As ego-centric and shallow as it is, I have to admit that part of it is the shock value. A:"How far did you run today?" Me:"20." A:"Minutes?" Me:"No, miles" A:"Oh...". B:"What did you this weekend?" Me:"I rode 100 miles on the bike" B:"On a bicycle? With no motor?!?" Most people I interact with (other than other cyclists and triathletes) are completely blown away by the amount of training and distances we cover. I'm proud of my accomplishments. But I'm also grounded - I'm very careful not to let it overinflate my ego. Having said that it's still pretty cool to see the look on their faces.
Another reason is the example it sets for my kids. They get to see first hand that achieving a goal takes commitment, discipline, and hard work. They also get to see that winning is not the important part, but doing your best is. It also shows them through my example how to identify and manage fear.
I think the most important things I've learned is that training the body to be strong and healthy also trains the mind to be strong and healthy. This is by far the biggest benefit I've received from triathlon. Through training I've developed discipline, focus, patience, flexibility, courage, confidence, and determination. I've learned to focus on what is important and eliminate the unnecessary. I've learned to control what I can, and adapt and deal with what I can't.
Lastly is the physical shape the training has put me in. When I first started swimming I could barely make it across the pool. I'd get winded (the bent over gasping for breath type) after climbing 1/2 a flight of stairs. My resting heart rate was 82. I was a couch slug. Now I can crank out a 2400 yard swim comfortably. Climbing stairs is not a problem. My resting heart rate is 54. And most importantly, I can keep up with my extremely active kids.
It's been a long, hard road. But from where I stand today it was absolutely worth it. Triathlon has benefited me in ways I never expected. I'm now able to leap tall buildings in a single bound - or at least, the belief that if I put my mind to it I could. That is why I "Tri".
Workout Summary (from yesterday)
Weekly Summary
Bike time definitely suffered this week. They're renovating the club where I work out so I couldn't do spin classes. In addition it has been raining here the entire freakin' week, so I didn't go out on the road bike. Instead I spent the time focusing on swimming and running.
Dropped my Thursday brick workout due to AT testing on Friday. My official AT is 141 - which is about what I expected.
This weekend I had wanted to the equivalent of a 1/2 iron distance tri during my long workouts in preparation for Triple-T at the end of this month. Due to rain I passed on the bike and decided instead to do another swim/run brick but go higher on the distances.
The LSD run was hard mentally but physically I held up pretty well. Almost got hit by a car - some jerk tried to pull around me in a strip mall entrance. He saw me but couldn't wait for me to go by and actually pulled into the oncoming lane to get around me. I had to pull up short to avoid getting hit and as he drove by I kicked the side of his car. He now has a nice big dent in his passenger door to remember me by. He didn't stop - good for him as I was livid. Another motorist who saw the whole thing gave me a "thumbs up". I felt a little bad about over reacting as I'm usually pretty controlled but the idiot deserved it.
3 comments:
Great brick! I like your reasons for tri-ing. Bragging rights...even if it doesn't start out as the motivation by the time you're done, I think it's among the list somewhere. :)
Per habeela's comment, the Ironman slogan: "Swim 2.4 miles, bike 112 miles, run 26.2 miles... brag for the rest of your life!"
Having bragging rights is important, in that they are an inevitable consequence of achievement. *Exercising* bragging rights may be questionable.
That's a great point - having bragging rights vs. exercising them - thanks for the comment!
Post a Comment