One of the best parts of all of this training is working through the stress of daily life, you know, like a riot in Montreal.

When you go for a run, it’s easy to focus on everything but the training. You move your feet and your brain races with the worries of the day.

When you’re training for a triathlon, every minute you’re out training is done with purpose and requires focus. That focus allows you to find sometime during the day where the reality of the world recedes to the background.

In fact, when you stop focusing on the work at hand, letting the world bleed back in, then your pace slackens, your form degrades and the Garmin monitor starts beeping at you…

The time away from the stress, the planning, the failures, the future, the successes and the pain help make it possible to grind through another day.

Definitely better than eating and alcohol.