Nothing in my life apart from triathlon (Page 2)

Hmmm......I look at it differently.

  I just feel better both on a physical and emotional level if I have my happy little endorphins swirling around my body. Am I addicted? I don't know.....I prefer to think of myself as enlightened perhaps? I believe that everyone would just feel better if only they exercised. It's like a magical secret.....and once you discover how much better your life is when you are fit, you really do not wish to revert to your previous state.

But I cannot say that I have nothing in my life apart from this. Far from it. My life is bursting at the seams with everything wonderful within it.

Cliche I know........but life really is a beautiful thing.

Same here. I actually believe I was turning a few people off of triathlon in the fact that I train so much. A couple of coworkers were interested but once they see me training, 1 hour run for example, that turns them off.

Shame.

I admit I love the lifestyle, following a training calendar, and seeing the improvement in times. I am in the same boat as the OP, and think of myself as boring otherwise. I really have no other hobbies.

people who spend their lives partying can also be boring as hell imo.

I spent 20 years of my life getting wasted, I'm not convinced that made me super fun to be around or made my life any less boring...

my take on it here...

http://yaagtri.blogspot.com/2011/06/confessions-of-depressed-triathlete.html

If you love it, keep doing it, are you part of a triathlon club? if so, surely there are like minded people around you? if not, why not join one? no one is going to think of you boring for living the dream, doing something you are passionate about!!

I am a triathlete for life
I will always be a triathlete.
It is not something I do,
It is who I am.

Triathlon is not an escape,
It is where I belong
where I’m supposed to be.
It is not a place,
but a lifelong journey.

It is a passage others have shown me,
And I will show others.
When you understand all this
You will know me,
And we will race together.

Ditto on all of the above (except the cool blog entry).

If you're okay with it, great! If you're not, make some changes. If you feel like you need some friends, join a tri club or endurance group.

If you want to keep the friends that it sounds like you've got (they invite you to go hiking and skiing?) you'll have to find some time for them. If you don't, just keep S/B/Ring away.

that was what i was at until a few months back, i was getting burned out  after ironman new orleans and i started back restoring my 65 stang. I fell a lot better now that i cut back a little from training and working on a old car. I have notice that my endurance has not changed any because i guess i have not quit moving just doing something else.

I appreciate people who are passionate about their hobby/career/family/education but it seems you created this post because you feel this isn't healthy any more? Lots of good advice in this thread, hopefully it will help you be a bit more balanced while still being able to focus on triathlon.
My concern is that when you are so invested in something like triathlon, it can be devastating when you get injured. I've seen this with friends in this sport and it always helps me keep things in balance. An injury, bike crash or illness that takes you out of the sport for a while, or forever, will make you wish that you had focused on other things in your life. I am lucky that I have a wide circle of friends and family that are into lots of different things. I do have a lot of good tri friends but i also make sure I spend time going to the movies, dinner etc with my other friends too.

I love this!

Tri ate my life first season.  If I wasn't training, I was planning workouts or on the boards or studying gear reviews.  I talked everyone's ear off. Second season, I consciously dropped most online activity in favor of family time.  This season, I plan my training mostly for early morning or late evening and limit the high hours weekend jaunts to a spring month and a fall month (before a couple of half marys)  I'm finding balance improves for me with experience.  I stick to sprints because increasing my training time would hurt the balance with family and work time.  Someday, however, I hope to do at least a 1/2 Iron.

I still like to say though that I'm not obsessed, I'm dedicated.

So, how long have you been involved with triathlon?  Are you still in the obsessive honeymoon stage?

3.5 years since I started training. 

I'm past the honey moon stage and have got to the routine relationship stage. 

I train 11 times per week, 3 swims, bikes and runs and 2 gyms. I've done 1/2 IM races, marathons, 100 mile/160+km bike races and also plenty of ocean swim races over the past few years. I'm 22 years old and a male with a girlfriend. I work full time during the week 8am-5pm

It really is personal.  For example, with me, just simply attempting to train for a Sprint has become too much of a load on my current lifestyle.  I work two jobs, married, 3 kids (1st grader, kindergartner, and 3.5 year old), and have a lot of extended family close by.  Add in Church responsibilities...it just wasn't working.  Sure, I was improving.  But my overall life was deteriorating.  I had to make a choice, and the choice was to put my actual life first.

