I read something recently (Chi Running?) about this sort of topic. It made a lot of sense to me. It said that our activities should be extensions of our lives rather than goals to be set & accomplished. Running/cycling/swimming should be done for the pure joy of movement rather than counting out miles/calories/days to the event. If we find ourselves able to compete as a side benefit that's fine.

I wish I could be so pure of heart & mind. I'm going to try to incorporate that into my training (is it proper to call it training?) I confuse myself regularly. Thinking too much again.