Actually, I do snowboard and ski as a hobby. I haven't gotten too obsessed with that.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I don't fit that mold. My 20-years of mediocre bass guitar playing is a testament to that. :(

I defintely think so, whether its working 8-10 hours a day in my own business, training 3-4, sleeping sometimes?, and of course remodeling two bathrooms. All that life has to offer is what we take to the next limit. We all want more than we have and to race just a little faster than we did in our last race. That's who we are and what we do. Oh yea and I just got married 3 months ago to a woman who is more obsessed with training then me! How's this goona be?!!

Matt

Extreme has a bad connotation... BUt I get your point, and I am very much the same way.

The thing is I think that it is the result of being a passionate person. Being a passionate person means that you give a sh*t. You want things to be perfect, not becuase it would make you look bad or you are a perfectionist, but becuase you care.

As many hollywood moview would tell you, passion can get you in trouble but it can take you very far.

Good point. It is a wild ride of extremes. In every aspect of my life. Exhausting sometimes. Nirvana sometimes too.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I’m just like you. It’s not only about doing triathlons, but also racing faster each time. It’s not about climbing a mountain, but going higher and tougher. Work well is not enough; I have to be better and better. If this is the motivation that keeps me going on, it’s also something that can destroy me, because I’m never satisfied with I’ve just accomplished. The only thing I do is start thinking what comes next… I’m really working on this, ‘cause sometimes this can make me feel bad.

if you can say [I know you have tom] I'm going to climb another peak after doing a 24 hell descent to get out alive

Or if I train and extra 1000 miles on the bike I can win this....

and work is just to pay for the toys to have the "proper" Lifesyle

then yes I fit that model

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"on your Left"

Tom, I'm right in there with you. I can't do anything "almost good." That's why I vehemently avoid getting sucked into golf. My list on the other forum comprises a concentrated effort to limit my obsessions. I've sold my guitars, parachute, tricked out Z28 road racer, guns, bows, and airbrush. Every "hobby" I have now can be justified as direct or indirect support of my triathlon.

It's funny, I have never thought of myself as a type a person but ever since triathlon I have become rather obsessed with the sport. I can't read enough magazines and books, God knows I watch and rewatch every IM video 1000 times and have constant thoughts of quitting my job and turning pro even though I'm a MOP triathlete. In most other parts of my life, I'm not type a. I'm have a 9-5 job and would rather not stay late. I leave my dirty dishes in the sink and there are socks, underwear and floss all over the bathroom. For some reason, I'm only 'extreme' when it comes to triathlon.

"I never do anything half way. Nothing is a hobby for me. I either do it all the way, or not at all."

It's been a long time since I took Psychology 101, but wasn't the term called obsessive-compulsive personality?

Well, on the up side, I'm pretty intense about making sure people's bikes are perfect :)

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Classic. Glad to see I'm not the only one. I don't imagine I'd be able to get sponsors with the old "it would be a lot of fun for me" approach.

Extreme to one, is not to extreme to another. I think each person has there own ideal of what is and isn't extreme presonality.

yeah tom i eluded to that trait of diving into triathlon with everything i got in my hobby poll post. Its tough to call it ocd (obsessive compulsive disorder) if its not universal in ones life. And like another poster, i could care less about the dishes, my dirty clothes etc.

There is such a thing as exercise addiction. Although, clinically, its not very common. Traits of an addiction to exercise could be that you exercise during an injury, while sick, compromising other aspects of you life such as family or career in order to train, etc. When i had a mole removed a couple of weeks ago, the doc said no swimming for 5-7 days---yeah i was in the pool the next day, and the day after that....

The difficult thing about exercise addiction, is that like workaholism, its supported. Some of the greatest athletes fit the model of being exercise addicts even if they may not be. Just because someone spends all of their time doing or thinking about an activity doesnt mean they are addicted to it. Priests arent addicted to God or church.

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Want: 58cm Cervelo Soloist. PM me if you have one to sell

Vintage Cervelo: A Resource

I see it. My hobby definition is something I'll get obsessed with at some point during the year. This often coincides with various sports season. My favorite sport(aside from tri, of course), is usually the one in season, whether tennis, golf, cycling or cross country skiing. In the non-athletiv world, Photography is chief among my obsessions, perhaps, I've been doing lots of photography work the last work....some stuff over at [url]http://www.photo.net/shared/community-member?user_id=281929[/url] Last week I was just cross country skiing. Research papers I do the same...I'm either obsessed about it and the research, or I do it the day before it's due.
On another personality note, this week in the Leadership class I've been taking, we've been talking about personalities and such. We did some online tests to see where we were in David Keirsey's 16 group system, of four main groups: Guardians, Idealists, Artisans and Rationals. I wonder if, on this test, however good it is, there are triathlete generalizations? [url]http://www.advisorteam.com/user/ktsintro1.asp[/url] will give a test bringing down to the four categories for free, and [url]http://keirsey.com/pumII/temperdef.html[/url] will give breakdowns to the subcategories.

