About Me
Hi there, I’m Scottie, a 30-something wanna-be sports phenomenon. While I love to be active, I absolutely hate training.
Don’t get me wrong, I love recreational sports as well as carrying over my competitive lifestyle from the yesteryears- that’s great. But my gameday get-it-done mentality has pushed me to a point in my athletic life where training to me is tedious. You have to wake up uber-early to get a session in, then go support your habits at work and then train some more afterwards. All while trying to get rest and improve your endurance. I feel like to be an elite athlete, you quite possibly have to be unemployed or the company’s most unproductive associate!
So this site is about the trials and tribulations of preparing for and competing in my recreational amusements as well as some gear reviews tossed in there.
Ready, steady, GO!!!
Hey Scottie,
first of all, good job on the honesty part. Though, I think you’re stating the obvious when you say that to be an elite athlete, you have to basically be full time. Well, that’s why we’re not all elite. And it’s perfect that way, like in every sport. It is true that triathlon demands more training than many other sports in order to be good. But to be great, or ”elite”, well it’s always pretty much the same; you have to be full-time, or a very dedicated part-time.
I personnaly belong into the last category. I still work, but working for a sports company that helps me out a lot, and with a very flexible schedule. The reason why I managed to work it out and soon making it pro is because I absolutelly love training, and hurt myself… sometimes puke. That’s the real beauty or the sport. And training for tri is much better than a LOT of other sport. You can change it all over, mix it up, and you get to do 3 different sports. And that’s without your cross trainings!
You probably are like the most people out there; more into the sport for ”racing day”, and bragging rights, finisher medals, tech tees, then the real passion and beauty of it. Going to a race with people around having as goal to be a ”finisher”, is disgusting. Ironmans were created for incredible athletes, and so were halfs, and even tris! Nowadays, people ask me what I’m doing in life, and when I answer that I do long distances competitions, they often say ”Oh yeah a few of my friends too!”, I even got once ”Hey that’s awesome! My grandmother too!”. Geeeez… we’re not in the same world. An Ironman has become recreational.
Don’t get me wrong; I respect anyone doing sports and getting out there. But if you don’t like training, don’t like the hours of sacrifice it takes, then why? If all you wanna do is flash some carbon wheels and walk around in Hi-tech gears, you can do that on the streets. If you’re not training, that’s probably it, because no one is cool in a pool, and only the elites can pull off beeing ”cool” while running (not jogging).
So now we register in races, with a million wanna bees in our way, stacking up the transition zones, falling off their bikes when trying to clip on, cuting people on the bike, rolling 30km/h on the left side… it got dangerous for the people who are actually racing.
Can’t wait to get my Pro card so I can race places where only athletes can go to.
Keep riding, and enjoy yourself, but think of this; most athletes out there think the exact same way I do, and everytime time someone signs up to a race, having in mind ”just to finish”, it is very disrespectfull to us. Hard to explain, but that’s how it is.
Best regards
Math-
I will agree with you on part of this and I completely understand your feelings, as I too dislike “congestion” in a race.
However, just because I find training bothersome doesn’t make me some chum in the way. Also, it doesn’t mean I don’t put the hours in to prep. While we all have our set goals, because I’m not aiming for elite rankings doesn’t make me any less of an athlete. And yes, race day IS part of the picture, so is the glory, the finishing prizes, the camaraderie, the pictures, the accomplishment– otherwise everything would be just practice.
Greatness isn’t a level of athleticism, it’s a mindset. If I train for an event, go out there and give it the best I have and lose…I’m a great athlete. If Ordinary Joe finishes a race 5 hours after you and you find it disgusting–he’s a great athlete too, and quite frankly, you’re an ass for thinking that.
And if you think competition, whether it be mighty or weak, is disrespectful in a race…perhaps you’re “running” in the wrong race and should go try chess, where there’s no distraction.
While you may be racing for Pro, I’m racing for PROgress.
Cheers~
Amen Scott. Couldn’t have put it better myself.
And what’s up with the “Best regards”, Math? That was one of the most obnoxious and condescending comments I have ever read on someone’s blog before. “Best regards”? After a rant like that, you expect him to accept any regards whatsoever, let alone your BEST ones? Which, FWIW, I doubt you’re actually offering. If this is how you feel about athletes who weren’t bred to compete on world class levels. Where do you get off?