Why do you race in Triathlons? (Page 2)

As a long time football guy (some in college until injury) I couldn't ever just workout without having a reason to workout.  So I race for a reason to train, and I train so I don't embarrass myself when I race.

I started because I was told that I couldn't do it and that I was wasting my time. I had to prove them wrong.

Now I do it because it sustains me. I cant imagine life without obsessing over race schedules, nutrition, training, stats, gear, etc.....

Edited by Daimyer 2009-10-29 2:10 PM

This quote is from the same movie. It sort of gives the movie away but it does strike a cord with me in terms of how I feel about completing a race!!

Who am I kiddin'? I ain't even in the guy's league...It don't matter, 'cause I was nobody before...I was nobody. That don't matter either, ya know...It really don't matter if I lose this fight. It really don't matter if this guy opens my head, either. 'Cause all I wanna do is go the distance. Nobody's ever gone the distance with Creed. And if I can go that distance, ya see, and that bell rings, ya know, and I'm still standin', I'm gonna know for the first time in my life, ya see, that I weren't just another bum from the neighborhood.
***********************************************************

come to think of it "Go the distance" is apropos for Triathlon...

I'm with you. I'm big into PT due to the job(firefighter) so this is just another thing for me to do. Between this and crossfit Im pretty much maxed out though.

So not true, the key is in the hiring interview phase actually.... umm... i don't know anything bout that.

Ditto, fear of being fat again is a huge motivator for me.  The quality of my life now that I am in shape and active is far more enjoyable than it was a year ago!

Played sports all my life sticking with wrestling and track (sprints & shot put) in high school, than when I went overseas, I picked up rugby and continued playing through college and played a bit in Atlanta.

After getting too many injuries in a short amount of time playing rugby, I took a break and went back to what I use to do in high school, run, but longer distances this time. In 2003 I did my first marathon. Since then I was hooked on endurance sports and started training for triathlons in 2004 and completed my first tri in 2005.

I love the challenge, both mentally and physically, especially since I'm built not to do endurance sports. I like to show people that yes you can do this if you put the time and training needed to get to the finish line.

i'm registered for my first triathlon in february 2010. i smoked cigarettes for a little over 5 years and spent two of those years addicted to meth. i quit the meth over a year ago and just recently (60 days) quit smoking. i had already been riding my bike a lot, but the addition of swimming and running made my body hate cigarettes and that's what made it easy to quit. now i'm addicted to swimming laps and riding faster and running harder. training is my drug of choice. i've trashed my body so much in the past; it feels so good to take care of it and see how strong i can get.

Hello

I do tri's to challenge myself and get out of my comfort zone.  Bike riding is good but when ride with swimming & running it is a real challenge.

I like race day & the feeling you get when you finish.  Improving and just learning to swim.  Nice people and the looks I get when people hear that I  (50 years old, 6' 5' 250 plus pounds) do triathlons.

Now I just need to get to the bottom of my right knee/hamsting issue.

Kevin



Edited by b2673ad 2009-10-30 2:02 PM

Why do I RACE Triathlons? I may as well as I do so much training. I love training, racing I could take or leave. It's fun, but if someone told me I couldn't race anymore, I would still do all the training.

I do it because the fear of not being ready for the race motivates me to get up in the morning and get outside/to the gym.  Otherwise it's too easy for me to just roll over and go back to bed! 

Nice.

When I was 41, I was doing triathlons for fitness and as an outlet for my rather competitive nature. Competing in a physical sport made me more fun to to play scrabble or cards with. It took a bit of the edge off. That year, 2003, I found out that I had dilated cardiomyopathy induced heart failure and that it was quite severe. My heart was pumping blood at about half the level of a normal heart, maybe a bit less.  I was told to stop exercising except for slow walks, given a drug regimen, and told I had 10- 15 years to live unless I received a heart transplant, which I was unlikely to get. I couldn't believe it. I looked healthy, felt healthy, ate well, never smoked, and exercised lots. I used to play college hockey and tennis, and had sailed competitively at junior nationals, and placed in my age group in tris. My team even won the Provincial Curling Championship in high school (not that that's an athletic sport, but its still competition). I couldn't understand it. It didn't seem fair. I remember going to a payphone (I forgot my cell) in the hospital lobby on the way out and calling my best friend, also a triathlete, telling him, and then breaking down, sobbing. I hadn't cried since I was a kid, but I was scared and upset.      

After this I quickly put on weight with the lack of exercise and probably some depressive eating, running up to 225lbs from my race weight of 190-195. (I'm 6'3". OK, I was 6'3"). I went to the cardiac rehab clinic shortly after the diagnosis and I remember  being the only one there not at least significantly overweight. (Boy, there sure is a correlation between  weight and heart disease. Kudos to those here working on that!)

