Quote Originally Posted by Dogmama View Post
I read something recently (Chi Running?) about this sort of topic. It made a lot of sense to me. It said that our activities should be extensions of our lives rather than goals to be set & accomplished. Running/cycling/swimming should be done for the pure joy of movement rather than counting out miles/calories/days to the event. If we find ourselves able to compete as a side benefit that's fine.
This is great, and how I "train". Obviously, training for something as big and long as an IM requires much more discipline than "activity extension", but that could be why I haven't thought about doing one, too. This is my first year doing tris (2 down this summer, 1 more I've signed up for), and I haven't done any real "structured" training. I'm a horrible swimmer, so I did meet with a trainer for a swim lesson, and took an open water swim clinic - I'm better than I was, but by no means am I "good". I try to make an effort to swim more, and with it being summer, it's a little easier. Lap swimming at the rec center is only available from 5:30-7am and I'm not much of a morning person! Fortunately, my office is a mile from the south entrance of a state park with a reservoir, so I can ride up to the lake in 10 mins and swim there after work (been nice with this heat!), then I ride around the park, the lake water keeping me cool. However, most of our swim beaches close the end of September, so I'll have to go to the rec center if I want to swim.
Running (ok, it's jogging) is something I already do, and I ride all the time. Mini and Sprint Triathlons are just fun for me, and other than some brick workouts, I do no "formal" training.