Me:
Idealist, Champion(not yet on the tri field, unfortunately)

Darrell

took the test, this is what I got

Artisan
All Artisans (SPs) share the following core characteristics:

Artisans tend to be fun-loving, optimistic, realistic, and focused on the here and now.
Artisans pride themselves on being unconventional, bold, and spontaneous.
Artisans make playful mates, creative parents, and troubleshooting leaders.
Artisans are excitable, trust their impulses, want to make a splash, seek stimulation, prize freedom, and dream of mastering action skills.

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"on your Left"

I'm with you Tom, in fact the reason I started the original post about Hobbies, is because I find it so easy for myself to get obsessed with things and I sometimes wonder if I shouldn't have better balance in my life. I just can't do things half-way, weather it's golf or Triathlon or whatever, when I get really into something I spend most of my available time focusing on every aspect of it trying to get better (it doesn't even matter if I'm good or not).

I think that there are worse things to be addicted too!

When my first child was born my wife went into labour around 10pm. My daughter didn't arrive until 2pm the next day. Needless to say, we were up most of the night and I was forced to miss my scheduled swim workout at 6:00am. However, I couldn't bring myself to put a zero in my training log so while my wife rested and the nurses took my daughter to the infant nursery, I drove home and snuck out for a 3 mile run, had a quick shower then was back at the hospital ...... I'm not quite that extreme anymore!

I do this for two reasons really because I enjoy it, and I absolutely love how greatly my body has improved from doing it. Its OKAY to just want more, but only to the point where it becomes detrimental.

What is detremental?
When you train so much you start noticing a decrease in performance. When Every run seems the same. When you call your girlfriend to cancel a date because you need to get your miles in, when you get fired from your job for taking a cat nap, because your training leaves you feeling dead. Family has to come first of course. Don't miss your sisters birthday because you just had to do one more race this season.

At least thats my view on it. I want more. I want to be better, but I also weigh the costs. I'm not prepaired to spend 40 hours a week training, or let it interfere greatly with my social life, much worse let it become my only social life. I tend to have an obsessive personality. When I notice that my life has become al about one thing I step back. The obsession gives us narrow minds, making it so we can't see the full spectrum. I saw a few minutes of that Tough Enough show on MTV and one of the veteran wrestlers was telling the guys that when all is done, wrestling will only be a really small part of their lives.

Playing squash with my girlfriend (she has the skill I have the fitness) when she had a minor asthma attack. She took medication and wanted to play on. I had to clarify with her that if she wanted to stop, that was fine, but if we played on there was no way I could bring myself to go easy on her.

Some non-competitive friends find this strange ;-)

I took the test too eric and got the same result. Cant see all being the same though.

My grandfather used to say (seriously, he did say this) "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. Don't d*ck around with half-assed."

Still following his advice to this day...

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"To give less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Pre

MattMizenko.com

I myself, think I fall into this category, for better or for worse. I know many of my friends and family think my activities and hobbies are 'extreme'. After this long I know longer think of the things I do as "extreme " and I even get embarassed if that word is used. I certainly have gone through some phases of my life that could be characterized by most folks as extreme. Besides a 11 year tri "career " with 7 IM finishes, and countless 18-25 hr training weeks, I went through a 3 year sport climbing phase where I traversed the West climbing the steepest bolted climbs I could find, spending 3 months sleeping in a tent with my girlfriend in tow. Beleieve me this was great fun, but again the family and friends just shook there heads. The sailboarding , and tele skiing down the steepest, nicest slopes I could find, either in Crested Butte, or Taos usually, go right up there as well. Prior to getting the workout bug biike racing all over the US was the thing, but during this time so was drinking. I started to hate headaches so the drinking had to stop, the the running started, then a little swimming thrown in there with the cycling background.

I think many people have this extreme personality type, but some get caught up in more destructive behavior that is really more dangerous to themselves and others, mainly partying, drugs and other criminal behavior. Not saying 18-25 hour training weeks is the healthiest thing up can do to your body but it beats a nasty drug induced tequila hangover any day.

I too fit the mold. I have never done anthing half-way. I have often thought about this characteristic in myself. I have told others that the passion that drives me is both my greatest strength and my greatest weakness at the same time. I love to see passion in people and triathlon is all about passion for me. I don't always have balance in my life--but a slow mediocre exisitences is not for me--that feels more like a slow death.



My friends also think I am crazy too--but I think some of them long to life with passion. My wife and I recently talked about this as she was trying to understand what drives me-- and in that conversation I realized that I love to see passion. Whether that is in the guy finishing first in a triathlon or the guy who crosses last and this is the biggest thing that he has ever done.