exactly why thought I would out of the mindset. Just trying to be a little bit, maybe calmer, but I definitely explored some avenues that I'd never gone down before, especially with how I learnt new skills and pick them up and endured.
Matt: Endured. So before this block of triathlon training, had you done anything that hard before? Would you say it was hard?
Abi: I would have always given a decent attempt when I was in the gym and I'd always give a good, decent attempt if I was playing hockey on a Saturday.
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: But like I said, it wasn't just about the physical efforts. It was the emotional effort and it was like all of it. The mental aspect that I'm trying to improve and being a little bit more wise to how to improve, takes effort. Like it's not just someone telling you all the time, like you need to go and pick that up. It's like, well, he's given me a guideline. I know what I'm kind of supposed to do.
Matt: But your coach wasn't training your mindset. He wasn't saying to you. And what you're saying, there is a really good point is people sort of say, Oh, you don't need to criticize. You don't need to be self-analytical. You don't need to be so hard on yourself, but you've just acknowledged then you still need to assess yourself to know where you can improve.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: And that uses energy.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: So you're trying not to be too hard on yourself. But you want to achieve something. So there's this cycle of even when you're not training to try and better yourself, you are.
Abi: I think it's cause I will always attach what I'm doing to a why.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: So. I was trying to do it from a mindset and then somewhere along the line, or even at the beginning of the line is that I am still competitive. And so I would want to do something well and get a good outcome. And I did say that I didn't want a number on the competition at the end of it. And I do still, I would still hold that value. Like I don't believe that I would be pissed off if I like had a lower number. I'd be pissed off I was last.
Matt: Would you?
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: The last one still
Abi: I'm second to last, probably in the last 10, I'll be already pissed off.
Matt: Out of 10? Well, but it still matters to you. And I think that's one of the things you've learned about yourself is when you first discussed this, it was like, I really want that challenge. I want to, you know, you've said in sort of Tape Two, I think. I want to be cool as a cucumber. I want to be chill man. Like, I don't want stuff to phase me. I don't want the road rage. I don't want anything to sort of rile me up because it's all a challenge. That's all go forward.
And having that Zen-like mindset directly conflicted with a big part of your personality, which is your competitive streak and your desire to win. And when I say win, I mean, get it right first time. And you've fought those dual personalities every step of the way?
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: Do you think one is the cool calm mindset versus the passionate competitiveness? Which one do you think is dominant then, when you started, now when you're quitting triathlon?
Abi: I think I was in a different place when I first started. So I definitely know that I have developed a cooler head.
Matt: Right.
Abi: Not brand new to my person. I think I have within life, you change a little bit and maybe I became a little bit more uptight and then as I've gone into roles that I've bloody love and just settled into adulthood.
Matt: So you're grown up now ma.
Abi: And just been a little bit more comfortable with who I am. I think that has helped with the mindset. But I am competitive with myself, so I can't ever
Matt: Can't get rid of that person. She's there all the time.
Abi: Yeah. And then put me next to, so when I'm will meet them.
Matt: And she's competitive against herself and anything else that moves
Abi: Anything you do.
Matt: Anything, anyone does, you listening? So that was it. What was the worst thing about triathlon training? Or do you have a worst moment?
Abi: Riding the bike out of the turbo?
Matt: Yeah. Triathlon had many challenges. One, was you didn't like riding a bike. Well, that's it then. So triathlon done. What's next? So we've texted, Jimmy said, I'm sorry. I can't do it no more. Jimmy said, so okay you're a quitter.
Abi: Okay. So let me tell you this story. So the turnover between when I stopped being a primary school teacher, because of an unfortunate event, which was an exam failure, which meant I got kicked off the course. In 24 hours, I'd already come up with a plan of a completely different career that I was gonna pursue.
Matt: Yes.
Abi: And turn my head around.
Matt: Okay. So what you're saying on a rest of my laurels, I'm off.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: I'm going to get something new.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: Do you want to tell everyone when you needed the teaching career change, what was the first role you have applied for?
Abi: Think I did say that, haven't I?
Matt: What? That You were gonna work. You were going to be a mine..
Abi: The first one.
Matt: A minesweeper.
Abi: Let's go back to that shall we?
Matt: She was going to be a minesweeper on a submarine. And I think the Royal Navy is still call you today?
Abi: No.
Matt: Shouldn't have filled in that form. They want ya!
Abi: I was a prime candidate. That's why
Matt: Prime candidate? Female minesweeper.
Abi: They'll gonna love me. Triathlete, massage therapist, and PT. Cor blimey.
Matt: So yeah, go on. What we've had all this space you related you and having to get back on the bike or the turbo trainer. What went through your mind next? Cause you were very quick to say to me, I'm not just going to not do something. I'm going to find another sport. Tri-Me doesn't stop. I want to find something else.
