Type F Athlete: Triathlon as Lifestyle

Most of the time I think of triathlon as a hobby. Like playing golf, or going to concerts, or joining a softball league, it's something I do for fun in my free time. Alaina and I take the sport seriously and we want to do well at races, but we do it because it's fun to swim + bike + run on a regular routine. It gets us outside and makes us feel like adventurers. Triathlon magazines and forums talk about triathlon as a lifestyle, so I've been wondering lately, when does a hobby become a lifestyle?

dictionary.com defines 'lifestyle' as "a set of attitudes, habits, or possessions associated with a particular person or group." I'd say our attitude is push ourselves to new limits. The habits that get us there are daily training. And the possessions are the ridiculously expensive gear and nutrition that ultimately make this possible. We are triathletes. Maybe it has become a lifestyle.

This weekend's long ride was a 75 mile loop on country roads near Chelsea in howling 20+ mph winds. UM commencement was today, so we wanted to get as far away from Ann Arbor as possible. Hoping for the projected 60 degrees, we got 50s and cloudy, as we were underdressed and froze our tookies off. After 3 hours of hard riding trying to keep the body heat up, we were both ready to crack, so we dialed the effort back and phoned in the last 50 minutes. Sooooooo ready to be done at 4 hours, and even happier that we're not full-Ironman training.