Some people have been talking about never losing the “fat kid syndrome” even as accomplished triathletes. Others have been talking about fast athletes making fun of slow ones. I wasn’t fat, but I was a very non-athletic kid…no interest, no ability (that I knew of anyway).
So this morning, I’m meeting this group of people for a mountain bike ride. One is a good friend who used to road ride competitively, but is new to mountain biking, so I’m pretty sure I can keep up. The others I didn’t know, but they all looked very fit. So as I’m waiting for everybody to get it together, I find myself thinking, “I can’t keep up with these people. I should just go ride by myself.” Self-doubt ad nauseum. Now, I’m pretty fit for me right now. Gearing up for IMCDA and I’ve been biking (although mostly road of course) quite a lot. I have no idea why I have all this self-doubt crap when faced with others on bikes who “look fit.” I ended up being able to keep up easily on the uphill, although I was a big chicken on the downhills (after reading JohnA’s story, I’m totally paranoid about a wreck right before the race).
As we’re riding, this one woman is telling me - in total awe - about a friend of hers who is getting ready for a marathon and she’s explaining the distance to me and the training involved. And I’m thinking, I’m the total opposite of those folks in the recent post who say slow people are non-athletes. I’m sitting here listening to this woman explain a marathon to me and I don’t even tell her that a marathon is only a portion of my next race. Somehow it seemed like it would make her feel bad, that her friend’s accomplishment wasn’t such a big deal when it is.
Anyway. I’m not sure this makes sense. I really felt like a had a point originally, but it might have just been the cool morning air on a great ride.
I guess one point is that there is sometimes a big difference in looking fit and actually being fit. I have a friend who is about 6’4" with a bodybuilders body. He’s a smoker and not fit at all, just blessed with great genetics. In contrast there was a guy I used to swim wth that looked like a short version of a blimp who could motor up the swim lanes leaving everybody in his wake. If you didn’t actually see him do it, you’d never believe it. One of the best AG’er IM that i know is a woman who doesn’t look like an athlete at all. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Your real and an athlete! Dont listen to that elitist mumbo jumbo crap. Im large, have no history in swimming, biking, or running and LOVE it when I pass or beat people who are fit and think they should beat me because there 40lbs lighter or more self absorbed than I am.
You’re not alone. I think that way too. Being able to ingore, or at least tune out, that little voice in your head is a big part what allows you to be successful in anything that you do. But I have no idea how to make it go away altogether. You just have to fight it.
When I was a kid, I was lousy at team sports, but was made to play them anyway. I sat on the bench…a lot. Now, the guys who were letter-men in high school are the couch potatoes who give me crap about all the training I do.
One thing I noticed in the 2 1/2 IM’s I did last year is that many of the people I pass on the run(I’m a lousy swimmer, and a mediocre cyclist) look way better than I do, from an Adonis point of view. Here I am, this hairy monkey without any muscle definition at all passing these guys who look like they could be in a BowFlex commercial(*I *want a tone and sexy core!) But it’s not just about being ripped, it’s about endurance, too.
And that’s where my endurance pockets come in. By eating just the right foods(BBQ chips, Stella Doro cookies, and ice cream) and drinking ample amounts of beer and red wine, I have lined by lower torso with a layer of reserve energy that I tap in the last half of long races. This allows me to power past all those pretty boys as they complain about glycogen depletion. (I got your glycogen right here, pal! It’s called Edy’s Praline Pecan Sundae!) ;p
So try to ignore the self-doubt, and have faith in yourself. Like Joe and Gordo say: You’ve done the work, trust your training. You belong.
10 Days til CDA! Have a great time, and Good Luck!
Not all of us “small” guys think that we should beat “big” guys! I am just as slow as the next slow guy regardless of how small I am. In any case, I hate being beaten by anyone, small, big, medium, polka dotted…
Not all of us “small” guys think that we should beat “big” guys! I am just as slow as the next slow guy regardless of how small I am. In any case, I hate being beaten by anyone, small, big, medium, polka dotted..
