Day Seventy-Four: From Exercising To Training

The iron man triathlon is a bear. It's a 2.4 mile swim (usually open-water), a 112 mile bike ride, and a marathon...26.2 miles of running.

I've had an uncle finish it. In Denver. One mile high in elevation.

I did a traithlon with him when I was 19. He kicked my hiney...and I was a scholarship swimmer for the University of Houston at the time. I've had another uncle run competitively, an aunt who wasn't far off of his tails, and that same uncle and a cousin win the bike race Tour de Tucson for their respective brackets at different points in their life. This photo is of said cousin. Look at him go.

Athletic genes run in my blood.

There is exercising, and there is training. There is a difference. Exercising is doing something every day, several days a week, for the purpose of getting or staying in shape. Training is exercising every day for the purpose of competing or completing an event. Training is about athletic performance.

Incorporating training into our exercise routine can do many things. It can shift our focus. Getting up to get going can be very motivating if we are training for an event. We often train with other people...a partner, a coach, teammates...accountability partners. We often look to beat others or to beat our own prior performance. It shapes everything we put into our body. We think, "Will this contribute or detract from my performance?" We don't take much time off after an event if we've already scheduled our next event prior to the completion of the current one. We may take a few days or a week, but then we've got to get back to it so that our body doesn't lose the groove.

We can run fun runs, 5ks, 10ks, and up. We can cycle, swim competitively, or do triathlons. Usually, these involve getting into local running or triathlon clubs where people train and compete together.

I challenge you to set a date, and train for an event.