So, until I'm no longer working two jobs and all my kids aren't quite so little (to the point that someone has to be there 24/7 with them), I'm going back to almost exclusively focusing on my first love:  running.  Sure, I'll throw a bike ride or swim session in from time to time, but I don't make it a concerted effort.  My life now feels balanced.  I'm maintaining a healthy lifestyle through proper diet and plenty of exercise (3 to 4 runs/week), I'm around a lot more to adore and love my wife and kids, and I'm not so tired from training so much with all the work from two jobs so I don't look like a zombie when I am home.

Again, it's personal.  Everyone has different responsibilities, physical/mental/spiritual thresholds; it's just a matter of finding the correct balance for you.  And, yes, too much of a good thing can cause much more harm than good.

thing is if you have a decent job and are training how can you have other hobbies?

i am in the office from 8-8 i wish i was kidding, 1 hr in the morning 1 hr in the eventing, dinner and sleep....what other hobbies can you have?

that is why braking my tt frame was a blessing, i can actually go out with friends have a beer and relax. 

and in general people in the office find the attraction only for a few minutes.  after that why train so hard, i mean there is no money in it so you can pay and stand on a podium...

No. I enjoy being active and I enjoy being in shape. But  those things can be accomplished in a lot of ways. I like doing races, too, but again, I can find that kind of energy in other places.

It's a hobby, for me, and I have other hobbies I enjoy as well.

One thing to put in perspective - the Amercian Council on Exercise recommends that *everyone* exercise 60 minutes/day for basic health.

I actually had a doctor ask me how often I exercise, and I told her 6 days a week and she told me I should be exercising 7 days.  I tried explaining that I take a rest day & she told me to get out and go for a walk or do yoga or something, but I needed 60 mins/7 days minimum.

When you average out how much time you spend training, you might not be that far above what we're supposed to be doing for basic 'health'.  So, you'd have to do it anyways <- that's how I look at it

<b>Yes I feel the same, but I try to take up new hobbies on the side, yet slightly being jaded in life with doing almost everything there is to do, i guess the depressing factor is you want to do something but know it takes money and dedication..how do you choose which one to pursue ?</b>

I definitely agree, but this is not just with exercise... this includes drinking and eating, which also release hormones to signal satisfaction...

Life "revolving around" training?  For me, no.  Do I prefer not to miss a day of training?  Absolutely.  Maybe more significantly:  If I don't hit a training goal for the day, do I feel disappointed?  Yeah...a bit.

In all honesty, for me the main drive to train all the time is that I've sort of built my diet around averaging at least 8 hours of training a week.  When I decide to or need to take time off, I have to modify my eating habits and that's more of a PITA in some ways than getting out the door and training is.  Realistically, skipping a day shouldn't entail me eating less that day, but I do and that's probably where you could say I've got a bit of a training addiction.

Just my two cents.

I just starting out in triathlons. (My second week, still dont have a bike haha). I'm 22, like yourself. I graduated this past spring and I was a member of my universities track team. I went to a division I school. We trained from august until July, 20-25 hours a week. Spring weekends were spent traveling (had two weekends off a semester). Even with all of that I was able to develop a good social network, I met my fiance, did well enough in school to get accepted into a PhD program, and worked. I can certainly understand having sport be the cornerstone of your life. There were times where I felt that all I did was track. My day revolved around the time I would practice and yes, it did affect my moods at times. At others the training didnt. I've been a competitive runner since the 7th grade. It all cycles. When you are as young as we are I dont think it's that bad to focus on tri like you do. I cant think of a time when you'll have more free time and if you enjoy the training the no harm no foul.

I'm going to join my universities triathlon team (which I believe placed 5th at USAT collegiate nationals) and I plan on training 4bk/4sw/4run/2weights sessions a week. My fiance is a bit worried that I'm getting obsessive but she was a teammate of mine and is a marathoner as well. I had to balance school, training, and personal relationships for four years. why not four more? If you've been doing this for 3.5 years it seems to me like you're just dedicated. If you are happy, keep going.