Shut up mind!

Fighting with a knee injury. The burden of age beginning to show its ugly face in the horizon (especially if you train for a triathlon!). Every time i think its ok and start to pump up the training volume, it starts to get sour again.

This is another drawback of being a triathlete, or at least using a lot of time training for it: You become stubborn and goal-oriented. When you train those long training-sessions you sharpen, and train your mind as well as your body, and all in all thats a good thing...but (and there's a big but ;-)):

This mentality can quickly turn against you and become an enemy in stead of an ally, when you're injured, sick or perhaps a little bit out of training. Because your flesh maybe weak, but your mind, the master drill sergent still wants you to get on that bike and go out there, or get your running shoes on and do the miles.

Most times the drill sergeant just follows you, when you gets lazy and your breaks between training sessions become longer and longer, and the couch and remote is your preferred tools of exercise. Your mental endurance becomes blunt and gets only honed when you starts your physical training again (NOT the remote exercises!). But the physical and mental training progress mostly along at the same pace. BUT in the beginning of december 2011 i was operated and was out of my training cycle completely for a month. Even if i was in off season form, i was in a very good shape, and the month without training gave me withdrawal, and the very day i could start training again i made the mistake of listening to the drill sergeant.

That was a very bad decision and i can thank sarge (aka me) for that. I just hope, that the next time i'm in a similar situation i remember Sarge and the time he screwed me over and gave me a knee injury.

The bottom line is: Learn when to listen to your mental drill sergent - He's priceless in a race or when you're supposed to train and its cold outside, and the couch is tempting you with its sweet warm chill-factor, but when the body really needs a rest because of great strain and fatigue or you're struggling with injuries, he can be a real pain in the ...

Why bother?

Many people find it crazy when i tell them, i'm training for triathlon. They won't admit it directly, but i can see it in their eyes, its in there, mixed with admiration and envy. And perhaps 15 seconds into that conversation comes the showstopper, the piece of information, that seems to puncture that admiration, like a big balloon that was taking you to the skies, and instead you fall clumsy to the ground: "ohh...no i'm not training for an Ironman, i'm training for a ½ Ironman".

Maybe its the "½" thats the fly in the ointment? I dunno, but swimming 1.9 kilometers in the ocean, cycling 90 kilometers and running 21 kilometers all in one day after each other is impressive after my standards (i apologize to all english-speaking out there, both for my language errors, and my preference for the metric standard, but hey i'm danish and that was what i was tought in school!)

Perhaps is Triathlon, and especially the fabled distance - THE IRONMAN - just the latest peak when it comes to athletic and sports as a status-symbol for the modern man (and woman!). Marathon peaked a couple of years ago, but thats just not enough any more, no...now we want to be triathletes and more specifically IRONMEN!

I wish i could say that i myself, swam outside this trend current, but i cannot. I admit, that i like the admiration and the (sometimes physical) gasp that follows, when i tell people that i'm are training for a triathlon (alas only until the "Ironman"-issue is brought up!). But there are more to this than trends and fashion (luckily).

The start at the London Triathlon swim

The entire proces and journey that one embarks upon, when you decide to be a triathlete i will try to tell about on this blog, as frankly and precisely as i possible can. Not only tips about training, but also stories about injuries, doubts, triumphs and failures.


With this i hope to help other coming triathles out there, that perhaps read all the gruelling endurance horror-stories, see all the shocking pictures, gasp at chaotic sea swim footage where they wonder "did anyone survive that carnage!?" and ask the obvius question any non-traithlete must ask:


Why bother becoming a triathlete?

Found this funny film on youtube, and it kind of summons it up: If you're not a believer, its difficult to understand why to do it - Why train for Ironman?