I’m a triathlete almost by accident. I always liked running, and was eventually encouraged to train for a marathon - the peak experience of finishing that made me want to do another one. And another. I noticed that I am a calmer, happier person when I train, and I have a lot more energy. Three years ago I wanted to do some race - any race - in my fairly remote neighborhood. All that was available was a triathlon, so I trained for that, took part and was instantly hooked - to the point that I went to Penticton and signed up for IMC '06. To be honest I don’t think I have a lot in common with the other triathletes I know - I’m a classical musician/library know-it-all. What I do have in common with many in my age group is the chance to feel as young and fit as I ever have. I’ve volunteered to help at a couple of races too, and was surprised by the satisfaction that has given me - to the point that I’ve just taken over the little wee local endurance sports club, and hope to encourage more people to do this thing that builds strength, fitness and health, not to mention organization and overcoming difficulties. My little daughter did a kids of steel this summer and now thinks of herself as a triathlete too! The population here is thin enough that I’ve actually come second in my AG a couple of times, though in both cases I was well behind the guy who came first! But there is something to aim for.
I used to dislike swimming, but I could only do the breast stroke - now I’ve learned the crawl, and enjoy working out the kinks in my still slow stroke. The bike used to be a means of getting around - now I’m glad to take part in the paceline, and play with the niceties of gearing, spinning, jumping etc. I think I still like running the best but it’s a close call. And you? j
Short Attention span readers, go straight to the end.
I needed something to compete in.
I needed something that I could do on a flexible schedule (wife, young kids, etc)
I needed somethng I could do alone (See #2)
It seemed hard to do.
It helps build characteristics that carry over to other aspects of life (time management, commitment, toughness, etc)
It’s healthy.
It’s cool to be one of the few muscularly lean 30ish guys I know.
After a few years of lifting, I got tired of trying to turn a greyhound into a pitbull and decided to do something my body was more suited to.
I enjoy it. At the end of the day, it makes me happy.
I am modeling an active, healthy, nutritional lifestyle that I would like my kids to enjoy. Don’t just listen to what daddy says … do what he does.
I was hoping it would rub off on my wife. After two preganancies she, inspired by my most impressive effort at Lake Geneva (sarcasm), decided she wants to do the LG 1/2 Mary. .
I can do this dumb sport till I’m 85.
I wanted to know if I still had a pair. In other words, when it got really tough and quitting would be the easiest, smartest thing to do … would I just say “Hell no!”.
One day I want to own the red/yellow cycling shoes like Chip.
I’m hyperactive and (possibly) ADD. I need some type of exercise that I can do that doesn’t get boring. 3 challenging sports. Lots of variation that you can do for each sport.
Most of the training is outdoors. I’m an outdoor guy.
Had I known about the wonderful feeling of freedom that long runs and long bikes give a person I would have done this a decade ago.
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In short, triathlon is hard, individual, tough, competitive (even with one’s self), and I needed something to test my manhood … so the sport where everyone wears tight, neon spandex and shaves their legs seemed a natural fit.
I needed something to keep myself active after swimming was over and I had always thought that IMH was about the coolest thing… so here I am now
That’s great LOL.
So, Why do you do it?
'cause tri girls don’t wear many clothes.
i was a runner that got hurt. so i got a bike, thinking it would help me stay active–then i crashed, so i got back in the pool. then rehabbed my knee. then decided the way to keep running was to cross train. i need “events” to train for…they are my purpose to keep going. triathlon seemed like a good choice.
i’m not very good (sorry to burst your bubble cerveloguy…lol), but i’m not gung ho either. i’ve met the best people, and it’s just alot of fun to train with folks and to do the races. good stuff.
I’m a triathlete cause as a straight guy who likes to shave his legs…well…at least here I fit in!
It’s a good question, I guess. I think I’m sort of like the guys at the base camp who really have no fucking clue why they’re there. I really don’t care for the actual training all that much, I don’t get some rush out of “pushing myself to the limit”, it isn’t a testament of wills, and really…I’m kind of lazy.
