The Future of Personal Best Triathlon

Personal Best Triathlon was established in May 2013 with the vision to create an environment that enables athletes of all ages and abilities to achieve the level of performance to which they aspire. Over the past four years the club and athletes have lived by this vision at every single training session and race. There have been some incredible results that everyone in the club can be extremely proud of. Personal Best Triathlon has been represented at London ITU Triathlon World Championships, Chicago ITU World Triathlon Championships, Hawaii Ironman World Championships, Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 World Championships and every race in between.

It is hard to narrow down the results to pick a favourite because reminiscing just brings up more memories that make the decision even harder. To be a part of a club that has seen athletes set themselves lofty goals, chase these goals and achieve these goals has been something special.

It's a very cliche expression but all good things must come to an end and as of March 31 the decision has been made that Personal Best Triathlon will no longer be offering the structured club training sessions that have seen such success.

This is a decision that hasn't been taken lightly but I feel that it is in the best interest of the athletes and everyone involved in the club. There are a number of reasons behind this decision but ultimately I no longer feel that Personal Best Triathlon is creating the environment in which I set out to create and therefore change needed to occur. Personal Best Triathlon isn't built around a committee and while I would have preferred this to be a decision made by those involved and invested in the club, the direction in which it is heading has forced this decision.

Over the past couple of months I have really struggled to get any sort of balance between coaching, working and training. Coaching is so much more than a job, it is a 24/7 lifestyle and I feel I have neglected certain aspects of this lifestyle and I don't think that is fair on the athletes. I am finding it harder to allocate the time I think it requires to plan out not only the sessions but run all aspects of a successful small business. If it continues at the current rate I don't feel I am doing the right thing by all the athletes by just keeping the club ticking along for the sake of it.

I started coaching and this business in May 2013 and it's going to be tough to end it but there have been so many good times to remember that I wanted to finish with them and thank everyone for being a part of it for as long as you all have. The results each and every athlete has achieved at this club is a true testament to the hard work everyone puts in on a daily basis in the sport of triathlon. This certainly isn't the end of Personal Best Triathlon but an opportunity to reset, refocus and replan.

"Business opportunities are like buses, there's always another one coming."

~Richard Branson~

This is an extract of an email and social media post that sat for weeks in my email drafts. It was one of the toughest decisions I've had to make in a long time. The email took a fortnight to write and then to actually hit send was a daunting task. Personal Best Triathlon is my business, it's something I've always been so passionate about. I love the idea of working for myself, to be as creative as I want with all aspects of the business and ultimately throwing myself in the deep end and so far outside my comfort zone to try and build it up has scared me but at the same time excited the heck out of me.

I think my desire to be a perfectionist at everything I do got the better of me. While I didn't race at all in 2016 I missed it and to be back on the start line again this year excites me and I want to do it even more. and even better When you combine training as a professional athlete with working a full time job and trying to run a small business cracks are bound to appear. For a while I was able to cover up the cracks but it was wearing me down both physically and mentally.

I tend to be a pretty moody person and I started to notice that not only were those moods getting worse but I was taking them out on the people who were closest to me for no reason at all. I needed change and that is what prompted it. I still find it hard to say but I decided I needed to be selfish and do what was best for me. That's a tough thing to admit for a coach and person whose job and drive is to push others to achieve a goal they set for themselves and put their goals ahead of your own.

I have run Personal Best Triathlon for almost spot on four years and although it is going to be very tough to end the current program, I am definitely not closing the door on coaching forever. The stopwatches might be briefly hung up and given a rest but I'm sure they won't stay still for too long.

Not only has this been one of the toughest decisions but it also one of the most terrifying. What do I do next? This thought scares me as much as my first day of coaching but that's the excitement of it...I think. My triathlon performances have always relished when I have had a consistent training routine and that is one thing I will be focusing more on in the coming weeks and months. It was one of the deciding factors in all of this, that I still feel I have more to give as a professional athlete and the only way to explore that is to take a leap of faith.

I might not be 100% on the next step in this process but that idea of working for myself and to be as creative as I want with all aspects of a business is something I'm going to direct towards growing the business of Nicholas Hull -Professional Triathlete-