Explainging Tri's to non-tri people :)

Next time someone says, "Oh, I could do that," you should invite them to join you. Send a hyperlink, hand them a pamphlet, whatever. It might be fun to see how fast the backpedal.

Sound like you're having fun. That's what it's all about. Enjoy your race.

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I actually want them to think that it is not to hard.

It is less intimidating, and they are more likely to be encouraged to get involved.

My wife's co-worker is having sort of the opposite experience.  He decided to do his first tri this year - a sprint. HE does not even OWN a bike.  He is athletic, mostly a runner (a marathon or two, lots of 5 and 10k's).  Someone he knows who is retired military, heavily into tri's, told him he should not need to train for the bike because "it's only 12 miles.  Anyone can bike 12 miles".  I was able to convince him that he NEEDS to do a couple of bricks.  Because while he might be able to ride for an hour or so, he needs to do that AFTER swimming a half mile, and THEN he needs to run the 5k.

I try to bring it up as little as possible.  If someone asks me what I did last weekend, I tell them, and if they were to say 'oh, that's not hard', I'd probably just drop it.  From what I've seen, triathletes have a tendency to talk about their hobby way too much (and let's face it, for the vast majority of us, it is a hobby, albeit a lifestyle-changing one).

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Mainly I get the reverse.  Most think the swim alone is not something they could do.  The one person who said they could do the swim thought doing 15miles on a bike after swimming was nuts but sounded fun. 

This is an article from Triathlon Mag a year or two back. I was a cyclist thinking about jumping into triathlons, and this is what really made me take the leap.
I know keep this article as a book mark in my training logs so I can see it every day. Still reading it once in a while too

--------------------
It is moments before dawn and you are blinded by the lights illuminating the Kailua Pier as generators hum and announcer Mike Reilly starts to inspire and motivate.

“Welcome to Kona, athletes. Please remember to put your special needs bag in the trucks. The transition area is now open, and you will find bumps and volunteers to help you get your bike ready.”

As you look around, you peer into the eyes of other athletes who seem to be on autopilot, showing hints of both nervousness and peace. As you are body-marked you watch calves branded with people’s body ages, ink that becomes a target for some, a dating tool for others. You know that the sun will come out soon, and even though it is 90 million miles away it will burn your race number and age into your skin, leaving a tattoo on your soul. This is the real medal from the Ironman.

The sky is now brighter and there are no clouds anywhere on the horizon. Your iPod is playing your favorite song, and you are reminded that everyone has to look deep inside to find something that drives them to do this sport.

Once you’re marked you enter the transition area to wait in line for a bump, and you catch a participant carefully taping a photograph of his three little kids to his handlebars. You smile, and a tear wells up behind your eyes. Emotions are so close to the surface, you can taste them.

You take a deep breath and try to clear your Karma before you start the Ironman, crossing your mental fingers and hoping that you have been living your life as you know you should. In Kona, you cannot hide from the choices you make.

You see an athlete on one side of the transition area hugging his girlfriend over the orange fencing, so reluctant to let her go as she kisses the athlete’s cheek and wipes a tear away. Looking left you see another athlete fighting with his wife about something he thought she left behind. Because you have raced this course before, you know that to finish the Ironman World Championship you will need a soul full of friends, food and a purpose. Without these things you day will be painful without measure.

As you enter the water and mull through the water-treading limbs of eager athletes, you consider how you’re going to get through your moments of doubt later in the day. You know that the weight of the wheels and bike frame pale in comparison to the weight of doubt and stress, which are the heaviest things you can carry through the headwinds and heat of the Ironman, or through life.

You hear the cannon blow and you are now, officially, past the point of no return. For now, your existence has been stripped to the basics: water, food, wind, heat, competition, survival, fear, passion, pain, joy.

The Ironman has started and you are now deep inside your dream., drafting behind and splashing up against the dreams of 2,000 other people. The world looks different not just because you are looking through your tightly fit goggles, but because you are now inside your dream looking out at your life.

You suddenly realize that the only way out of this dream consists of two very painful, challenging options: one way is to finish, and the other is to quit. You ponder for a stroke or two which would be more difficult, and then you rule out quitting for the first of many times today.

