I was very good swimmer in high school, but a poor student and team player.
Eventually, I joined the navy in 2010 and went to BUD/s to undergo seal training. It was more running compounded with heavy lifting than it was problem solving and swimming during the first phase. I bombed terribly. It rocked my perception of conditioning and was my first encounter with overtraining syndrome.
My failure there sparked my interests in physiology, but that interest didn't flower until I became very overweight and was failing socially in 2013. I discovered the ketogenic diet and lost 60 lbs of fat, yet also conservatively put on 25 pounds of muscle judging from what my LBM likely was.
When I was honorably discharged in 2016, I took on some interest in my father's hobby of choice: Ultra running, which hearkened to the tradition of our persistence hunting ancestors.
I now strive continually towards a balance of running for endurance, but lifting for strength and power. If there is a way to truly be great at both, then I want to find it.