Armchair Triathlete
I love to bike. I like to run. I have raced in a few 5k and 10k running events and count it as one of the most positive and rewarding things I have ever done. Because bicycling is something I enjoy doing more then running I have always wanted to race or ride in a bike race or tour. But I don't have a good road bike. I am blaming this on the fact that I am cheap. Way cheap. I squeak when I walk cheap. OK that isn't the real reason. I have a mountain bike. A $900 mountain bike. The last splurge before a wife, 2 kids and a mortgage hit me. So it isn't really that I am naturally cheap it is just that I kind of got forced into the cheap thing in recent years. So being cheap doesn't preclude a road bike but having too much month at the end of the money does. And I would be embarrassed, not to mention exhausted, to ride a mountain bike in any sort of road bicycling tour or race. (Most are 50 miles or more) So my mind turned to other events that I could participate in with a mountain bike. An actual trail ride is fun and relaxing but it appears that the mountain bike races and events gone extreme. Frankly, I am too old and brittle for extreme. What else could there be?
I stumbled on a book. "Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week" by Eric Harr is a wonderfully motivating book. I was convinced. A sprint distance triathlon seemed to be the ticket to my competitive bicycling yearnings and my desire to accomplish something outside of my family and business roles. 12 miles on a bike (the average distance of the bike portion of a sprint triathlon seemed very do-able. But as the name implies a triathlon is more then a bike ride followed by a run.
Swimming.
I can't swim. In fact, hydrophobia is very real to me. The only stroke I know is the "survival stroke." But there was that few months I worked out at a gym with a pool doing water drills. Things like running, water-aerobics and even a few laps. That wasn't all that bad. Maybe I could learn to swim after all. So I did what I usually do...I went to the library and borrowed a book about swimming, read it and made index cards of drills I would practice if I ever actually went to a pool. Once again 80% knowledge 20% behavior. I have to figure our how to turn that around.
Cycling
Even though I love to ride a bike, I feel that this is were I can really embarrass myself, at least amongst the ranks of the dedicated cyclists. I ride bikes, I am not a cyclist. I just can't bring myself to participate in cycling the way Bicycling magazine or the Tour de France folks show. I don't have the time and my bike isn't slick. I am not slick. I'm not bedecked in spandex or bright colors. It's not that I dislike nice bikes or the style or even people who embrace them. Maybe with a different body type and a fatter wallet, I would. But for now I just want to ride. Ride in my Old Navy painter shorts and cotton t-shirt. I love to ride fast and I love the way gliding on a bike feels so graceful. But my rides normally go 3 to 5 miles and rarely over 10. I'm just not a 'cyclist'. For now, I am just a bicycle rider. Like a kid.
Running
This I can do. At least I have done. I have completed a few 5k's and and one 10k. I have trained for and accomplished goals in running. In a manner that I would like to do for a triathlon. I don't want to "race" but rather complete races and perhaps compete with myself but I don't "race". To me racing is out of my league. My league is being a dad and a business geek not a racing athlete. Running and sports is a hobby for me. A way to stay in shape, relax and even find a sense of accomplishment. John "The Penguin" Bingham finds the same sort of meaning in his book "No Need for Speed". This is the attitude I carry into the sport of Triathlon.
So there it is. I might be an armchair triathlete now, with more book knowledge and desires then miles and laps, but at least I have the goal.
I stumbled on a book. "Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week" by Eric Harr is a wonderfully motivating book. I was convinced. A sprint distance triathlon seemed to be the ticket to my competitive bicycling yearnings and my desire to accomplish something outside of my family and business roles. 12 miles on a bike (the average distance of the bike portion of a sprint triathlon seemed very do-able. But as the name implies a triathlon is more then a bike ride followed by a run.
Swimming.
I can't swim. In fact, hydrophobia is very real to me. The only stroke I know is the "survival stroke." But there was that few months I worked out at a gym with a pool doing water drills. Things like running, water-aerobics and even a few laps. That wasn't all that bad. Maybe I could learn to swim after all. So I did what I usually do...I went to the library and borrowed a book about swimming, read it and made index cards of drills I would practice if I ever actually went to a pool. Once again 80% knowledge 20% behavior. I have to figure our how to turn that around.
Cycling
Even though I love to ride a bike, I feel that this is were I can really embarrass myself, at least amongst the ranks of the dedicated cyclists. I ride bikes, I am not a cyclist. I just can't bring myself to participate in cycling the way Bicycling magazine or the Tour de France folks show. I don't have the time and my bike isn't slick. I am not slick. I'm not bedecked in spandex or bright colors. It's not that I dislike nice bikes or the style or even people who embrace them. Maybe with a different body type and a fatter wallet, I would. But for now I just want to ride. Ride in my Old Navy painter shorts and cotton t-shirt. I love to ride fast and I love the way gliding on a bike feels so graceful. But my rides normally go 3 to 5 miles and rarely over 10. I'm just not a 'cyclist'. For now, I am just a bicycle rider. Like a kid.
Running
This I can do. At least I have done. I have completed a few 5k's and and one 10k. I have trained for and accomplished goals in running. In a manner that I would like to do for a triathlon. I don't want to "race" but rather complete races and perhaps compete with myself but I don't "race". To me racing is out of my league. My league is being a dad and a business geek not a racing athlete. Running and sports is a hobby for me. A way to stay in shape, relax and even find a sense of accomplishment. John "The Penguin" Bingham finds the same sort of meaning in his book "No Need for Speed". This is the attitude I carry into the sport of Triathlon.
So there it is. I might be an armchair triathlete now, with more book knowledge and desires then miles and laps, but at least I have the goal.
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