Sucess and failure

RayCun

tunney wrote: »

When growing up if I didn't do as well as expected in an exam I'd say "but I did way better than XYZ". Response was always the same "Never compare yourself to those worse than yourself, how did ABC do?".

You shouldn't compare yourself to the people behind, you should be trying to catch the people in front. (and if you're someone's coach, or otherwise responsible for getting them to improve then yeah, no point in spending a lot of time on the people they beat) But otherwise it's fine to congratulate people on the people they beat and the time they improved, right?

The way I look at it is, I set goals for myself for my training, for my racing. I have my own targets for how much I should be improving in a year, or six months. But in setting those goals I know that I'm lucky in a lot of ways. I don't have any problems with recurring injury or illness. And I have a job, and a family, and live in a place, where it's fairly easy for me to put in 8 hours training a week. There's no point in me being smug about my training and comparing myself to someone who doesn't have those advantages. (I remember littlebug and meathcountysec talking about their marathon training one time - the only place she could run safely in the evening was up and down the main street of her town, over and over again, while he did endless laps of a GAA pitch)

And if someone doesn't want to spend as much time training as me (or a triathlete :eek:) because they would rather spend some of that time playing with their kids, or learning a foreign language, or hanging out with friends, whatever... that's not a crazy thing to do either. Some people don't want to be the absolute best runner they can be, they want to be the best they can be on four runs a week. It's not like I am cross-training and going to the gym and doing core workouts etc etc - I set my own limits on how much I'm going to dedicate to this running lark, and try to be the best I can within those limits, so I'm not really in a position to criticise.

So yeah, back to tunney's starting point. Success or failure is relative to the goal you set.

Oryx

Success or failure is relative to the goal, but also the effort you put in. Our genetics play a part in how good we can become in reality, but the reason Im a back-of-pack racer right now is because I train like one, and havent the years behind me the good guys have. You get out what you put in. There are no short cuts.

RayCun

Oryx wrote: »

reason Im a back-of-pack racer right now is because I train like one,

155 swim km, 3600 bike km and 870 run km is hardly lazy, and anyone reading your log will know that you worked in those sessions.

Oryx

RayCun wrote: »

155 swim km, 3600 bike km and 870 run km is hardly lazy, and anyone reading your log will know that you worked in those sessions.

Thank you for saying so. But Im a realist. Ive come this far in three years, with no prior history and Im still wobbly on a bike. This is why I am slow. My effort would be below those more successful than me. This is how hard I had to work to get to this point, in a years time with more training, I will be stronger.

RayCun

But that's as it should be.
You think "I must work harder, I must train better" because that's the attitude that got you this far, and that's what will make you improve.
And other people get to applaud how far you've come already.

Oryx

RayCun wrote: »

But that's as it should be.
You think "I must work harder, I must train better" because that's the attitude that got you this far, and that's what will make you improve.
And other people get to applaud how far you've come already.

Except tunney, who says I waddle.

Izoard

Oryx wrote: »

Success or failure is relative to the goal, but also the effort you put in. Our genetics play a part in how good we can become in reality, but the reason Im a back-of-pack racer right now is because I train like one, and havent the years behind me the good guys have. You get out what you put in. There are no short cuts.

+ 1.
However, people run/tri for different reasons - some want to go sub-9, some want to finish, some want to be slightly less fat, some just for the pure enjoyment.

Interestingly, the logs on here that seem to show the most enjoyment from the process are those of the "slower" folk.

One or 2 of the sharp end (well, one in particular) logs, seem to reflect large scale misery most of the time...

tunney

Oryx wrote: »

Except tunney, who says I waddle.

new tunney: hey I never said that
old tunney: if it talks like a duck and walks like a duck then its probably Oryx.

hootini

BennyMul wrote: »

Slightly off topic but we have to be careful, as a society we are applauding mediocrity, just look at the what is presented to children as role models, contestants from “big brother”, X-factor all looking for the quick route. We need to get real intellects, true athletes on that pedestal not dumb ….

Does everyone deserve to be on the start line, yes
If they race and give it everything do they deserve praise regardless of placing, yes

Well said that man.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

I think the whole thing about success and failure is subjective. The one thing i cannot stand though is someone shooting down someone elses goals. Tunney already touched on it in previous posts but often i see people setting goals both on here, life, business, other goals and it being shot down.
Others cannot understand and sometimes belittle the goals, often to their faces or behind their backs. The thing with success is its down to the individual to how they set their goals and how they go about it.
It's not about adjusting the goals you set its about doing the work to get you there to achieve those goals...thats success or someone who epitomises success in their life.
Someone who sets their goals and does not put the work in, well thats someone who epitomises failure right there!!

The one thing i will say is that someones sub 9 IM is someone elses just finish an IM. Yes the sub 9 IM on paper is very impressive but the just finish an IM could be that more impressive given the persons starting position, goals, sacrifices and work that got them to that point.

In short if someone believes they can and has the attitude and mental fortitude then they will probably do what it takes to achieve whatever they realistically set their mind to.

TFBubendorfer

Solomon Disgusting Labyrinth wrote: »

The one thing i cannot stand though is someone shooting down someone elses goals. Tunney already touched on it in previous posts but often i see people setting goals both on here, life, business, other goals and it being shot down.

But sometimes people just set completely unrealistic goals. When a 3:40 marathoner comes along and states that he will run a 2:30 marathon next year, or a 7-minute miler proudly announces that he will break 4 minutes, I don't think you should pat their back and tell them how great they are. Pointing out that a softer goal might be more realistic is not belittling them, and should not be interpreted as shooting them down.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

But sometimes people just set completely unrealistic goals. When a 3:40 marathoner comes along and states that he will run a 2:30 marathon next year, or a 7-minute miler proudly announces that he will break 4 minutes, I don't think you should pat their back and tell them how great they are. Pointing out that a softer goal might be more realistic is not belittling them, and should not be interpreted as shooting them down.

The examples you use are extreme and yes there can be times when people set unrealistic goals. Although without personal knowledge of the person who are you or I to question the "how they get there".

peter kern

I would add what i think hasnt been touched here ... most athletes when they start training become actually better in their day job
as training has a lot of transfereable skills into the business world.
(It can go the other way round but thats the minority)

clubcard

RandyMann wrote: »

I'm just confused why Tunney gets his arse licked so much by some posters

TAKEN FROM ANOTHER THREAD by Randyman aka arse licker

Cause its Gary Crossan, "lets lick his arse"(cause hes faster than anyone here), if it was anyone else, "look at this eejit with the buggy"

Hypocritical boards viewpoint coming through again....


Question:have you a fetish on arse licking?

RacoonQueen

clubcard wrote: »

TAKEN FROM ANOTHER THREAD by Randyman aka arse licker

Cause its Gary Crossan, "lets lick his arse"(cause hes faster than anyone here), if it was anyone else, "look at this eejit with the buggy"

Hypocritical boards viewpoint coming through again....


Question:have you a fetish on arse licking?

What?

pgibbo

RacoonQueen wrote: »

What?

I'm guessing that was taken from the Streets of Galway thread. He ran the 8k and finished 15th whilst pushing the buggy around the course.