Why Would You Tri? Negative People (Page 2)

Hey, now, I spend about 4 hours on Sunday at church (I sing with the choir in the mornings, and then the young adult community I'm involved in is at night). Ironically, there are several of us from the young adults group involved in triathlons - we just fit it around church

To the original point of this thread - I don't necessarily think that everyone who says that we're crazy is a fat, lazy slob and it's a bit unfair to peg them all as such. I know others who do other things to keep themselves fit who still think I'm crazy for doing triathlons. Triathletes ARE insane. I used to date an ex-triathlete and I did think he was a bit nuts (endearingly so ), though I would never say anything to him, of course. And this is coming from a girl who was a dancer for 20 years - I wasn't exactly the poster child for McDonald's. I think for a lot of people it's the fact that they don't think "they" could ever do it. And a lot of people are too scared to try.

I'm not denying that there is an obesity/health problem epidemic in this country. But I don't think that it's those people alone who think we're crazy.

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The "If I spend..." sentences both made me laugh and cry at the same time. 

Look them in the eye, lower your voice, lean into to them a bit and say "If you had any idea what being this fit has done for my sex life, you'd be training twice a day starting this afternoon."

Hold up, this training is suppose to help with that??

The conversation goes something like this with me:

co-worker:  You're telling me that you ran 31 miles for fun?

Me:  No, I did it so that I can eat 4,000 Kcal a day and not gain any weight.

Co-worker: Well, I know I couldn't do that.  Plus that Ironman stuff is for really fit young people

Me:  You do realize that a 70 yr old woman finished Kona last year right?  Now if you're not better than a 70 yr old woman, then keep doing what you're doing.  Plus I'll still put down more food than you.

This usually at least gets them to think...  Especially the 4000 Kcal part!

I've generally handled it like this:

"Well, I used to be about 35 pounds overweight, eating the typical American diet, not getting much exercise, and heading in a real bad direction health wise.  So I started exercising regularly and eating right.  I found that you feel SOOOO much better with tons more energy.  I came to realize that this is how we're supposed to live life."

That usually shuts them up pretty quickly.

Hey, I like those slacks you have on there.  If you don't mind my asking, where'd you get them?  Did they have any in a 32" waist size?

Hey, now, I spend about 4 hours on Sunday at church (I sing with the choir in the mornings, and then the young adult community I'm involved in is at night). Ironically, there are several of us from the young adults group involved in triathlons - we just fit it around church p>

Oh, I know you didn't mean it like that. I was just commenting that there is an odd little niche of folks at my church who do triathlons, which I thought was interesting And we are all good little church-goers, who manage to cram in triathlon training. Consequently, none of us have lives, but at least we see each other

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Yup.  My two oldest want to do kids tris this summer!

I've started telling some people, "You know, it's okay to think before you speak, in fact for people like you it is highly encouraged"

I love when they do the "Triathlon math" in their head.  Hmm..800 yds swim....14 miles bike....3.1 miles run..I can do that.  Yeah, saying you CAN do it and ACTUALLY doing it are 2 totally different things.

When I first started with this, my 2 yr old used a straw to imitate me smoking and said "I am Daddy"...now he runs around the house saying "I am Daddy exercising". 

"I do today what other people won't, so tomorrow I can do what other people can't".

 It's a good mantra, and applicable here. 

Man this is soooo true! I have a friend that to make a long story short, got divorced and lost his child to his ex-wife mostly because of his work-a-holic attitude. She moved to PA and because he works 60-70 hours a week all the time and travels like you wouldn't believe, he didn't even try to get visitation or custody of his son. Now I am a family first guy, but there are times when work or other items do need to come first but man, not work all the time.

He started giving me crap when I started training for my first Tri back in August. He used the same line on me of how can you take all that time away from your family? It took everything I had to not mention the time away from his son and his now new wife that he has because of his job. He is a good friend of mine and I just wouldn't do something like that to a friend.

My youngest (now 16) wants to one day do a tri with me. He won't even attempt it right now because he is working way too hard to improve at soccer in an attempt to get a scholarship. He does run with me during the summer and we do a few 5k races together. What is better than doing a race with your child? Surely they can't tell me that sitting at home playing Xbox or watching TV with my children is better? Well they can but I don't buy it.

Anyway, to the OP, I usually just ask folks to come do a race with me. Usually the do like Rick said, they do the "Tri" match and say oh well 800yds, 14 miles and 5k that isn't so bad. I think I could do that. Until you tell them that you can get you both signed up for a race coming up in about 6 weeks if they really want to give it a go.