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12 Things a Triathlete Should Quit

As a triathlete your persistence will put you far ahead of others but embrace that sometimes quitting is the most effective choice for superior outcomes.

Not sure when to use your OCD and when to quit? Don’t worry. You can learn when to choose which option. Start with learning how to say “No” instead of committing yourself to a yes of action for someone else’s benefit. And don’t worry that your pain of quitting may exceed your pain of not changing.

Strange world where quitters can become winners and those who stop get faster!

Let’s look at what, why, and how to quit to develop into an improved triathlete.

Quit believing more training hours and distance always delivery quicker race times. Train with purpose, not for time. As a triathlete you may suffer from time poverty. Consciously choose not to spend your training time on junk miles.
Quit doing any training without understanding why it will help you improve your race performance. Action without knowledge fails to develop racing wisdom. Seek understanding from your coach of workout objectives to deliver the race of your lifetime every time out on the course.
Quit accepting you know it all. No one does. We thought that when 18. It’s time to move on and learn in each workout and race.
Quit thinking you can do it all yourself. Use your time for you to become the triathlete of your desire. Don’t make your equipment, create your own races, invent the rules, or enter a race without a support group. Focus on how you can be the best. Train, compete, read, buy, observe, listen, mimic, develop relationships, and whatever else is needed for your personal tri success.
Quit your coach who isn’t improving you as a triathlete and as a person. Marginal returns from in investing in your coach is not the best use of your financial resources. Be frank. Release them. Select a new coach wisely.
Quit doing the same thing over and over and thinking the end result will change. Your incentive to quit is to achieve different results. Different actions require change no matter how mentally painful for your choice of redirection.
Quit thinking each new race is the same as all your previous races. They’re not because of competitors, conditions, courses, and preparation. Approach each new race with unique tactics.
Quit using equipment that doesn’t deliver race improvements. Simplify by training and racing with efficiencies of only required tools. Stop believing the hype. Deliver with your confidence.
Quit thinking your workouts establish your personal records. Workouts should build confidence. Using your smart racing tactics deliver PR race results.
Quit thinking about your worse possible race outcomes. It’s a waste of time. They rarely happen at their worse. Believe in your confidence to achieve. Take a risk for betterment even though not 100% of everything you think required is checked off.
Quit doing “just” one more thing. You need rest/downtime. Fight the urge to do, with a don’t.
Quit stressing yourself out. No you can’t have everything. Be choosy. Know when to say, “No more.”

Not convinced that you can quit or that the list above is a good starting point of what to quit? Then ask yourself these questions:

If I quit, do I achieve what I really want? If yes, you will reach your chosen goals with fewer limitations.
Do I feel good about the decisions made to quit? If yes, then you choose importance over something that didn’t mean all that much to you.
If I put off the decision to quit today, will I be faced with the same decision tomorrow? Remember few things work themselves out on their own.

If quitting today brings success tomorrow, then bypass what is stopping you now.

Still don’t want to be a quitter?

Then here are other tips to prevent quitting. Build structure in your life. Create a block of time for improvement. Then block out others encroaching on your time commitment. Also, by never starting unnecessary activities, you embrace the ability to never give up on the necessities of your journey’s success. Finally, you control the choices to free up your time for the important things in your life. Make wise decisions.

To sum up what you should quit, is to embrace the attitude to quit everything that doesn’t matter in reaching your goals or produce a positive difference to your race wanted results. Slash/prune/cull/purge. Collectively you gain more time to focus on the important activities for your success.

Are you struggling to solve the problem of never being a quitter? Then stop. You’re probably not quitting the most important actions to stop to become a faster triathlete.