I race because it’s my hobby and love it. I don’t care what other people think about me. I wear what I want and do what I love to do. That’s about it.

I don't really care much about the identity aspect of it as long as I know that I am very good at it and a lot better than others.

I don't broadcast myself as a triathlete, but I find that for people who "sort of" know me, finding out that I've done X, Y, or Z race is something unique they remember about me, which becomes their default question for me. "How's training going?" "Got any races coming up?" That sort of thing.

I used to be a Triathlete who did some cycle-touring and after I started riding to events I became a Bikepacker who does triathlons. I'd say that 80% of the people I know and associate with around the world are triathletes or are in the "Triathlon industry",10% are Bikepackers and the rest are friends from when I was a kid or random work people.

I don't belong to a triathlon club,don't want a coach, don't have a TT bike,don't have an aero helmet or compression anything, don't have any triathlon tatoos,don't have any Ironman coffee mugs and don't have a dog named Aero or Kona.

I do have a Facebook feed chock full of Triathlon/Bikepacking friends,a YouTube feed full of Triathlon/Bikepcking related content,an Ultraman Oz towel that is getting very frayed and an Ironman Malaysia backpack that I use to go grocery shopping.My Bikepacking bike is my Triathlon bike.

It is my lifestyle,been living it for 38 years and I'll be doing it until the end.

I think I am into the exercise lifestyle. I would identify myself as a general athlete . When I lift I am a lifter, when I swim I am swimmer....my version of running these days is so bad, I would comfortably identify myself as a jogger when at one point in time if someone called me a jogger I would be offended (because clearly what I was doing was running). When I speed skate, I want to think of myself as a speed skater. It is still good enough that outsiders would confuse me to be one of those guys but "real speed skaters" would realize that I am one of those guys who is moderately proficient "outsider" who can blend into a pack and not create trouble and take everyone out !!! Definitely when I XC ski I and outsiders will view me as an XC skier.

There is only one venue where I don't identify myself as the person doing the sport and that is cycling. For whatever reason I don't want to be grouped with roadies, mainly because roadies generally treat "triathletes" like some type of second class citizen, so I just use the bail out option as I ride along in aerobars and roll with "triathlete" only to avoid being grouped in as a roadie.

But generally outside of when I am on a bike I don't identify myself as a triathlete. I just identify myself as a single sport athlete, doing that sport at that moment in time.

To provide some context, in my life I have played soccer, ice hockey, field hockey, cricket, baseball, football (you know the kind where they actually almost never kick) and tennis. If anything during that time, I was largely a soccer player and track athlete to everyone else. I would view myself as a single sport athlete in each of those playing each, but most teammates would see me as the track guy or soccer guy on those other teams that I was able to get proficient enough to squeek onto the teams.

When I discovered triathlon, it was like a day in my life, but instead of soccer at lunch, track after school at the school team and baseball at night on the city team, I had three different sports all in a row.

Your post is the best of this entire thread.

All of these humble triathletes (oxymoron) crack me up.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

I wear my shirts, buy the jackets, have the coffee mugs. I am the IM marketer's dream! I think about people that ride Harleys; they are head-to-toe HD clothes if they support a University Football team; as a Vols fan, Knoxville is RIDICULOUS looking during the season. Don't even get me started on Jeep Owners (My wife is one and it is ridiculous)


I am proud of what I accomplished and wear shirts of shit I like. If I am in a cool coffee shop and they sell T's, I buy it and rock it proudly! Cool cycle shop T-shirt? I'll buy that too! I have Jocko Willinik shirts, Black Rifle Coffee Shirts, Salty Dog Cafe shirts, you name it, I got it! Connecting with people on my travels over the shirt or hat I am wearing (IM or otherwise) is fun. It is being part of a tribe; to belong to our tribe, you have to earn it. I don't understand the "I don't wear the finisher shirt" thing, and I don't care to understand it. Everyone has their own thing. If you ask me what I do for fun, I say I do triathlon. I don't say I am a triathlete only cause it sounds weird. In the same way, my friend says he plays softball, he does not say he's a softball player.


The discipline required to do our sport makes me a better man, period. I will openly tell people that if asked. I always say that I do this sport cause it's cheaper than therapy. I love our sport for what it gives me: a better life. Wear that shirt proudly, young man or woman!

I've posted this conversation that I've had IRL a time or two, elsewhere around here, when people ask me "Hey - you're a Runner, right?"
"I've been accused of that"
"Can you coach me to do a 5K?"
"I'm the last person you should ask"
"But you run a lot, don't you?"
"Yeah, but I'm weird. Running is weird. I would avoid it if I were you"

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I'm a runner, a cyclist, a mountaineer and adventurer. I strongly identify with these. I can also swim. It's my thing though, I'm not looking for likes and cheers. It's not what I project everyday to acquaintances or what I lead with in conversations, but I do very much enjoy being able to share with like inclined people.

