The Friday Top Five: The Top Five Reasons I Race Triathlons

Do you remember when the Friday Top Five was a staple of my blog? I do. It has made a return... AGAIN.

The Top Five Reasons I enjoy Racing Triathlons:

5) DIET: Look, I am Italian. If I did not train for triathlons, I would look like a pastry chef who had very little in actual sales. I am genetically predisposed to sit on my couch in front of a television drinking vino and watching "futbol" while yelling like an enraged East German weightlifter. Running triathlons not only  keeps me centered—clearing the proverbial cobwebs out of the ole' noggin—but it ensures I will burn way more calories during the week than I can possibly take in. I have eaten ice cream guilt free for years.

4) SPANDEX: Don't judge me. Being able to wear spandex is as close as I will ever come to channelling my inner, late 1980's rock star. Nothing says "David Lee Roth" like men wearing brightly colored, tight fitting clothing as they sweat their way across the finish line while throwing up the Ronny James Dio horns. This is also usually done while screaming something unintelligible. A little caveat. Women look much better in spandex than men, and women never shout anything ridiculous or act like they've just cured cancer or
discovered that time travel is actually possible with a DeLorean and Flux Capacitor.

3) GEAR: I love my various GPS watches. I love being able to dump my data on to my machine and check out what kind of effort I put in that day, how many miles I biked/ran, how many feet I climbed, what my fastest mile was, where I crashed, etc. Of course, what I have realized is that I do very little with this data except to put it in the very capable hands of my coach, and to be honest, I am sometimes negligent about doing that responsibly as well. I know, slacker. I also like boring several of my non-triathlete friends to death by showing them my ride and run data. This is usually met with a combination of indifference and pity as the people I show feel sorry that I actually take the time to compile such seemingly meaningless information.

2) CALVES: Nothing says you've been out hunting and gathering with a forgotten tribe of neanderthal cave dwellers like a ginormous set of calves. If you live in a house and enjoy indoor plumbing and silverware, chances are anyone you know with enormous calves are either genetic freaks, or do a crazy amount of biking. To me, my calves are a way of letting the sane, well-adjusted non-triathlete types who don't hate themselves know that I could totally kick their ass in a race up a hill with our bikes. Who am I kidding? No one is jealous, but my running and biking friends sure take notice of my freakishly large calves. If their was a magazine titled "Calveboy," mine would have the centerfold. That is just weird.

1) THE "TRIATHLON" DROP:  No Matter how humble you think you are about racing whatever distance you race, you know you can drop the fact that you run triathlons in just about every conversation. For example:

Friend #1: My son really loves painting. He has been drawing pictures of the sunsets on the lake.

Friend #2: "Oh, how nice, have you considered enrolling him in an art camp?"

Triathlete: "I love that lake. I usually do a couple of laps around the buoys twice a week for my open water swim. My time has improved since the beginning of the season by about a minute."

or...

Colleague #1: "A bunch of us are running a 5k on Sunday. I know you're a runner, are you interested?

Triathlete: "Oh, I have some speed work to do on Sunday, but maybe I will just do it and come to the race. A 5k is really not that long for me, since I am training for an Ironman."


IN OTHER NEWS:


First, I have to give a big shout out to my little man who jacked one over the fence for his his very first Grand Slam home run. I am unbelievably proud that he is both incredibly athletic, and like his parents, embraces his inner-nerdiness by taking clarinet lessons this summer. Awesome.

I just finished another commission for a great group here in NY. It has been a really busy summer professionally. First, a premiere at the Kennedy Center, and now another big performance. The good news is, I just finished the last of three big pieces I had to write this summer. The last being a string quartet for the acclaimed NYC PubliQuartet. I am looking forward to taking some time off from writing music and back to doing a little more blog writing.

Stay Tuned... I will be writing about my fleet of Pearl Izumi shoes here shortly. Until then...

Train Smart!