Da bum
Nothing against small people or anyone, just cocky or arrogant triathletes. Most triathletes are cool, thats one thing I was attracted to when first doing tris is how helpful and encouraging everyone was. I get passed alot also, especially on the run, its nice when the passer is one those fit AG women!
Good/great athletes tend to have a certain look, but looks can be decieving sometimes.
Two comments:
A few years ago I neede to go to all the top marathons in North America for work( Marketing Guy for an apparel company). I loved standing at the finish line of Boston, NYC, Chicago etc and watching people run into the finish line. I would say up to about the 2:50 mark everyone looked like real runners - like me skinny runner geeks. However, somewhere around this time people would start to come in who based on their body and the way they looked, it seemed improbable that they could run that sort of time.
Back in the early days of the sport triathlon tended to be a proving ground for the very fit and those who looked fit - still is I guess. I came from running and had the classic, skinny running geek body - still do. At the start of every tri season I was always a little in awe of all the really buffed looking people who would show up at the races. That is, I was in awe until about half-way through the race and it was myself and a few other skinny guys duking it out for the lead.
What people think is challenging is all relative. Keep in mind that an Ironman triathlon even an Olympic distance triathlon is considered an extreme event by 99% of the population. Also some people love to blab on and on about their achievements or their friends.
I’m not sure where you were going either, but I’ve got something to get off my chest. I wasn’t exactly the most active fella back in school and I did drop a decent amount of weight since I started tri. My friends have all gotten used to the skinny me, but still make comments like “back then I used to be so fit, and you weren’t. Now we’re the reverse!” or "the normal people back then have all gotten lazy and people like you (indicating I was a little chubby) have gotten super fit, " Now, most of these people don’t even don’t even walk to the corner anymore let alone go to a gym. At least before I still did weights, and frisbee, some mountain biking etc. Are they complimenting me or insulting me?
fear and dysmorphia are pretty common issues with the tri-crowd i bet … not posting this for sympathy, of course, but i LOOK waaay fitter than i really am … at least as far as friends and family react to me … see, i’ve only raced one season, and i wouldn’t really call it racing - before that i just “kept in shape” in the gym but have never been “athletic” … i’ve got slightly meso genes, (though i’m a small guy), and as a result i hold muscle fairly easily and don’t carry “energy pockets,” and training for real for tris has stripped most of the reserve energy pockets … so i go into races with the fear that if i’m slow (which i am), that i’ll be labeled a pretty boy or poseur or whatever b/c i might look like i should go faster (even though i’m new at this). i also have been keeping to short races because i doubt my ability to finish the longer stuff (though i’ve run a marathon, done the training, etc, i’m just intimidated)
bottom line is, it’s just bullshit fear. one of the really cool things about this sport is you get to challenge yourself and your own personal demons.
bottom line is, it’s just bullshit fear. one of the really cool things about this sport is you get to challenge yourself and your own personal demons.
Yeah, bullshit fear is a good term. Much like the “scare pees” that come right before a race start.
It’s not so much how these people looked - I only mentioned it because I didn’t know anything about their actual abilities - but more the voice in my head that tells me I can’t keep up with athletic people, when usually I don’t have a problem with it at all. I’m certainly not a speedy girl, but on endurance stuff, I can hang for the long haul, so I don’t know why the voice tells me I can’t sometimes.
On the upshot - had such a great time riding with these folks, I told them I’d start doing weekly rides with them, and it’s a good example of the fun and endorphins associated with telling the little voice to shut up.
I didn’t say that to dis’ the beautiful people. We all want to be beautiful, after all. It just amazes me that at 15 hours per week, and with a fairly strict diet(despite the exaggerated junk food and alcohol consumption claims) I don’t look nearly as good as some of the folks I see at the races. And with that look comes a certain expectation.
It’s sort of like a Ferrari. You usually only ever see them parked somewhere, but you expect them to be fast. In the meantime, they sure are fun to look at. (So you’ve got me beat on that count.)
The thing is to go out there, do your best, and not worry about what everybody else thinks.
If you think you want to go the distance, do it. If you believe that you can do it, you can.
