If the workaholic approach for filling the void is a coping pattern for you, you may find you give yourself fully to your job. It is likely your top priority and all else must fit in around it. If someone asks you to tell them about yourself, you will likely talk about your role at work. Upon reflection, you may find your identity has become you, in your job.
See any similarities between your sense of athletic identity during sports and your work self now?
If you are struggling with your athletic identity and using this coping strategy, it is very likely a lateral move — using work as a stand-in for your sport and thus filling the mode. While this can be effective for a time and result in great productivity in the workplace, there is a risk that when work stops, for whatever reason, the same struggle surrounding identity will most likely re-emerge. It may even be compounded, joining forces with an unresolved sense of loss over your athletic identity.
Finding closure with your athletic identity and creating balance moving forward will help you live a happy and varied life now and avoid unpleasant struggles with identity in the future when changes occur in the workplace.