- Ah, the becoming of a triathlete.
You've been swimming, you've been cycling
and you've been running.
And perhaps you've been putting all three of those together
into a triathlon event.
But are you exhibiting some of the telltale signs
that will really cement your position as a triathlete?
- Well, today we're going to elaborate
on some of those quirks and traits, and who knows,
maybe you'll recognize a little bit of them in yourself
or somebody from your training group too.
(bouncy comedic music)
- Now in days gone by,
it may have just been your damp and cold garden shed.
Maybe the luckiest out there might have done it
in the warmth of their garage,
but if like me, this was just called
the place I did my Turbo.
Maybe listen to the radio
and maybe, just maybe, you might have watched a film
or a video on your laptop or TV,
just to take the boredom away.
- Yeah well, fast forward to the present day
and many of us have a whole new term
for this haven of indoor training.
Yes, we refer to this as our pain cave.
Now that does conjure up all sorts
of torturous training thoughts,
but these spaces have now evolved into a place
full of the latest training gadgets and toys,
and it is a far cry from the fan base Turbo trainers
I started out on many years ago.
- Yeah, modern day pain caves.
Well, it's just full of like smart trainers
connected to flat screen TVs for optimum viewing.
You got treadmills, mini gyms,
and even the luckiest out there,
have got saunas, maybe even a hot tub!
(soft upbeat music)
- I'll tell you what, Fraser,
I bonked hard last night.
It was terrible.
- Jeez oh, Mark, are you okay?
Yes, we might giggle,
but talking about bonking is no laughing matter.
Because if we forget to fuel properly,
whether that be eating or drinking adequately,
then we are going to know all about the concept of bonking
very quickly and this can sneak up on us
at the most least expected times
because it's not necessarily going to be our hardest
or our longest training sessions
that can inflict this problem of bonking.
(bouncy comedic music)
- Now do you find yourself scanning
for good training locations to go on holiday?
Or conversely, do you find yourself going on holiday
and packing your swim, bike and run kit,
and maybe even your bike itself?
And hoping that you might find some good training
from the door of your hotel?
Well you'll be pleased to know,
you are definitely not alone.
(bouncy comedic music)
Now we've all heard the saying,
if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen.
And in this age of social media uploads and updates,
it can be all too easy
to feel like we must have all our training devices synced
and linked to our phones,
that they automatically upload
and the world can see that we have been working out.
- Yeah, now I'm afraid I am all too guilty of this.
I've been an avid user of Strava for a number of years,
but there is lots of positives to the platform.
And I for one, find it a really good tool
for using it as a training diary
and seeing all of my sessions logged in one place.
(bouncy comedic music)
- Now take a wander through the transition area
of any triathlon event.
Be that your local triathlon club affair,
or a full scale Ironman event
and you won't have to look far
to spot all manners of top of the range triathlon bikes.
And this is a bit of a character trait of us triathletes,
we're just attracted to expensive and shiny equipment.
And our bikes do tend to feature prominently
as our pride and joy.
Yeah now, inevitably this means that the car that we drive
can somewhat slip down the pecking order
of importance in our lives.
And I for one know, in my own personal circumstances,
that if I pop my bike in the back of the car
to drive somewhere or go to a race,
the value of that car vastly increases
as a result of that bike,
which is worth more, getting into it.
(exhaling air)
You ready to go, Mark?
- Fraser, when I said brick session,
I didn't mean with a brick.
- Oh right, so I'll put this away, shall I?
- Yeah.
Now talk to a non-triathlete about doing a brick session
and they may assume that you're some sort of bricklayer,
or you're building a house
and that by doing a brick session,
perhaps you're doing some sort of intense bricklaying.
Well obviously we know that's not the case.
And by doing a brick session,
we're actually doing two activities in quick succession,
such as running off the bike.
(bouncy comedic music)
- Getting yourself out of the door
to get a training session done once a day,
can often seem hard enough.
But actually for many athletes,
it's not once but twice a day
that they're getting ready to go and train.
I mean, you really know you are a triathlete
when you're not only packing stuff
for getting a session done before work in the morning,
but then you've then got extra kit
for a repeat return to maybe the pool
or the gym after hours as well.
There's one thing that triathletes really are,
and that is a sucker for the commitment to train
multiple times in a day.
(bouncy comedic music)
- Now we train really hard to be faster at swimming,
cycling, and running,
but eventually we realize there's ways of being faster
in a triathlon that require no effort,
such as aerodynamics
and not bothering with socks in transition.
- Yeah, now actually some triathletes take this
a whole step further, and actually are quite comfortable
not wearing socks in their day-to-day life.
This is fine, just own it,
but do be aware that pure cyclists and runners
do not think that this is normal attire whatsoever.
(gentle piano music)
- Right, you might think we don't know what you're doing,
but when you're floating in the open water,
just off of the shore's edge,
perhaps with a rather concentrated look on your face,
it's fairly obvious that you're likely relieving yourself.
It's obvious because, well, we all do it.
Yeah, you know you're a triathlete when you're very happy,
or very comfortable, peeing in the open water,
more specifically, peeing in your wet suit.
(upbeat jazzy music)
And finally, you definitely know you're a triathlete,
when you're slipping your work clothes on
over the top of your compression socks,
to really aid that recovery between your sessions.
- I've done that before, Mark.
What are you laughing at?
- Yeah, me too.
Hopefully this selection of triathlon sketches
that we've just gone through,
resonates a little with you.
And I actually think you'd be lying
if you said anything other.
Now, hopefully you've enjoyed this video,
so please give that a like if that's the case.
- Yeah and if you haven't already done so,
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when some of our other videos like this come out.
And if you'd like to see our seven types of triathletes,
you can see that by clicking just down here.
- Yeah and if you want to see a video we did
where we asked the pros,
how fast can you swim a hundred meters,
you can find that here.