DH takes on my world...

[Running Mommy]

Ok, first of all let me say my husband Tony is the bestest most supportive guy in the world. Yeah he missed the finish of my first 10k (first athletic event ever) because he was getting a big gulp, and then he missed my first marathon because he opted to go on a mtn bike trip to moab the week before instead (couldn't get that much time off of work) ... But over the years he has matured into one fab ATHLETIC SUPPORTER (yes that was mean't to be FUNNY)!!
But sometimes I get the feeling that he doesn't REALLY realize how hard tri's are. And that maybe he thinks I could be going faster, or I could push myself farther (read IMAZ report about mile 25 of the marathon as a refresher).

So this morning I'm getting ready for my sunday ride, planning on a two hour affair. He asks if he can come along. I'm stoked because I always like to ride with him, he pushes me a bit and I need that. So I get the boys settled into video games and off we go. After about 2 miles he passes me and forces me into a helacious pace up a 2 mile hill... But I worked to grab his wheel and hold it. We are cruising and then hit the turn around and a big wall of wind. So he immediately dies. I tell him that he prolly shouldn't have pushed the pace early on. After 11 miles he announces that he is going to head for home, which is about 4 miles away. I finish my 2 hour ride (32 miles) and come in the house to find his running shoes on the floor. So as I grab my running shoes and ipod to start my run, I ask if he ran off the bike. "Umm yeah, sorta" was his reply. So I ask him how far he went "uh, not even a mile! It was HARD. I was dying"....
I tried to be supportive and told him that is why I always run off the bike, because it takes time to get your legs used to it. He just kept saying "it was HARD, I was DYING!!" So I said, "Now you know how I feel when I run out of T2, huh??!!"
So I think he has a whole new appreciation of what it takes to "tri"...
But maybe, just maybe, I can get him to at least take on a sprint!!

Now I just need to get him to the pool (insert picture of Denise scheming her next move)...

[Lise]

I LOVE IT! That feeling coming out of T2 must be experienced to be believed. I salute Tony for giving it a shot! It would be so cool if he did do a sprint with you.

[mimitabby]

hey, what's T2?
(newby question)

[Running Mommy]

Ohh sorry.. Transition # 2- the transition from bike to run. T1 is the transition from swim to bike....
T1 is usually MUCH easier than T2. My legs are like gumby legs for the first half mile or so of the run.

[Tri Girl]

mwaaaaahaaaa (devishly laughing at your scheme to get him into the pool)...
Cool that he tried to do it and was exhuasted, but even cooler that he appreciates how hard it is to get out there and make those legs MOVE with any kind of efficiency off the bike. It's not as easy as it may seem.

The first time my DH did a duathlon (he's learning to swim so I can drag him into the world of tris), he was like "man- that's hard", and I was doing the inside giggle thing. Yup, it's hard, and that's why you do bricks every chance you get so those legs remembering what it's like. I'll bet he REALLY thinks you're a stud for doing the IM now (not that he didn't before, but he surely has a whole new appreciation).

Glad you got to ride with him- that always makes things more fun! Hopefully there'll be many more rides/bricks together in the future.

[KSH]

Ah... that's cool! How awesome of him to even give it a try... biking to running.

I bet he's toying with the idea of a tri...but might not want to admit it. Maybe he was giving it a "test run"?

My boyfriend started doing tri's because of me... and yea, he's a lot better than I am. Shoot, he can RUN! Unfortunately, it looks like he will be more successful than I will be.

[tprevost]

.... that is too funny ... I can totally envision that whole event happening!!!

t~