OH: "You can be good at 2: Triathlons, Career, Spouse/Family - you choose". The single biggest difference between training for a triathlon and training for a single event (Marathon, Cycling century etc) is the sense of "false urgency" a triathlon creates to justify your need to sacrifice other areas of your life to train. Missing a day's training because you have to travel, attend a critical event for friends or family, or work all day on a critical project is problematic if you're training for a single event. However, when training for a Tri it's catastrophic because "That'll be 4 days from my last ride/swim/run!" That pressure is really the secret sauce of Tri's over other endurance sports. It's why you can sort of pick whom out of your exercising friends will go down the Tri route vs stay single sport dedicated.
I have no issue with folks dedicating themselves to do a triathlon. Maybe you do one a year and everyone understands what you're up to and supports you for 12 weeks etc. That's not how it often works though. I do think it's odd that society glorifies what is really obsessive/compulsive behavior that takes over much of the waking day for the participant and materially impacts their relationships with those around them. And no one who has actually done a triathlon here can honestly tell me it isn't the first thing they think about when they wake up and doesn't impact how they schedule their work and social calendar every day vs the other way around. Well(they can but that would be the denial part that comes along with the behavior.
I have no issue with folks dedicating themselves to do a triathlon. Maybe you do one a year and everyone understands what you're up to and supports you for 12 weeks etc. That's not how it often works though. I do think it's odd that society glorifies what is really obsessive/compulsive behavior that takes over much of the waking day for the participant and materially impacts their relationships with those around them. And no one who has actually done a triathlon here can honestly tell me it isn't the first thing they think about when they wake up and doesn't impact how they schedule their work and social calendar every day vs the other way around. Well(they can but that would be the denial part that comes along with the behavior.