Abi: And to be fair, like when I first came up with the concept, it was going to be a trial based
Matt: Exercise. Wasn't it? It was going to be like I was going to do.
Abi: It would have been for a certain period of time. So it could have been six months. It could have been a year dependent on whether I loved it, whether, I was good at it, whether it was bloody hard, whether it was for me. And it was going to explore other sports that I probably wouldn't maybe normally picked.
So like triathlon was the one that was completely out of my comfort zone and it was three disciplines that I'm,
Matt: Wasn't great at it. Yeah.
Abi: Wasn't great at, but like inexperienced
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: So it was something to like challenge me and then the next thing would be again, something to challenge me.
Matt: Yep. So what did you decide and how did you make that decision?
Abi: I just decided CrossFit.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: Reason being is because I got friend who got a friend who does CrossFit. He's pretty good at it nowadays.
Matt: We'll have to edit that out. I don't want them to hear that,
Abi: But we just had a conversation basically. And I, and he
Matt: You can say his name you know.
Abi: Matt Tyler.
Matt: There you go. If you say it three times, he appears.
Abi: Oh God, don't say it again.
We had a conversation like quite a frank conversation. He's quite good at pulling honesty out of people and just said like, what is it that you want? And I was like, I just want to be good at something and not to just like fall on my lap. But like try and be good.
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: So I asked him, I said, do you think I'd be good at CrossFit? And he said, I think you'd be really good at it. So I was like, Okay, cool. We sat on it for like a day and no more messages were like sent and then I think it was like a Sunday morning. It was that. Okay. I'll help you with CrossFit.
Matt: You didn't ask directly? He'll do it! What? What?
Abi: And then from then on, he's been an absolute champ and done my programming and made me who I am today.
Matt: CrossFit?
Abi: Yes.
Matt: CrossFit Abi.
Abi: Yes.
Matt: What appealed to CrossFit? Obviously, Matt does it. You work with Matt, you work in a gym. It does make sense to do it, but what else appealed to you? Because it's hard.
Abi: How hard you have to work.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: I like that you have to put in the effort to get something out of it.
Matt: Yep.
Abi: Just like the triathlon training, not too dissimilar in the sense that it's endurance, you have to put yourself in dreadful places and work and like basically knuckle down. And I liked that there was again, so many other disciplines, so many other areas that I can try and get better at.
And I liked the fact that you can be good at them all. Maybe not a master of one
Matt: Ok
Abi: or that you could be good at some aspects and not so great at the other. Am I going on?
Matt: Or?
Abi: I just mean like your strengths or your strengths could be someone else's weaknesses.
Matt: Yeah. So you were like, three disciplines? This is too hard. Hundred disciplines? Yeah. Sign me up.
Abi: I like to spin lots of plates.
Matt: Yeah. Do you think you can bring over any transferable skills from triathlon into CrossFit?
Abi: Patience?
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: Yeah. A little bit of patience. The marginal gains.
Matt: Okay.
Abi: So maybe you wouldn't see it so much on running or a bike, where you could maybe improve by a fraction of a second, or maybe you didn't feel quite so fatigued. And that one session, like it could be the similar, very similar to what you're going to be trying to pursue in something so vast, especially when it comes to weightlifting, like your goal, your wins are going to be maybe marginal.
Matt: Yeah.
Abi: It's still an endurance sport. There is still going to be cardio involved as well.
Matt: So, I guess a really good question would be all the triathlon training you've been doing.
Abi: Yeah.
Matt: Did you think you would be fit enough to go into CrossFit? Did you feel like you had to start again or did you feel that you were entering into a new discipline sport, but from a good place of sort of overall physical fitness?
Abi: I thought I was okay. Like, okay.
Matt: Yep.
Abi: And when I finished triathlon training, I knew I had a good cardiovascular endurance. Yeah.
Matt: So you felt confident that moving into CrossFit wouldn't be too greater shock to the system?
Abi: Maybe not of the cardio exposure, but I knew that I would probably have to start very small on weightlifting.
Matt: Right.
Abi: And build up strength from maybe something from a weight that's less than what I came and came away from it.
Matt: Right.
Abi: In the beginning.
Matt: So that's, I guess where we can leave tape eight. Abi in lockdown. Triathlon done. CrossFit.
Abi: CrossFit in the garden. Yo!
Matt: CrossFit in the garden.
Abi: The neighbours will love me.
Matt: I did wonder what you were doing. That's Tri-Me 1.0 series one, tape eight. Done. So yeah. Join us for season two.
Abi: See you then.
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Just stop thought .... BLANK.
Matt: I Flatlined. *beeeeeeeeeep* That's all I hear in my ears constant ringing.
Panic!
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