No, this has nothing to do with Tom worship, Bjorn worship, Becca worship, or Ironclm stalking. This is a question that dawned on me after perusing Gordo’s Elements of Breakthrough Performance. Among many other things on his list, he has:
Athlete
– Something to prove
– Not well-adjusted
– Obsessed
About a year ago, he wrote: “Well adjusted people make great neighbours but lousy elites.” This sounds plausible to me. This also makes me wonder if we have a hell of a lot more potential in Slowtwitchia than the race results show. I for one, have not had to move to a bigger place due to all the race hardware I’ve got kicking around the house. Many of you I’m sure are in a similar situation. A large number of us are unbalanced to some degree. But we don’t have the hardware to show for it! What gives?
Excuse time…
Mine is: Due to excessive PC usage, I can’t run nearly as fast as I used to. (Something’s in the way)
I do this sport purely for the long-term health benefits and it’s fun as hell. I’ve been training for 4 years and can’t swim faster than 50 m/min, can’t bike faster than 16 mph average, and have never ran less than 8:00 min/mile in a tri. I truley enjoy the training and I love the races. I give as close to 100% on race day as I can but will never (probably) be on the podium. However, I guarentee the smile on my face at the finish line is as large as the first place finisher. That’s why it pisses me off when triathlete, elitest, assholes say stuff like anything over 13 hoour ironman can’t even be considered an accomplishment. What the elites and lots of age-groupers do is amazing to me and they have my utmust respect. Some of us simply have no desire to put enough commitment into the sport to be on the podium or ever reach our our fullest potential.
Your attitude is what most of us must have in order not to be frustrated and disappointed, because most of us will never reach the top. The health benefits and comraderie are really hard to beat compared to most other sports. At the end of the day, and at the end of the race, finishing with a smile is a very hard thing to beat.
I, too, started three years ago for fun, fitness, and goal setting. It’s frustrating that I can’t run any faster, I keep thinking “if only I could knock a couple of minutes off and I’d be right there”. Of course the running may be improved if I wasn’t so lazy and lost twenty pounds. On the other hand, I was caught off guard twice last year when I received third place awards.
It should be all about having fun because we don’t expect to get our mortgage paid off by podiuming the odd time in local sprint tris.
The one thing I’ll say for triathlon is that there is no better way to keep the weight off. My wife and I each lost about 15 lbs since starting tri and are both down to our weights when in our early 20’s (many years ago). We know a woman that lost 100 lbs since starting tri. In contrast we both have siblings that are 40 lbs over weight and have tried every fad diet available. Unfortunately they refuse to believe us when we tell them they have to exercise if they expect to lose weight.
I don’t remember any comments like that here. I, for one, am going to keep monitoring IM live when you are signed up for a race until I follow one where you kick some serious elite butt.
Good luck in France this year. Watch those decents. They can be tricky.
I think it does take some psychological deficiency that you attempt to ameliorate through sport to reach your maximum potential.
If you really felt just as good about yourself losing as winning why turn yourself inside out to win? Above average talent can certainly win just doing it for enjoyment or money, but won’t reach maximum performance without some need that is temporarily eased by victory, but never cured. Like LA’s self esteem issues with his white trash childhood. Cycling is how he proves to himself he’s worth something. It never really does prove it since it’s the wrong way to go about it so there is always that urge to push harder or keep going.
Winning and achieving maximum performance need the belief that they will provide something that can’t be gotten (more easily) elsewhere. A truly well adjusted person knows that you can have whatever mental state you want just sitting on your ass.
Hmmm, Well, I guess at the heart of the matter I have been doing this (endurance sports) since I was 13 years old in a special education gym class (I was chronically obese). Probably fair to say I acquired what developed into my adult “identity” through endurance sports.
When I lose that, the rest of my life is out of balance and generally compromised.
So, things seem to run best for me in life and in athletics when there is stability and balance. It takes a while to develop that if you;ve been through some big changes.
Age disappears when you are an endurance athlete. That is enormously rewarding. So my best performances begin to happen when everything else in my life is pretty calm and serene. Like now…
I do it for the same reasons that you do, and share many of your sentiments. The doctors want to crack my Dad open for the third time, this time to replace a valve and fix his aorta(it’s dissembling, or something like that). He’s already been through two bypasses and several atherectomies/angioplasties. He worshipped at the altars of tobacco, alcohol, and bacon for too many years. I’m working hard to stay in shape and keep the cholesterol down to avoid, or at least delay, that fate.
Some people I know think this is a bit of an extreme route to stay fit. I tell them to shut up and go away, because I have to train now.