 I soon learned that my eldest brother had the same condition (he found out after collapsing at the grocery store, age 55) and that my father had died from it. It was familial. My middle brother wouldn't get his heart checked for 5 years because he had lupus and didn't think he could handle any more bad news.

After 18 months of a drug therapy that was relatively new, my heart had shrunk miraculously, my heart was working at about 2/3 of that of a normal heart, and I was given the go ahead to start exercising. The  guide I was given said to start with light exercise like walking around the house, dusting, etc., and later I could work my way up to moderate exercise like walking a block, gardening, and ironing. (apparently a moderate pace on the bike, then, is the same effort it takes to iron a few shirts, FYI!)   

I went on my annual skiing trip to New Hampshire with the guys I grew up with but the lactic acid would buildup quickly, (beta blocker drug side effect) within 10 seconds or so of the start of a run, so I ended up not skiing much and stayed at the condo. With not much else to do, I started learning how to cook (there is a bright side in everything).

I complained (perhaps somewhat bitterly) to my cardiologist about this, and the fact that when I tried to jog (whad'ya mean you're jogging?!) my lactic acid pain was overwhelming. I asked to try another beta blocker, and he agreed. And it has worked. I started jogging and riding again, bought a new bike, and  I am now down to 180 lbs (I lost some muscle mass when I stopped exercising) and also am back skiing, doing tris, and playing some tennis.

 Every year my times in sprints get slower, and running gets harder so my exercise ability is deteriorating a little at a time. My semi-annual heart echos on the other hand, show little or no more heart enlargement and its functionality has been stable for almost 4 years. I may actually beat this thing. With the addition of the beta blocker therapy Familial Cardiomyopathy may at some point be reclassified as 'not progressive' for some patients. My doctors no longer even discuss a prognosis for me because they just don't know. I know I am an unusual case for my docs- I am even a case study for residents in the medical school here. Sometimes my doc appt. will be with a resident and they'll say "I remember you- we did a study on your case." I like to think I'm famous in the analogues of (local) medical literature. My docs still comment on how unusual my case is and even some pharmacists have expressed surprise when I get my meds filled. 'You look too young and healthy to have that'! That makes me both a little proud, and a little sad. Proud that I look healthy, and sad that I'm saddled with this thing.  

So, why do I do triathlons? I love the outdoors. I still love the competition with myself and others even though I finish last in my age group in most tris that I do now. It keeps me fit, and I know that's critical to my survival. It keeps me slim, which is important to my vanity (yes, I have some of that). It gives me time with my best friend training, just going to the pool and hanging out, (he has 2 little ones, one my Goddaughter, so I don't see him much except for training, or her birthdays) or a couple of hours on the bike. It gives me the adrenalin rush of being at the start of a race, talking to fellow triathletes, seeing old friends, and seeing new places (I try to do a different race every summer in New England). I just don't want to lose what I've got, and triathlon helps me keep it going.

And it just makes me feel so damn good!  


Blair


PS I'm really sorry for the length, folks. I think this is a bit of catharsis for me.



Edited! for, punctuation? 

     

           



Edited by blairrob 2009-10-30 5:51 PM

Just had to add the end bit.

I too woke up one day and realized that I was a fat bastard.  I was drinking and eating too much and felt like crap.  The kicker was the day at work that i was following a man up 3 flights of stairs.  He had just finished telling me that he could retire at any time.  He was very obese and looked like he was in very poor shape.  At the top of the stairs he was still talking away.  I couldnt barely get a word out I was so out of breath.

So I decided I needed to make some serious life style changes.  I was over 210 lbs in Feb 2008 (I am 5'9), by that summer I had gotten my weight down to the low 170's.  I started riding my bike and did a century ride in August, a very slow ride but 100 miles is 100 miles.  After that I needed a new goal to keep me motivated.

My neighbor used to do tri's and i got the idea to do one the next summer. So I continued with the weights and and started swimming and running in Jan.  I could barely swim a lap and couldnt run for more than 5 mins when I started.  This summer I got my weight down to 160.  I did 2 tri-a-tri's and a sprint this year.  I plan an doing a couple more sprints and an oly in 2010... maybe even a HIM if I can be ready and find one at the end of the summer to do.

So I guess I tri to stay health.  I tri because I like being thin and fit.  I tri because I need something to train for, or I wont train. I tri because I do not want to ever be that fat and out of shape ever again.  Besides I think my wife likes me better fit
 

   that's no way to go through life

         well you're no longer fat...     

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hnwvWhbJw/>


Edited by blairrob 2009-10-30 11:25 PM

To Win!