Amen brother! The main reason I built this site and the new endurable project is to help promote and connect those of us whom are passionate about the endurance lifestyle, about moving, about testing our limits, and about connecting and sharing our experiences with friends and team mates.

While once there may have been few of us, thankfully more of us are taking interest in overall health through active participation in life and in sports that are adventure/endurance centric. It can certainly be tough in a young/college atmosphere to choose health and stick to one's own ideals, I applaud you for doing so. Perhaps one day the norm will be going for a run as opposed to getting &%#* faced ;) Or at least a more balanced lifestyle. I partied in college for sure, but in retrospect I wish I had started building my base back then :) Now, a good beer with friends is awesome and is usually well deserved after a long week of work and training. For me that is the lifestyle I'm striving to attain and maintain. Work hard, play hard, eat and drink well (alcohol in moderation) and experience more.

I've come to the realization that it's not the toys or wealth you acquire that defines you, but the experiences. So I hope to die with some damn good ones, and my endurance pursuits will hopefully allow me to experience more of them for a longer period of time.

Anyway, thanks for the post and getting me thinking. Good thoughts...

Thanks guys so much for the responses. I know people like you are out there. We recognize our own species, just as other animals do.

Its the most unique and gratifying certainty I've come to understand. Hats off to you guys.

It is truly amazing to read all those testimonials about our love for the sport.

I have been myself struggling lately to adapt social life and training and I've got to admit that I haven't been able to find the fine tuning yet.

Once I began training I was single and now I'm dating someone so that kind of explains the hard time I get for working out when you need/want to devote some amount of your time to your relationship.

In one month or so there will be a duathlon here (2.5km / 20km / 2.5km) and I'm planning on participating on it.

I'm hoping to find the balance between social and training. Any tips anyone?

I traded one addiction for another.

I was with party crowd in my college and post college years but traded it in one day when drunk, fat and stupid wasn't fun any more. for over 10 years now. I find a lot more joy and balance in my life with this tri addiction (but there are those days when a cold beer just taste great) good luck and remember find balance!

What is the endurance lifestyle?
As opposed to what? The too-short-of-breath-to climb-the-stairs, too fat to get behind the steering wheel of a compact car so I have to drive a Dodge Ram 3500 SuperCab lifestyle?

I don’t think this is a tough question.

I like the feeling of being able – at any time, without blinking – to get up from the table and run around Swan Lake (20k) or to swim across the lake (2 miles) or ride my bike to the US border (180k) without stopping – just because I can.

Part of this is enjoying being in great condition and good health, feeling like I’m Master of my universe. Part of it is the sense of superiority I feel over my fellow citizens who seldom break a sweat, or who ask for help with getting their groceries to the car, but part of it is feeling better able to give assistance to my fellow man, to come to the aid of an elderly person who needs help with getting the vacuum cleaner upstairs or getting their groceries to the house, or God forbid, in an emergency. I want to use my strength and endurance to make life better for everybody.

I was in Monument Valley on a horseback riding trip one time, which is at 5,200 feet elevation. I went to help a woman from Florida (sea level) who was struggling to carry her suitcase and tent up this sand dune to her assigned campsite. I had run a marathon just three weeks before. I took her bag and tent and walked up the sand dune without effort while she struggled by herself. It was hard to convince her that it truly was no trouble for me. She was a smoker as well I found out. I really enjoyed being able to use my fitness to help her out. She became a good friend and showed her appreciation later under the stars :D – just a little bonus.

I feel no compulsion to rise at 4am to work out. I have organized my life so I work on flex-time and I can stay up ‘til midmite if I like and still get 8 hours sleep, but hey that’s your choice. I don’t want to give my sloth-like friends any more excuses not to get active. If you tell them that to enjoy the benefits of the endurance lifestyle that they have to get up in the dark, give up beer and burgers and fun, they aren’t likely to get involved now are they?

Moderation is good. Downhill skate board racing, riding Moab on a hardtail, climbing 8,000meters without oxygen already have earned the right to be called X-treme sports, let’s not make triathlon, even marathons, get labeled as “Crazy” “Insane” and dangerous. Let’s rather show the world that we can do all that we want AND have fun just like them – of course, eschewing drunkenness, debauchery and binge eating as well. That stuff is CRAZY!

PoC

Shortest answer and probably why you see a lot of "older" people in triathlon: You don't begin to appreciate your health until you start to lose it.

Once things start breaking down on you, it's a lot easier to move fitness a lot higher up on the priority list.

hak

There always is the question before me, why do I train. Is it something personal. Is there something I am targeting specifically. It is it some dark secret that I myself don’t know. I know of the satisfaction I receive from meeting other people who share my passion. I know of the imprudence I’ve displayed, and God knows I’ve gone through hell and back to mitigate it.

Additionally, I’ve noticed something in the last week: I don’t know any triathletes, (personally), whom are my age. My Tri-club is largely based out of people whom are 35 and above. I know several runners, marathoners, and the like. But I know of no triathletes, whom I would even call an aquaintance.

When I go to races, I see people my age. When I see my fellows at transition area, 2 hours before the cannon goes off, I see something which transcends me. To label these individuals as hardcore is a gross understatement. They are the most time managed, organized, thought out, and particular athletes of the modern world.

Those around me, outside of multi-sport, view me as addictive. Antiquated. Stubborn. Concrete sequential. To a large extent, these are truisms. They have composed of empirical data, which the validity therein I do not contest.

But I also have a side which is utterly chaotic. It has no purpose, no direction. The spontaneity of this side is like an antelope running down a muddy slope to an unknown end. The animal just goes. It doesn’t reason, it moves through space because it was bred to do this. It isn’t concerned with its hydration, with its last meal, the oxygen quality, or even whether its running on concrete or soft trails. It moves because it can, and because it was engineered to do so.

I’ve long believed, that training, absent of races, goals or time numbers, is the purest and most certain channel to manifest happiness. I’ve raced, I’ve time trialed, I’ve PR’d, and I’ve failed.

I’ve been set back, pushed forward, declined to change, and done things which were utterly imprudent.

I’ve given up Saturday nights, Mexican foods, caffeinated beverages, and late nights looking at this machine. I have given up more than I can aptly characterize here. None of which, was a sacrifice.

Good! I was waiting for the Clif Notes version!

In the beginning, I enjoyed the colorful hyperboles of "crazy", "addicted" associated with the sport. Now, I am a quieter participant. I don't compare myself to others as much. I look more at my own progress.

Endurance gives me perspective. It makes me feel stronger but less immortal. It humbles me because I feel more connected and aware of my physical limitations as I feel the burn of lactic acid almost everyday, but also strengthens because the completion of a set goal brings its own reward.

This lifestyle is my best chance at growing old in a manner that I want to grow old. I want to retain a healthy physique to enjoy life as freely as I can. I want to look good for my own vanity. I want to feel empowered by being able to say I can go the distance.
I don't want to grow old without knowing I put this body to rigorous use.