But if I were pressed to give reasons…
I was a runner who had to give up running.
Turns out I’m a decent biker, so I like beating people on bike splits of races.
I don’t want to get fat.
I like to have things to obsess over.
And as crabby as I am doing 9 workouts a week, I’m even crabbier if I have nothing to do. Basically, I combined my need to be doing “something” with my desire not to get fat…and I got triathlon.
The older you get the better it feels to be fit. People older than 50 that look like they are still 30 (that’s where I want to be when I’m 50!). Most of my best friends are athletes so I have to be in good shape or I get spanked whenever I hang out with them. Keeps me busy. Endorphins (I only feel ‘normal’ when I am working out regularly). Cool people and beautiful women (really helped me get started 
It’s a challenge.
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- where else is it socially acceptable to wear spandex?
- ben & jerry’s.
- “jack of all trades, master of none” syndrome.
- race day eye candy.
- being known as “that guy” and the response you get when you tell them what you do.
- ben & jerry’s.
- because real athletes don’t count baseball as a sport.
- i’d rather spend money on powerbars and tires then flowers and jewelery, figure she’d understand.
- sitting in a 400+ class and knowing you did something this weekend that would literally kill over half of them.
- ben & jerry’s.
- it’s an excuse to be ocd without it being diagnosed as a mental disorder.
Cuz I used to be fat and wanted to lose weight. Somehow that snowballed into always searching for a faster PR.
I bought a mountain bike and started riding. I loved it. Then the whole Pat Tillman thing went down. I read that he competed in a triathlon to see how tough it was. Coming from a rugby background, I felt that a triathlon would be a good challenge. I had never swum or biked competitively, though I was an all state middle distance runner in High School. However, years of lifting for rugby meant I was 5’10", 210 pounds, and not in any way resembling a runner. I recruited a friend to teach me how to swim and shopped around for road bikes. 2 months later I did my first sprint and fell in love.
because I can’t run six days a week anymore…
also, I’d solved all the problems in running. I know how to train myself optimally for running. Still working on tri, so it’s still interesting from that aspect.
On the vanity side, triathletes have better bodies than runners. If I can’t run fast, might as well look a bit less like a plucked chicken…
mostly I just like to train. Racing a couple of times a year gives all the training a bit of purpose.
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Because there is no such thing as masters water polo.
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Because I like the endorphin buzz.
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Because there is sufficient complexity and time required to sooth my OCD.
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Because it is fun.
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Because I am a late bloomer athletically. I realized that I missed the boat on all team sports and this is a sport that you can do for a lifetime.
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I have met and continue to meet incredible people through the sport.
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By my general nature I am an extremist in everything I do and this is a sport that caters to it.
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In large part to triathlon I am the only member of my family who is not overweight.
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I love the inner peace that training alone can bring.
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I love the fun you can have while training with a group.
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I just love to train.
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I love the energy that buzzs around around a race site.
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I think that it is great that pre-teens, teens, peeople in their 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s can ALL have positive race expeiences. I hope the be a part of all of the age groups ahead of me.
“Turns out I’m a decent biker, so I like beating people on bike splits of races.”
“I don’t want to get fat.”
“I like to have things to obsess over.”
I can totally relate to those 3 points. I’ll add the following:
I like it when women in their 40s think I’m in their age group. Triathlon makes me feel young!
It’s not torture, it’s a challenge. Yes the money to get into it is significant especially this initial year where I need everything. I was tempted to sell my motorcycle - which had the same startup costs, if not more.
Why do it?
- I wanted to be a kid again and play.
- I wanted to be healthier and fitter.
- A real fear of being one of those “inactive overweight Americans” clogging the medical systems with aches, pains, and other ailments.
- I was never an active child or teen, never was on a sports team so it is for me finding out what I can do, how well can I do it, how good I can get.
