Thankful for the Burnout****
My name is Andrej, Gentler’s co-founder and a product designer. I’ll explain how the idea of Gentler Streak was beginning to unfold. You’ll get to know how life taught me I’m not invincible. **
I’ve been active my whole life. As a teenager, I spent almost every single day playing basketball. At 18, I started running and working out in the gym five times a week. I stuck to that and only took a week off when I went on a holiday. You can say I loved to feel tired. :)
When I hit my twenties, I felt I could be super active with no need to rest. Running 10 km in under 40 minutes was somehow a moderate activity. Having a hard workout in the gym was a regular activity, and a fast run followed a day after. Recovery times? What recovery times?
I’m no longer twenty. I’m 42. Recovery time? Now all I think about is after-activity recovery.
When I was 38, I set myself a goal to finish an Olympic triathlon. Well, not just ""try,"" a good result was also important. Of course. I read a few books (Joe Friel FTW!), made a training plan, and, voila, started my workouts.
I was a lousy swimmer, so I took swimming lessons.
I also bought a road bike, and combining four different activities in a week was super fun.
I engaged in eight activities a week: swimming, riding a bike, running and lifting weights, every exercise twice a week. I almost doubled the time devoted to activities overnight! Yup, thinking back now, I know that was plain stupid. It was fun at first but became harder with weeks in.
I believe you’ve already guessed the result - friggin’ burnout.
It took three months to reach the point where I was forced to stop. I had problems sleeping even though I was beyond exhausted. I live on the first floor, and taking those few stairs became a challenge. I was also experiencing depressive moods, being tired all the time, not even being able to go for a walk, etc.
I was in that state for a few months. And in those months I had to think about changes.
Triathlon? I could have easily done it before burnout if I was happy with the average performance. I don’t care about triathlons anymore.
Once you’ve experienced burnout, you no longer care about running pace that leaves you exhausted and on the brink of burnout. I also don’t care about speed, pace, or weights in the gym. When I returned to my normal active lifestyle, I made drastic changes. What counts now is my health.
That’s when I started looking for something to help me set boundaries. Something that will motivate me to be active and warn me when overreaching. I’ve tried many digital services and solutions, but as you can see, I haven’t found anything that would make me feel safe.
Gentler Streak is based on the idea of a safely guided active lifestyle. I want to be active and build my fitness, but I want to do it slowly without risking getting hurt. I push too hard and overreach now and then, but it’s controlled and I always take it easy the day or two after.
I’m thankful for the burnout, however cheesy and cliche that sounds. After this painful experience, I made changes, and now live more responsibly. I came to a conclusion it’s the health that counts, not the local running legend badge!