Dealing with ‘what’s next’ as an athlete

This could also be called where my head is at right now. Here’s the thing though now I’ve been here many times before. I want this to be generally helpful to everyone but I will be using my experiences as guide posts along the way. Basically it outlines a process of deciding what direction to head in next year. You want to allow some space to make the right choice and be open to all the possibilities in the mean time. It might also be helpful to recognize if you have a particular cycle that you fall into between seasons. But in general it’s most important to realize that you don’t have to have a firm decision right away. If you follow these tips you’ll have the best chance of making a decision about what’s next that really is best for you.

Hold off thoughts of never again

Here’s the thing when I started out doing endurance events I always swore in training and definitely during the race I outright swore I was never doing this again. It was helpful in the moment because I would say things to myself like “since you’re only doing this once you might as well give it your all.” In those moments let me tell you I believed it! Usually I didn’t have these same thoughts in training but some athletes do. This year while marathon training it was like all the stars aligned to make it happen and relatively easy for me. Mostly due to my employee wanting more hours. While I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it all again I have a hard time believing that my life will line up like that ever again.

Here’s the thing though it’s not going to be until after, maybe even long after your race that you’ll really know what you want for the future. Right after you’ll think that was so hard, I was so busy and maybe even I really dropped the ball during that time. With a bit of space you’ll find that it just doesn’t seem that bad. You also need some time to realize just how awesome you accomplishment is. In other words before you make a decision you need to wait for the hard work to prove to you it was a great idea after all.

Look back on the season that was