Training Buddies

GustyGeise got me thinking about training buddies. It's good to have a friend who can motivate you and get you out there. I'm a seriously anti-social trainer, so what am I to do? I tend to scare friends when I train with them, or else we just end up giggling the whole time which isn't very productive.

So I went on the DC Tri Club site and found someone in my neighborhood and went swimming on Friday.

Waiting for a blind training date is worst than a regular blind date. Because on a blind date, as long as you're cute, they're generally happy for that one date. With a training date, you wonder if they will judge you for your skill or ability. Will they like me turns into will they respect me. My new friend told me that he would have a black training backpack and that is how I would recognize him.

Do you know how many men in DC have a black backpack?

Who would he be, I agonized. Will he be a crazy man who tries to drag me into a van, never to be seen again? Will he be a strong, crazy trained athlete who chuckles at my progress and then never trains with me again? Will this be someone I search out at events or run away from? I couldn't even guess.

As it turns out, he was a very nice, normal man who is slightly more intense than me in training and we had a good time. We didn't swim in the same lane even, just walked to the pool and back (he lives VERY close to me). Which was great, because otherwise I never would have made it to the pool.

So the moral of this story? It's good to go out and meet strangers for training. OH! That sounded bad. But all the networking we have access to in cities means that you can meet people in public places and they can be people at your ability level who will work with you to motivate you. You're even more likely to go if it's someone you don't know that well, because the fear of what they'll think if you punk out is greater than the fear of a workout. So go out there my little chickadees! Spread your wings and interact!