Is that....?

Last night Dan and I ventured to Austin for the monthly "Splash & Dash" put on by Jack & Adam's bike shop at Pure Austin North. For only $15 you get a chip timed race, free food and access to Pure Austin's awesome facility. The race consists of a 750m open water swim, followed by a 3k run. We always jump on these for the open water swim practice in a race setting (the swim is held in a Quarry Lake that is owned by the gym, so you can't swim there unless you do this race or are cool enough to belong to the gym).

Anyway, guess who showed up to race last night? Lance Armstrong. Pretty neat, huh? And, he only beat me by a cool 11 minutes. I'm sure I'll get him next time :)

Lance's transition area. 

Dude is fast.

Triathlons and triathlete events are always interesting. It's been awhile since I've done a triathlon or been around large groups of triathletes. And while I've done more than my fair share of triathlons, I am always amused by tri-nerd talk (no offense to tri-nerds, my husband claims I am one myself - although I beg to differ.)

I overheard more than one conversation last night that went like this:

Triathlete 1: So how you doing today?
Triathlete 2: I’m pretty tired as a I just swam after my recovery run.
Triathlete1: How far did you run?
Triathlete 2: I ran an easy 5-miles today, but I ran 17 yesterday.
Triathlete 1: Yeah, I know what you mean, I just biked 70 miles and I’m a bit tired as well.
Triathlete 2: Yup. I biked 80 the day before and have 100 miles on tap this weekend.
Triathlete 1: Yup. Me too. Oh yeah, and a swim after that.

I've also noticed this trend in Facebook posts as well. There was one particular offender who I had to hide after multiple posts detailing every single workout they did: i.e. "It's 4 am and I'm running 17 miles to work, then working all day, then biking 3 hours and capping it off with a killer swim." A few hours later another post would come across "OMG I just ran 17 miles at 4 am and am so tired, but I'm working all day then biking." And, this would go on and on, every day, all day. I wanted to scream JUST SHUT UP AND TRAIN.

There are times when I get really annoyed with triathlon. I'm talking about the arrogance, the bragging, the me first attitude. Not just type-A, but type-A+. Which is one reason I've refrained from the triathlete label while stating "I am a runner who does triathlons." This is not meant to generalize triathletes at all -I have many awesome triathlete friends who are not like this. I just feel like too many triathletes make it into a contest, and it's hard to avoid getting caught up in it. Maybe it happens in running as well, but I haven't noticed it near as much. To each their own, I guess.

I said from the beginning that I wasn't going to get caught up in all of the triathlon hype - fancy bikes, race wheels, aero helmet, etc. And, for the most part I haven't (Dan may beg to differ). I have 2 used bikes that I bought from a friend at a good price. No fancy wheels or gear. I did my first half ironman on a freakin' mountain bike. I don't like that the outcome of the sport can be determined by one's income, and that will always rub me the wrong way.

My bitching aside, triathlon season is here, and I'll go enjoy myself and do my thang. Because I really do love the sport...it's just some of the people I could do without.

**disclaimer: this post is not meant to offend anyone. just my mindless rambling and 2 cents. i am sure i annoy people (hi Dan) with my triathlon talk as well. carry on.