This morning after I was done stretching and doing an ab workout I came across this very interesting article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703439504576116083514534672.html, and was truly fascinated by it. Initially, I was fascinated by the author’s view point on the Waxmans. My initial though on the article is what is the author’s bias? There appears to be some major gaps in the writing. If he gets up early and works out, so what if she wakes alone. He is the one getting up earlier. Either the author has a bias against endurance athletes or athlete in general (was he the band or a nerd and mocked by the jocks) or was Mr. Waxman really that big of a selfish pig. Then I started reading the reader comments.
I was amazed at how many people think that training for a triathlon, specifically Sprint or Oly, all that crazy. The ones that really stood out to me were the women complaining about their husbands training. What is wrong with someone (male or female) deciding to push themselves and tackling a new challenge? What is wrong with getting off the couch and shedding that belly fat (I know I need to)? As I continued to read the comments I was struck by 1) the number of women (who don’t appear to work out) complaining, 2) the number of men who whined in general (I make the impolite assumption they were just fat and miserable, 3) the number of ladies who praised their husbands for being supportive, and 4) the number of men who complimented their wives/girlfriends for working out and looking good.
Anything in moderation is usually a good thing. Addiction to something, even exercise when it affects your relationships, falls into the Lazy Triathlete’s category of “BAD”. But who decides that it has been become a problem? How much is too much? Seven hours a week? Ten hours? Fifteen? 7-9 hours a week is not really excessive if you do you the math. One hour a day for 4 days a week and then 90 minutes on Saturday and Sunday gives you seven hours of working out. I realize you have prep and travel time which adds another hour or two. However, that appears to me to be a small price to pay to push yourself and accomplish something, make yourself healthier, and to look and feel better.
Please take some time and read the article and let me know what you think.
This afternoon I went for my first run on my training plan. It was suppose to be an easy 30 minute run. Well it was a SLOW one. After riding 30 minutes and swimming 30 minutes the last two days, my legs were rather heavy and the run was slow. But I did about 3 miles in those 30 minutes after work. My resolution is to follow the training plan as best as I can (weekends with Battle Assembly will be difficult) and to work out after work. New house, new habits.
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4 comments:
Interesting article... thanks for sharing. just goes to show you ... people are different... and have widly varying veiwpoints and opinions. As for me... I do 90% of my training and racing with my SO... it works for us.
While I agree that the article presented the case with a bias, I can also clearly see that the guy featured in the story probably doesn't consider his family a high priority. You can train perfectly well for iron-distance races without needing 20 hrs a week all year round. At a minimum - 12 weeks of actual long distance type training. The rest can be done, as you said, within 7-8 hrs a week, which is perfectly manageable. Where I see his mistake is in not compromising his schedule with that of his family. It seems like his needs are being put above his family's. There are way too many people that try to train as if they a pros and need mega hours of training, which explains the high divorce rates among endurance athletes. It's just not the model that working athletes really need to operate. Sure, it sounds cool to brag about logging major miles, but at what cost?
That was the most ridiculous thing I've ever read. Are people stupid? I'm up at 5:00 as often as I can. Doing that makes my husband happy and proud because he knows that I'm doing what I can to live a long and healthy life! Why would you NOT want your spouse to do that? Although I do think you can carry things too far, the idea that getting up early to workout is somehow selfish and neglecting your family... is - ridiculous. And the person who whines because they 'wake up alone' is actually the selfish one.
Although, perhaps I have my own bias. I lived with someone who complained everytime I went to the gym and spent any time trying to improve myself. Later he admitted that the thought of me being thin and healthy scared him because he thought he was going to lose me. Guess what, it happened anyway.
Like the comment above implied. If you don't like waking up alone, get up yourself and join your spouse in training. It's a fantastic experience.
With no kids I think makes it easier but throw children into the mix and for the non training parent they might as well be a single parent. I have never seen a more selfish group of people as I have seen in triathletes. At least other groups admit that what they do cause conflict within a relationship. Triathletes gloss over it and then say "oh but I am doing something healthy". Choosing veg over junk food is doing something healthy, training all year and not being a parent to your children is being selfish.
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