The key to preventing triathlon burnout is to train...

I've got to be careful I don't get burnt out on triathlons. Not from training, but from all the other non triathlon training stuff. Things like making video's, twittering, blogging and converting the blog into a book. The most important thing is to train and race. Everything else is noise.

In 1990 I got burnt out on triathlons and it contributed to me not doing them for 15 years. As a matter of fact, I was so burnt out on the sport of triathlon, I couldn't even stand to hear someone pronounce the word triathlon.

It had nothing to do with over training. It was because I was a founding father of the sport of triathlon in Canada. When I started triathlons it was grass roots. There was no funding from any level of government. It was just a group of crazy people who paid their entry fees and raced.

I got motivated to get into the politics of triathlon when Warren McKinnet, the race director for the Morden Tinman Triathlon did me wrong. I suggested a business acquaintance do the race photography for his race and Warren was slow in getting the proofs and addresses back to him. The photographer ended up losing money because of Warren's procrastination. I hounded Warren and it took months for him to respond. I then found out that Warren had set up a provincial triathlon association and was the president.

If he didn't screw up with the race photography, I probably wouldn't have got involved. When I found out he was also the president of the provincial triathlon association, I thought that was a conflict of interest and felt a revolt was needed. I felt Warren was in it just for the money and not the good welfare of the sport. My contention was that if he was president of the Association and a race director, he would control the sport to his advantage. He would become the "Dr. Evil" of the sport of triathlon in Manitoba.

Because he did me wrong, I was just the person to be his arch nemesis. He registered the name "The Triathlon Association of Manitoba" and wouldn't give it to us. So we registered "Triathlon Manitoba". For a year or more we had formal monthly meetings in my Dad's companies boardroom and most of the meetings came down to Warren and I verbally fighting. Once he almost came over the table and attacked me.

Warren was older than me and a strong willed guy. I think he did an Ironman in the early or mid 80's. His girlfriend and partner was a lawyer. I was only around 21 years old at the time. It took about a year or more, but I finally wore him down and he gave up. He went back to being just a race director. Then the next challenge began, trying to get Triathlon Manitoba into the Provincial Sports Federation.

Up until that time, I had been told a new sport had not been accepted into the Manitoba Sports Federation in over 10 years. The benefit of getting into the Sports Federation is that you get funding and can hire an executive director to promote the sport full time.

My partner in crime was Dave Markham. Dave is a really, really soft sell. I was the bull in a china shop. However, I will say Dave's approach did work very well in picking up women. Together we were a great combination.

A couple years earlier, Triathlon Canada was formed and run by a guy named Les McDonald. I connected with Les and we both bonded over our dislike for Warren. Around the time that I got rid of Warren, Les made me Vice President of Triathlon Canada.

Les was a controversial character himself. A real political animal. In his former life he was a professional soccer player, a Kona Ironman world record holder when he was in his 50's and an ex-union organizer. Les was a fighter extrodinare. Bill Clinton had nothing on Les. I started attending Triathlon Canada meetings and it didn't take long until Les and I were locking horns. I was idyllic and didn't think Les's motives were pure. Although I did respect his vision to get Triathlon into the Olympics.

During that time period, I made a presentation to the Manitoba Sports Federation. It included a binder 4 inches thick. They wanted to see everything about the sport of triathlon. Rules, clubs, development programs, you name it, they wanted it. Triathlon at that time wasn't that sophisticated so I made most of it up. I made us sound a hell of a lot more organized than we were.

Without getting into all the details, it was a catch 22 situation. To get Federal Government Recognition we needed to have Provincial Government Recognition and to get Provincial Government Recognition we needed to have a Federal Government Recognition. So when I made my presentation I figured we didn't have much of a shot and was expecting to be turned down. I went in with nothing to lose and I argued passionately.

The result was that we got accepted into the Manitoba Sports Federation. I was blown away. I'm not sure if any other province in Canada, up until that time, had yet been accepted into their Provincial Sports Organization. It was a major coo.

For that first year of Triathlon Manitoba, Dave Markham became President and the second year I became President. Dave earned the first year Presidency. He had been involved much longer than me. He was only about 2 or 3 years older than me, but was the grand-daddy of triathlon in Manitoba. I was his muscle. Even though I made it happen, Dave becoming the president was the right thing to do. I remember having a celebration party once we got accepted and Dave and I both cut the cake together. To this day, Dave and I remain good friends.

I ended up spending more time at Triathlon Canada meetings and fighting with Les McDonald. It was "young bull versus old bull". I look back now and we had to create a National organization from scratch. We ended up appointing guys like Barry Shepley as National Coach and at the time Graham Fraser was running the Royal Le Page Triathlon Series.

After about 3 years of nothing but triathlon politics, I got burnt out sick. I spent much more time doing paperwork and politically fighting, than I did training. Looking back I did a lot of good and can truly say I was one of the founding fathers of triathlon in Canada, but it took it's toll on me. I was also right about Les. Long after I left and Les became president of the ITU, I was told he was kicked out of Triathlon Canada for misappropriation of funds. But I will give Les his due, he achieved his vision and got Triathlon into the Olympics. Years later I ran into him at the Pan Am Games and the first thing he said to me was "your fat".

My saving grace was that I decided to start my own business with my Dad and it allowed me to get out of triathlons gracefully. Truthfully, I was sick of the sport of triathlon. I couldn't even say the word anymore. I learnt from that experience that doing a sport is much more enjoyable than getting involved in the politics of a sport.

It took me at least 5 years afterwards where I could start saying the word triathlon without getting a headache. I'll never let myself get to that stage again. If I find myself getting too involved with video's, blogs, twittering or anything else triathlon non-training related, I'll stop and just go back to the basics, which is training.

I've decided that this week is going to be my last rest week. I'm starting full speed ahead on December 7th, so next week I'm going to do one week of Ironman maintenance. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have no choice but to start riding indoors soon. Ugh.

Rest Day - Off Season - Went to Reid's Hockey Game - they won

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