You are now swimming over a diver with a waterproof camera pointing up, and you realize that millions around the world want to be where you are now: in the warm Pacific Ocean in Kailua-Kona racing the Hawaiian Ironman, living inside your dream.

-Mitch Thrower

I have to say that i did not realize there were such things as Sprint Triathlons until i started doing some research and spoke to a friend of mine that is very into Triathlons, also, i grew up on the beach and would have considered myself good in the water but as i soon found out swimming competetively and playing in the water are 2 very different things. Many people do not like to swim where they cannot touch the bottom. Swimming off a boat that is 20 feet away most people can probably do for an hour but, swim for an hour and it is a very different feeling. I have my first Sprint Tri in August.

When I tell people I do triathlons their reaction is voiced with self-doubt and defeat. I immediately reply, "That's why you should do it; to replace that feeling." This sport, unlike any other, changes lives. If someone were to react blase by my triing, the right move would be to make them put their money where their mouth. In this sport, your @ss either cashes the check or it bounces.

That article is spot on, even on a lesser scale of tri. I went deep sea fishing in Florida for 2 days, got back to Houston at midnight (sleep at 1), then woke up at 4 to go do a sprint. I was done before the race even started. I was about 50 meters away from the swim finish and thought about quitting but that feeling seemed far too painful. I finished the biking and then ran sockless. I felt blisters developing about 3/4 of a mile into the run and felt them pop about 1/4 of a mile further. My feet were hurting bad but not nearly as bad as quitting would have felt. I kept going and became numb to the pain with 3/4 of a mile to go in the race. I finished, took off my shoes to see blood just poor out. I was in a lot of pain and paid for it for the next month, but that pain would heal and the pain of quitting wouldn't have.

I usually get the "oh I could never do that" reaction ... although now that I think of it, mostly from females. Hmmm ...

Seriously - when people find out I do triathlons they start treating me like some kind of superhero - a lot of "wow!"'s and similar pop into the conversation. Even though I do only sprints and Oly's ... and I am most certainly NOT any kind of special superhero type! I'm slow! Very slow! But people's perceptions of the sport are what they are ... so I always encourage them to come watch a race - that usually opens their eyes to the different ages, body shapes, and abilities that actually do enjoy this sport of ours.

I get both from co-workers and I am encouraging any of them to come out and try it too.
I even tell them about doing relay teams so they can do a 3rd of a tri and see what all is out there. I am doing my 1st this fall (a sprint) and they all think I'm training for a IM ... lol. They know the true distance but it is a TRIATHLON and that's all they focus on. I do have one female co-worker that I have inspired to get off the couch and on her feet!

I haven't had a hard time explaining it to the people I do mention it to.  Most just say "I couldn't do the swim part" or "You're crazy".

I do think that when people hear "triathlon" they picture the Olympic (as in from the actual Olympics) or the IM triathlons and don't realize that there are smaller ones out there.  Which may be why people react funny when you mention doing one.  I guess it'd be like someone who struggles with science saying to someone "I'm going to become a brain surgeon".

x2 I get this all the time. When I told my co-workers that I had done a tri and had a 10K the following weekend, most of them said I was insane. One said, 'like the Ironman?' and I had to explain, no, not IM, sprints...and then the still said I was crazy. Also, I think the fact that I'm not in 'athlete shape' yet leads to a lot of confused looks. Because, everyone who runs or does tris must but completely ripped, right?

ooops, double post...

Edited by porcelina23 2009-07-12 2:07 PM

I think I'm lucky that my wife and most of our friends and family are either fully in the triathlon lifestyle or some other endurance sport so they never ask why because it seems understood.  I don't really talk about it with other people so I guess I've never given them a chance to ask.

But, within the extended group of friends and family, occasionally we've talked about "why"?  There are a lot of answers like, "I need to prove something to myself", but some of the more interesting answers were:

• I don't understand the question.
• I'd be an alcoholic if I didn't.
• I did this one time 10 years ago and got sucked into the vortex.
• I want to look good naked.
• And, my personal fav - I got tired of ultra-marathons.  Ironman looked challenging.