{"id":169,"date":"2021-11-26T12:48:21","date_gmt":"2021-11-26T11:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.220triathlon.com\/?p=88942"},"modified":"2021-11-26T12:56:15","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T11:56:15","slug":"how-i-overcame-an-addition-to-endurance-sport","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/220triathlon\/rss_feed\/how-i-overcame-an-addition-to-endurance-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"How I overcame an addition to endurance sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Rob Slade\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 26 November 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Luke Tyburski went from pro footballer to endurance sport addict, at the same time jumping from one mental health struggle to another. Here, he talks 220<\/em>\u2018s Rob Slade through the highs and lows of his relationship endurance triathlon.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I played football in the lower leagues and battled with a bunch of different injuries, so my mental health started to suffer. At 28 I decided to retire. I felt lost. I had a lack of identity because I wasn\u2019t a footballer anymore, so who was I?<\/p>\n

I had some friends doing some marathons back in Australia and one of them told me about the Marathon des Sables. I drained most of my savings and signed up. This led me into the world of endurance sports and triathlon.<\/p>\n

The birth of an addiction<\/strong><\/h3>\n

For the first four years of my endurance sport career I was running away from life. I was battling with depression<\/a><\/strong>, insomnia<\/a><\/strong> and I got addicted to endurance sports<\/a><\/strong>. You feel invincible when you finish and want to do it again. Those highs, like a substance addict, have got to be bigger and bigger.<\/p>\n

My journey went from the Marathon des Sables to being lost again with no identity and deciding that I was going to do this for a living. I stared at the world map and came up with the Ultimate Triathlon: 2,000km, 12 days, from Morocco to Monaco.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never done a triathlon before. I didn\u2019t own a bike and I\u2019d just started to become a runner, but I wanted something big. I gave myself four years and thought, I should actually do a swim, bike, run to see what it\u2019s like. I Googled the world\u2019s toughest triathlon. On the first page was the Double Brutal Extreme Triathlon. That was my introduction. To this day, it was the funnest event I\u2019ve ever done.<\/p>\n