I will continue because of the reasons above, but also because there is so much room for improvement and learning about the sport and myself that I just can’t stop now.
*Why do you torture yourself and spend all of the money required to compete? *
Torture? What torture? It is torture if you can’t get the equipment you want. I work hard to provide for the family, pay my taxes and give to charity. In the process of working hard I need an outlet and I find that cycling and triathlon gives me the most pleasurable release. It also rubs of very positively with my kids.
Why am I a triathlete…Because I love bicycles…
You asked…so…
Because for nearly 20 fucked up years now I craved acceptance and admiration. I’ve pursued things that I had a chance to be pretty good, if not great at doing. I joined the Marine Corps. I play guitar. And I do tri/duathlons. I’m fast enough to have won a race here or there over the years. I’m good enough that folks inevitably ask me “dude, how do you run so fast? Can you show me?” It stroked my fragile ego. I wanted to be “better” than other people…and here I could be “better” than others…maybe most. Its a sad, small box, but it was my box and I thought it was real.
All the while I missed the boat on the finest parts about this sport. I missed the part where just being on the bike is pure joy in itself. I missed the part where running 2 hours in sheeting rain and foot deep mud brings out the 10 year old boy in me. I missed the joy in seeing a friend or aquaintence finish a race for the first time or get a PR. And other simple notions… Oh…I noticed those feelings while I was out there. I’ve even thought and written great platitudes on their virtues. But all the while the niggling thought remained “Yeah, and it makes me better because most folks aren’t out here running in the f’ing rain. Most folks aren’t doing 6 hour rides one month into their off-season. Yeah, but I won (or won my age group, or at least placed high…any thing to feed that fragile, fucked up superiority beast).”
This year I had my first DNF ever and it happened in my biggest race of the year. I was well trained and was racing well in the race when it happened. In typical fashion, I couldn’t just accept it as part of racing. After all, by some stroke of luck, fate (and probably, if I’m honest, by my anal-retentive race preparation) DNF had never happened to me. Hell, I couldn’t even just want people to feel sorry for me and my little DNF. I had to build it up in my eyes and theirs. I wanted folks to know it was my FIRST…EVER…IN NEARLY 20 YEARS OF TRI/DU…as if that somehow meant something. How’s that for some fucked up, narcissistic thinking for you?
Somewhere in that DNF I found that the hollow feeling I had at not achieving my goal for the season (podium at nationals) bore remarkable resemblance to the hollow feeling I often noticed banging around my brain when I’ve won. Lots of soul-searching later I finally realized that nobody fucking cares, at least not for the reasons for which I WANT them to care.
So Saturday I went out for a two hour run…in the sheeting rain…and felt like a ten-year old kid splashing throught the engorged creeks and flooded trails, dodging snapping turtles and crawdads…just because I love to do that. And for the first time I can remember, that really meant something to me.
Wow…I think you are talking to me.
Not necessarily something I am proud of, but as a late-in-life, born again athlete, triathlon did a lot of those same things for me. Gave me the chance to “get back” at all the jocks, girly girls, and people who just plain seemed to fit in and made me feel “less than” all my life. Don’t like to admit it, but I enjoyed the feeling of superiority that my relative triathlon success gave me.
Thankfully, the longer I am in this sport (my only sport), the less it works that way. After a time, the “better than” feeling is not enough to get me out there everyday. It is more about the simple pleasure I take in using my body, feeling it respond and knowing I am getting stronger. It does good things for my body and head.
That being said, I also like…
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Being a size SM at close to 50
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Being able to help the very skeptical UPS guy carry a huge table up to my 2nd floor apt
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Being to enjoy a bit of latitude with my diet
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Being confident that I CAN do most anything I set my mind to
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Having grocery clerks, office workers and random passers-by ask me “what the heck do you do?”
And mostly…
- Having someplace where I FIT IN
It truly is all good!
G