It's something physically impressive you can do that doesn't require skill, just committment. Someone who's doing a dutiful health related exercise program looks at the training regimen for a triatholon and realizes that it's not all that different from what she does anyway, but going to the gym regularly just makes you another goody-two-shoes while training for a triatholon makes you an endurance athlete. Might as well do something you can show off with.
That makes sense. It's a way for your workouts to culminate in something, and to get a sense of accomplishment and something with a name and social cachet. Ok.
(One "o" in "triathlon.")
Hmm, that does look dopey misspelled like that (I think I also have an oversupply of 't's in 'commitment'). Clearly, I would be in the goes to the gym dutifully (when I remember) category rather than the endurance athlete category.
does every thirty-something suddenly decide that he/she is an endurance athlete?
Didn't happen to this thirty-something. Unless you count eating bacon as a sport.
I'm gonna attribute it to a culture of physical therapy, and see if Tripp will take another shot at me.
It is not fair when LizardBreath is the first to post.
Surely LB's reason isn't the only reason.
Kind of the same as LB, but more charitably: Sports are fun, competing is fun, and exercising with other people is fun. But if you're a latecomer to sports and fitness in general, it's hard to take up a new sport. Sure, there may be a recreational soccer league for the 30-somethings, but they're filled with people who played seriously as youths.
But exercising is something that it's socially acceptable to start later in life and, as LB noted, running, cycling, and swimming are generally pretty popular anyway. So if you're interested in sports and like those activities, it's a natural fit.
Ha! You should have seen Federal Reserve Governor Don Kohn! Taking his subordinates up Cascade Canyon, going 4.3 horizontal miles and climbing 3000 feet in two hours, all the while demanding that they answer technical questions about monetary policy!
And is this where I go to say that you can see some amazing racks in Jackson Hole? (Cervi sp.)
I think it's Everest Syndrome. I do it because it's there. So why marathons? Why triathlons? A few reasons. First, the initial investment is small. Most people already have a bike and running shoes aren't that much of an investment. I'd assume that the average initial investment is less than $1,000. The marginal cost is even less. Second, there are few competitive sports that one can participate in on a daily basis while living in a city, or, for that matter, while living in the suburbs. There is a lot of extra effort, in most cases, to find and join adult sports leagues. Roads and paths are already there, so it's relatively easy. Third, I think LB is mistaken. I don't see it as, "Hey this looks a lot like what I am doing, so I might as well do it." I think it is moreso a fitness desire. With point the second, more people now, it seems, desire to remain in good physical condition. I can't explain why, but it might have to do with Title IX. You decide. Fourth and final, people get hooked on these. Medium distance (olympic) triathlons take 2-4 hours to complete. This isn't a jog in the park followed by ice cream. Few people can go out and do this without training. That being said, completing one triathlon makes for a great goal in training, and for some people, that's all the motivation they need.
But if you're a latecomer to sports and fitness in general, it's hard to take up a new sport.
This is why I rowed in college. I was hyper-unathletic untill college, and picked up no ball-sports skills at all. Rowing doesn't take much skill at all (nothing like a real sport) just size and strength, and getting strong isn't that difficult if you work at it.
(My one athletic triumph in high-school was a fencing class. Everyone was starting from zero, because it's not really related to any common athletic skills, and I kicked ass in the end-of-term tournament. I had a longer reach almost all the girls, and took out those of the boys who were bigger than I was by being more aggressive than they were expecting. I still fondly recall snapping a foil blade in the process of scoring a touch on Billy Choluka (whose name I can't remember how to spell. Ac?) I should have kept up fencing after that class, but didn't.)
OK, but if you are childless and in your thirties, and you don't plan to participate in ultramarathons, are you a big pussy? And should people be allowed to articulate that judgment out loud?
Dude, if you aren't pushing an amphibious gurney with your laboring wife on it for the length of the race, I don't want to know you.
Do you want to know this guy then?
Is his brother in labor? I think not.
(but seriously, wow.)
That's his son. The dude is 65 years old.
LB:
I don't have a lot of requirements for a prospective wife, but one is certainly that she be able to beat me in an ultramarathon, even while in labor.
be able to beat me in an ultramarathon, even while in labor.
If she's on the gurney, and you're doing your husbandly duty by pushing her, she is going to cross the finish line ahead of you (although possibly behind Junior.)
These images are totally putting me off marathoning.
I took up fencing in college and had an enjoyable competitive career largely because it was an environment in which there were lots of later newcomers to the sport.
I've started skating recently, and while I enjoy the sport, there is the distinct sense that I'm too old to really 'get' this sport.
Here's the nut graph (plus some delong-style ellipses) from a recent WSJ story about this trend:
Hold on to your stopwatches, fitness fans: The mighty triathlon, that macho emblem of athletic sadomasochism, is going soft... The number of shorter "sprint" triathlons sanctioned by a national governing body has tripled in five years to 818... The fastest growing forms of triathlon are those where the requirements are a bit lax... events that allow contestants to run less than two miles or swim with the aid of a Styrofoam noodle... observers say one reason for the growth is something you won't get from Pilates or kickboxing -- instant jock credentials... estimates the term is showing up on résumés two or three times as often as it did five years ago.
Sweet. I was actually thinking about doing this, even though I don't currently swim or jog. My suspicion is that part of the motivation is the awareness that this is more or less the last-chance stage-- my knee is starting to worry me, and I suspect cardio from here on out will be pretty moderate. I know, I know, there's some old dude carrying his disabled son on marathons while setting monetary policy, but I'm not that guy.
part of the motivation is the awareness that this is more or less the last-chance stage
Yup. This is a constant thought for me. Even as I train, I'm aware that any gains I'm making are offset by the slow decline of my body. And there's the sense that if I don't go into the decline in decent shape, I'll never get out of the hole. Like you say, some people are solid-built and have incredible motors; not me.