In the end I'm a husband and father first, I just fit in all things I enjoy as best I can. My training has very little family time overlap. The best thing I ever did was to align my career around supporting my hobbies; i.e, ensuring a comfortable standard of living to the extent that I can maximise yolo time. So yes, it is definitely a big part of my lifestyle and identity.

I can recall going to a triathlonfest thing in Maryland almost a decade ago and I thought to myself that these were my people. Turns out I was not really like anybody there, but that's entirely okay.

I'm not sure why anybody cares about other people being stoked about racing, their accomplishments, wearing a race shirt, etc... Why care about somebody else being happy or having found a place/Identity within the sport?

Live and let live, even if that means neon visors and compression socks in public places.

It's okay to love triathlon and to encourage others to give it a go. Somehow it's perfectly okay to lie about FTP or what defines an easy session, but somebody wears a finishers shirt and the forum thinks the person needs to be stoned in the town square.

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Team Zoot 2023

Yea I’m with you. Triathlon is something that I do, not what I am. When people ask what I do in my free time I tell them I like spending time outside and like riding my bike. And that I sometimes go for a run or swim. I’m not buying race merch and have given away all ironman back packs.

I’m convinced that nobody cares about my athletic abilities anyway. Even when I podium my AG I’m still a middle aged skinny dude with shaved legs, a stupid helmet and weird platform shoes. Nothing to write home about.

d


But this is the reality -

If you're training like 12,15,20 hrs a week, and you've gotten really good (odds are high you are if you train a lot), AND you go around parading in your IM or whatever triathlon gear most of the time, in public, and talk about it all the time, you're going to come across as a tri-hard obsessive, like it or not. It would be the same if you did nearly any other self-centered activity to the same extent, particularly any other self-centered sport. (I call it self-centered, because you won't get this view from the public if you're giving your time to help others primarily.)

You really kinda do have to tone it down to be treated as a 'normal' person if you're in this group, like it or not.

Same thing with the Harvard humblebrag. You don't just lead with it , and you certainly don't parade around advertising it on all your clothing even if you absolutely loved it, or even if you continue to love it AND attend it or work there in some way that's really meaningful to you.

And like it or not, Slowtwitch is known for being a place to really nerd out on the nitty-gritty stuff that diehard serious triathletes care about but is not in the universe of a beginner or completionist. Like whether a bottle down your shirt matters on the bike, etc. Everyone can participate but it's clearly not going to resonate as much with the folks who aren't interested in high performance and that's fine too, even if it feels exclusionary because so many conversations are so far away from the realm of beginner/completionist frames of mind.

I love ST, but it's going to be overwhelming and arcane for most beginners/completionists who aren't necessarily interested in maxxing out their possible performance with lots of training over many years.

Oh, and as I wear jeans and Tshirts around at work, guess what T-shirts I wear all the time, and let's say I don't spend money on clothes, so it is whatever I get for free at the zillion tri races and swim events that I go to!!! The employees in my company see me hanging around in running shorts and random ironman T shirts and see me showing up to meetings wearing that stuff. It's a good example for them to get off from behind the computer and go exercise anyway.

I am not trying to be normal and "fit in" anyway. Here is a post in LI from work: https://www.linkedin.com/...7115721500745162753/

Lifestyle for me. Done triathlon many many years but I identify more as a dog walker now.

I think you are correct that ST is an elitist Tri forum where MOP, BOP and newbies get sh*t on. It is famous for questioning professionals and wondering why the pros don't listen to the experts who post here.

That said, my sense is a lot of the Type A personalities that reside here (and excel at Triathlon) don't like to advertise. They are interested in flying under the radar... being overlooked... and then smashing those poor souls who dared to underestimate them. Or maybe I am just projecting!

As for the Cambridge thing. As someone who went to the good school in Cambrigde (not the diploma mill known as Harvard)... it is hard not to come across as a jerk by leading with that. If you are fortunate enough to have attended a great school or achieved a lot of success in business/industry... you walk a fine line bewteen being open and honest and sounding like a braggart.

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In search of the righteous life... we all fall down

Oppositely, people see me on the street or in the supermarket wearing black jeans, black band t-shirts, a jacket with buttons, pins, & patches all over, silver rings on my fingers with skulls & bats on them, and say "Wait? You're a runner?"

In the gym, the shirts change to some tech material and usually some color other than black, but black pants - MUCH shorter now - and the silver rings remain (often flashing around while I play air guitar in the strength training area; I don't play music while I run)

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I’m not getting paid to do this so no it’s not my identity. It is my lifestyle and hobby. If someone asks me about my running, swimming, etc I’ll answer their questions. But 99% of people I know don’t care. I’ll talk “shop” to friends who are also into it or exercise a lot like me but otherwise I don’t go out flashing whatever race I’ve done.

I don’t wear my race t-shirts unless at home as PJs. Those soft cotton ones are the best (I find the technical race shirts are always this thick and poor polyester quality, they stay in the closet or donation bin)

Perhaps when I started and was a bit more obsessed I used to talk about triathlon more, now I just don’t want to bore people to tears.

Not my identity at all - if you see me on the street or talk to me out nowhere you wouldn't know that I do triathlon.

