Lifestyles of a Triathlete.
You give up allot to attempt to do your best in triathlons; time, money, sleeping in, greasy yummy food, hanging out with friends, etc.
I’m not saying everyone does all these, but these are some of the things I have given up in my singular quest, a half ironman! Not only have I given those things up, but I have given up more:
- spending weekends with my family, instead I’m out on a long bike ride or run or swim. I mostly miss the mornings, but the kids can be the most fun when they wake up.
- sleeping in, up at 5-5:15am everyday to go get in the pool or run or bike as many miles as possible before I have to be home at 7am to shower and get kids to school and myself to work. Oh did I mention that to get up that early you have to go to bed early? I’m typically in bed around 9pm.
- money, I spend stupid amounts of money on this sport (of which I will more than likely never win my age group, let alone any spot on the podium. I do this sport because I love it). I admit, I spend more than I should on things for the sport; wheels, seats, helmets, shoes, belts, coaching, gels, bottles, race entries, getting to and from races, etc.
- food, yes, let’s talk about food. A few years back I switched to eating healthy and lost some weight. More recently to become even more healthy and feel better, I went vegetarian (pescitarian to be exact, I do still eat fish), I did this not for the animals, but for myself to help lose some more weight and I just felt better after I did a trial run and decided to stick with it.
- drinking, alcohol, I gave up alcohol after a two night bender when some close friends were in town, I got shit faced both nights and it took over a week to recover. It was then I decided that alchy did nothing for me to benefit my quest for being more healthy, so I quit it. (Note, I still will drink on special special special occasions, but I can count on 1 hand the amount of times I’ve had alcohol in the last 3 years).
- drinking, caffeine, yes, you read caffeine right, I quit it. Mostly because I found myself needing it, and I did not want to need anything like I needed it, I also noticed myself getting shaky at some points. I tried giving it up a few times and noticed I was feeling better and not ever crashing. Then around the time my daughter was born I had some cause I was getting so little sleep, so a relapse, then less then a month after that I quit for good. I have been caffeine free for close to 2 years now, and rarely think about wanting some, but have not had a single relapse since.
- friends and hanging out, yea, this is tough because I don’t drink alcohol, or eat meat, or have the ability to stay out late since I wake up so damn early everyday, etc. So to hang out with me my friends have to make special accommodations when it comes to places we hang out, or at least feel they have to. I’m only picky about going to a place that has some sort of vegetarian options, I don’t care if people drink, I just won’t.
* I would like to note, not everything was changed/done just for triathlons, some were done for healthy reasons, but the healthier I am, the better a triathlete I am!
I have given up allot on my quest to be the best triathlete I can be, which like I said, I have no visions of grandeur, I just want to push my body to the limit. What is my limit? I don’t know yet, I’ve not reached it. I will find out in less than two weeks from today if a half ironman is my limit, I really hope it’s not because my goal is to do a full ironman!
What have you given up for your sport?
