Ironman training is brutal and scary. It takes so much out of me and my life. I miss a lot of things going on around me. I am half-conscious in some conversations. Why would anyone go through all this? In the late stage of ironman training, I often question my motives and my sanity.
But there is a flip side to it. The training itself is disciplined enduring and it adds a structure to life that I don't have when I am "taking it easy" like I seem to be doing now. Since time and energy are valued assets more in ironman training, a more judicious use of those assets is required. A lot of sort of "junk mail" activities get let go for the greater plan. That practice bleeds over into ordinary life make it more efficient as well.
And if I need a reason to stay with endurance sports or some serious and consistent exercise program, all I have to do is go shopping. It seems America is eating and resting its way into physical care oblivion. How can health care keep up with the demand this lifestyle is placing and will place on our society? And I wonder, when I look at the men my age: is this the new normal, a lifestyle of physical erosion into obesity and poor health
Often I have looked at all the bikes and equipment in a transition area and thought how many thousands of dollars are represented there. I look at the men going in and out of stores and think how many thousands of dollars in medicines and health care are represented there as well. And for all their normalcy, do they live any better, any less painful, than I do in the worst of ironman training? I don't see happy on those faces. I do see that on ironman participants. It's my choice
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