One of the reasons I love triathlon is that something almost always falls apart. 

(I sort of despise the fact that I’m making this claim because (A) I feel like I’m jinxing myself and (B) I actually hate when things fall apart during races -- at least in real time.)

This is what makes triathlon training fantastic life training -- because something almost always apart there too.

I don’t say this to be melodramatic. There are, of course, a lot of things that don’t break. But when I look across my work and my projects and the people I love, things tend to break at fairly regular intervals. It is simply the way of things. Things break in big ways (foreclosures, cancer, relationships) and things break in small ways (project delays, fender benders, flight cancellations). 

Toeing the starting line of a 70.3 mile race, something is bound to fall apart. At least if you’re a mere mortal like me. The risk of incurring one of the following approaches 99.9%: flat tire, side stitch, muscle cramp, stomach upset, dehydration. 

If it’s going to happen, if something is going to fall apart, the question to consider is, how are you going to work with it?