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Is OCD required to be a triathlete...discuss

Okay so I like everything to be lined up in transition "just so" and I meticulously record my training on my blog, and I lay out my training kit the night before.....my WAT Officer thinks I am obsessed - she is probably right but my burning question is;

Do people who already have mild OCD take up triathlon as they are the only ones with the obsession and drive to do three sports or do we develop OCD just to be able to do the multisport thing????

Just a trivial question for a Friday afternoon (as I plan my weekend training (in detail of course))

I.

Comments

  • 55ant55ant Posts: 22
    there is definatly something that seperates us, that ability to keep going to finnish, even in training i am happy to just cycle, or just swim, or just run for a long period, maybe its something more like an inner contentness for your own company!
  • shadowone1shadowone1 Posts: 1,408
    I think that at some stage there is a dawning realisation that there is more to life than TV. I always say to people that I work to live and not live to work. This ethos is different for people like say, conehead where he has a job that is basically his life and everything fits around it. (thats not a dig, but a jealousy).

    I get moaned at from the wife that I train too much but I hit back saying that I feel better now tha say a year ago when beer was a main stay within my life. So the choice is life or ill health?

    I do think that it can be taken too far, I previously asked under the old forum that as triathletes, are we addicted to exercise? I was criticised but I wanted to open a debate. I still think its true to an extent. We only need to do a search to look at those who post because they feel guilty when they don't train. Exercise is addictive but so is laziness. You can just easily get addicted to sitting on the couch as you can to a 40k cycle

    S11
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    I dunno about OCD (although I do have my CD collection in alphabetical order).

    I find that I am never comfortable in my comfort zone. I always want to know what's beyond the boundaries. I'm trapped in an infinite cage. Either that, or I've just got back from a long walk to/from the pub. Discuss.
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    I've been aware for a long time that i do continually seek to test myself. Not on some enormous scale - like scaling Everest - but continually providing me with opportunities to "prove" myself. it probably means i am striving for acceptance continually or some such, but it has long been an obvious thing in my life.

    Triathlon is the same for me... when i could no longer smash my head against somebody else's for 80 minutes to find out whether I was good enough I ended up replacing it with a lifestyle whereby i could continually mark my life against something. its not a conscious thing... but is so obvious nonetheless.

    Whether that is the same thing as OCD i'm not sure... but i do become obsessive over stuff, and exercise is addictive (or the endorphin levels are).

    didds
  • gingertrigingertri Posts: 277
    but arent we all addicted to the endorphins you get when you run or train hard? i'm sure when we're all supposed to taper we just want to exercise and when we're injured we're a right pain in the ass - yup def an addiction! As to OCD i'm not sure, looking round my room i dont think i have....
  • Im SpartacusIm Spartacus Posts: 204
    I'm sure I have a hint of ocd, I've just managed to convince myself that I really don't need to get to London 5 hours early - 4 really should be enough. It goes without saying that I've had my kit organised and packed for nearly a week now. Oh and checked it off against my 2 checklists
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    it's been suggested by a few friends that i'm either addicted to exercise or having a mid-life crisis.

    i'd prefer to think i'm in didds' corner and just want to find out how far i can go, discover what my body and mind are capable of. now, if i can just afford that red sports car...
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    ris wrote:
    it's been suggested by a few friends that i'm either addicted to exercise or having a mid-life crisis. .
    It's a mid-life crisis: http://www.malehealth.co.uk/userpage1.cfm?item_id=125
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    If you want to get out of the OCD of a ,swim,bike ,run,event,why not enter one the aussie grand prix races,which vary how the event is run,they can include,swim-run-bike-run-swim-bike-run-bike-swim or other variations,probably create nightmare visions of running out of transition in cycling shoes and the biking into the swim
  • SwizzlenapSwizzlenap Posts: 160
    I think a mild propensity to OCD would help. I like things to be at right angles such as magazines on tables, hate round furniture as you cant line things up to the edges, CD's are arranged by genre and then sub-arranged alphabetically. I also became an accountant mainly becuase I like putting things in order and doing a set of accounts is basically doing a big jigsaw puzzle Plus I love playing with numbers and spreadsheets!

    Certainly for me part of the attraction to Tri is the challenge of getting all the training in order.
  • meakiemeakie Posts: 124
    I deffo have OCD, I get passport OCD when at airports- even when its in my hand, I get "did I lock the front door" OCD when on my way to work... usual stuff really
    But mainly I get transition box OCD when doing tri's.. I can be seen standing for 20 mins in the rack area just looking in the direction of my gear box,trainers, towel, gels, drink etc and doing this Mr Miagi kind of karate hand ( or the tom cruise - minority report hand moving thingy) thing then with my eyes closed trying to sort out my gear transition.. i think I do look a bit mental but then its comforting when I look round and a few others are doing it too.
    In fact i stood for ages last weekend doin the exact same thing but for longer! GBF - gear box fixation.
    We all deffo have a bit of OCD fo sho!

  • How about race number ocd, must be square on my belt, pins equidistant from each end, uncreased etc etc etc.
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    Jack Hughes wrote:
    [quote="ris":3bsv9pis]it's been suggested by a few friends that i'm either addicted to exercise or having a mid-life crisis. .
    It's a mid-life crisis: http://www.malehealth.co.uk/userpage1.cfm?item_id=125[/quote:3bsv9pis]

    i certainly have fatigue as a symptom, and it might explain the hair loss
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    I wish i had OCD as it would mean that i would be a lot more organised, i have (in only 2 tri's to date) managed to leave my number in the gat officers bag, not in transition, left my swim goggles in T1, left my waterbottle in the car, took my water bottle to the pool so it wasnt on the bike... left my bike shoes behind (i went back and found them).
  • jonEjonE Posts: 1,113
    If you want to watch something funny then rearrange a felow competitors transition box and kit onto the other side of their bike,the perplexed look of "I was sure I left my kit there" to "Some thievin git has stole my kit" can be quite amusing.
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