To club or not to club............

If you're going to join a club be prepared for two things: Lots of socializing, and lots of triathlon talk (read: yea you will be thinking about triathlon all year). It really depends on the goals you want to set for yourself and how motivated you are to improve. However, this is not to say you need to join a club to be motivated or improve. That needs to come from within first.

Ask youself how social you really are. Do you like the companionship of working out with others? Of being pushed to be more competative then you are right now? If you think this is something that appeals to you I would say give it shot and see how you like it.

Me I'm a total loner. I don't even like going to a gym because of all the people in there. However, I did feel like I wanted to join a club because I was beginning to feel a bit isolated and wanted to see if I would enjoy meeting like minded triathlon folks. Turns out every single work out was either at 5am or 7pm Mon-Fri. I work 3pm to midnight Mon-Fri. Needless to say I did not attend a single workout, so the whole club thing was a bit of a waste for me.

Now the only time I want to work out with someone is if I am doing an open water swim in the Gulf and don't want to be out there alone with all the hungry sea creatures. So either my b/f follows me in our boat when I swim or I bribe a friend from work who is an avid swimming to come along as bait.

Who knows you might find out that you really like socializing and thinking about triathlon all year. But you'll never know until you tri it. Of course it also depends on your bank account. Ask yourself just how much are you willing to invest in this newly discovered hobby? Are you going to stick with this for the long term? Or is this just a phase to try out for awhile until something more interesting comes along for you?

Trouble is do you join a tri club and do a little of everything or join the bike club or the swim club or the run club. all have advantages and disadvantages.