I just enjoy the training :)

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

First, I did go to school in Cambridge but it wasn't Harvard. Anyway...

I agree with a lot of what you've written here. Triathlete/endurance athlete is one of the things I identify as. I also identify as a cat lover, engineer, hobby baker, international synchronized swimming judge, and chocolate nerd. If you enjoy something and spend your free time doing it, why would you feel the need to hide it? That doesn't mean you have to talk about it at every opportunity, but naturally you'd have things related to your interests with you when traveling, and you'd have stories about your hobbies when people ask what you did over the weekend/on vacation.

My mom is an artist and wears t shirts from art shows she's been an exhibitor in pretty regularly, including a couple that are pretty prestigious. I don't think any artists look down on her for...checks notes...advertising the existance of an art show she did?

Anyway, here are some of my "sins" according to some in this thread:
-I wear race t shirts regularly. Some of them because I like the color, others because I really dig the design or logo. Also I wear them to bike commute because I have so many and don't mind going through 2 a day during the summer.
-I post about my training and racing on social media. Because it's something I enjoy doing, and I like to share the fun things I'm doing with my friends. I also post about other fun things I do - travel, meet other people's cats, make cakes - and love reading about/seeing pictures of things my friends have enjoyed doing. Knitting. Board game design. Equestrian. Breedng chinchillas. Hobbyist blacksmithing. Homebrewing. All things I don't particularly know anything about but I love seeing my friends happy and enjoying things.
-I have a bunch of tri gear, some of it expensive. I have the funds to purchase these things, and I enjoy using them. I love having a ton of colorful kit, a sweet aero helmet for races, and shoes that help me run my best. I don't care what other people think when they see me using them.

tl;dr: Triathlon is one of the things I spend a good chunk of my time doing. It's not the only thing. It makes me happy (usually, don't come at me after a weekend of summer training in the humidity) so I share my experiences with it when talking with friends.

And the Slowtwitch Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people - swimmers, runners, cyclists - or even like this triathlete.”

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"The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care.”

I always wear compression socks in public but not for showing off that I'm a triathlete .... I had thrombosis left and right, so don't misinterpete that socks all the time.

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I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain.

Like many on ST, I spend a lot of time training, plan out my annual race schedule well before the year starts, and spend more time than I should on ST. Given how much time I spend doing or thinking about the sport, it’s hard to say triathlon is NOT part of my identity or lifestyle.

I’d like to think I’m not the insufferable triathlete who makes sure everyone knows my latest accomplishment.. I’m very much aware that talking about your latest IM can just make people feel bad about themselves, and try to steer away from that topic unless someone seems genuinely interested (rarely the case).

But I don’t go out of my way to hide my identity either. After many years of doing this, I have a lot of gear and I use it. My work colleagues will see my coming into the office from the pool with a giant red IMTX bag. If I go hiking in the woods I’ll wear a hat to protect from ticks, and it’s probably an IM finisher cap. I don’t use social media much but I’ll post after an IM, often because it’s a family affair so there are multiple pictures worth sharing and I like to express my gratitude for the support.

So pretty much everyone that knows me is aware triathlons are a big part of my life. It tends to be a topic others raise in social settings, perhaps because I’m a socially awkward guy and it’s the only thing they can think of to engage me.

lifestyle/identity are 2 pretty different things and it's not a trivial distinction. as to identity, i don't know what others identify me as, but i self-identify as an multisport endurance athlete and always have. never as a triathlete. a triathlete swims, road bikes (mostly) and runs. i use those 3 skills, plus a number of others, to pursue my avocation.

lifestyle: this is the holy grail of those who're interested in the future of any sport. it took us some decades but people like me - which include many of you - finally got there. a lifestyle does not require a race for validation. surfing, tennis, skiing, running, all of that can be done without a validating race. the sport of triathlon - as expressed through competitive events - has suffered a bit because multisport has finally evolved into a lifestyle. if i ask all of you to describe how sport is expressed in your life, you might say something like, "i ride my gravel bike a lot, i swim very occasionally, i haven't raced a triathlon in 2 years, i'm going to start running this winter, and i might race a tri or two next year," or something like that. you now use the skills you got from triathlon to expand beyond triathlon, and you understand how to choose the tools - the equipment - to match what you want to do outdoors. but a race is not required. a race is nice; it's a group celebration of what we do. but many of you have translated your skills into a lifestyle and you have the freedom and confidence to engage in endurance sport using competence across a number of endurance expressions. you've learned to value the journey and you've equipped yourselves to create and expand the map of your journey.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

We will have take away your multisport man card if you the part above in bold comes out of your mouth again. We'll send Monty over and haul you butt to the pool for 2 hrs of IM kick sets!!!

you're a perfect example of what i mean. your rehab has been pretty much extraordinary. but probably not possible if not for a few decades of multisporting to equip you. you had a sport taken away from you. you got it back. almost miraculously. but it took your expertise in other sports to get your running back. anybody else would just be rolling around in a wheelchair.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman