One of the early posters I have seen during a marathon said:
Ok, that may be a hideous banana, but you get the point: people ask ‘why???’ frequently when you do endurance sport. It’s one of many good reasons to figure it out before you take up an endurance challenge. It’s not going to be always others who ask it. You will ask yourself along the way probably more than once (especially during the race) what in the world are you doing there and what was wrong with your couch. So when you make a decision of:
you need to know why.
Money?
Uhm… I don’t know what sport you are looking at, but in most cases, you’re not going to become rich by being an athlete. I know that we see NBA superstars or famous soccer players on tv and hear how rich they are. But that’s not the story for the vast majority of them. I actually read once that a large portion of people who make it to the Olympics have to get into significant debt to pay for their road there. And if you are on this blog, I am guessing you are not a pro. Most likely, you are just an average endurance sports enthusiast. Some may figure out how to make money through some sort of sponsorships and advertising, but vast majority will see only the hefty bills for entrance fees, gear and race-related travel.
So no, money is most likely not a good motivation for getting into endurance sports.
Fame?
Like with money: your chances are rather low for becoming famous through endurance sports. Unless you are Meb or Eulid Kipchoge… Yeah, I read a lot about endurance sports, so I know a name or two. But vast majority of people has no idea who those people are. You may gain fame in that small section of population and if that’s what you’re going after, more power to you! Just keep in mind that you need to do something truly awesome to gain fame. Are you fast enough? Crazy enough? Planning on doing something spectacular (of undefined nature)? Becoming famous through sports is a lot harder than you think!
The answer is: most likely living their lives, possibly having that drink you want to have at the finish line. Keep running, you’ll find them. But they may not be as interested as you think.
For a cause
I see regularly people racing to raise money for a good cause and I am happy to help with it as much as I can. I have heard from people that it helps them get through tough times, especially when they think of struggling people they want to help. Having said that, I doubt that racing for a cause would be your first reason to get on an endurance journey. Usually, you already thought about running, cycling, swimming or doing a triathlon. This just gives you that extra push you need to get started. It’s very helpful though during the long months of training and during the race itself. I don’t think it really works as the only motivator, but in combination with others, it’s great.
Peer pressure
I sometimes laugh that I am sort of a victim of this one, since I tend to sign up for new challenges based on scenes like this one:
To be fair though: I am very athletic and I do sports for the pure joy of them (later on that), so this is just a goal post somebody helps me find. I’d probably do a lot of that training either way. But the race is credit to somebody who gave me a little nudge in the right direction.
I think that majority of peer pressure in endurance journeys looks like that. Those are people who are already training and would need to make only relatively small modifications to their plans to do the race. So this is more of a race motivation than one for the whole journey.
Except… Peer pressure can be helpful in the journey. That’s actually the origin of this blog. Hear me out: it all started when I realized that there are days when I don’t have the training in me and telling somebody about my plans makes me push through. Because if I quit, how embarrassing would that be! So yes, peer pressure can work for you when you think in terms of not having to tell people you have failed. It’s not really a sustainable motivation, but can help in a pinch.
Bragging rights
Oh, so many people out there doing endurance sports just so they can tell everybody about it! They tell everybody how awesome they are because they ran a marathon, did a triathlon or another endurance challenge.
Somehow I associate this mostly with men with overblown egos… I know I post on my social media about my workouts and races and it may be perceived as bragging. I will also tell people around me who knew of my training that I made it across the finish line. But I am not the one to insist on telling everybody that I did it. I actually recently had seriously mixed feelings when a friend of mine kept telling people of my Ironman 70.3. It’s kind of nice, but also: I can talk about other things and being admired for that got old pretty quickly. He possibly did me a huge favor: I lost desire to tell everybody I did it 😅. I think if it’s something big, you can give yourself a pre-set amount of time over which you are allowed to brag and then you need to move on. I know being admired may motivate you, but I can assure you: in many cases, it’s very superficial and internally, those around you are wishing for you to just shut up.
Weight loss
I think this is the most common reason I have heard in my life for why people start doing endurance sports: they want to lose weight. Or be able to eat whatever they want (eating while training is a whole another post, but that’s for another day). I have a friend who did a full Ironman Lake Placid when he decided to lose weight. He is extremely goal oriented and he figured that getting to the finish line will get him to shed some pounds. Warning: when he stopped training, the weight came back…
Weight loss and endurance training can go nicely together, I won’t lie. It can help with various other health problems related to sedentary life style (and bring a few new problems – but again, that’s a whole another post). Truly wanting to lose weight can motivate a person to start an endurance sport journey. It may pose a problem during a race though. When you hit the wall at mile 20 (or 22; or 24; or whatever), thought of wanting to shed a few pounds may not really help you push through. After all, by the time you get to the starting line, you already lost the weight. And how much of a difference will those few extra miles at the end make?
One more thing on weight loss and endurance sports (it will be a whole another post): I know plenty of people who gained weight while training for marathons. So this may be tricky.
Health
So maybe not everybody will lose weight while training. But for most part, you will be healthier. This is where I throw in both what your doctor says and ability to feel better while enjoying your life. It’s easy to develop a sedentary life style when you start working or have kids. And then, one day, you are trying to walk up a flight of stairs and it feels like your personal Mount Everest:
Others reach the breaking point when they are talking to the doctor and get told that they need to start taking a long list of medication. I actually have a friend who was told that his heart is doing poorly and he will need to start taking medication. He was not willing to accept it and got into ultra distances in biking. His body recovered from years of poor health choices and he found a hobby he truly loved!
One more thing on health: it may make a few aspects of your body healthier, but you are running a risk of injury. But then again: that’s a whole another post 😉
For your kids
There may be unforeseen consequences to being in awesome shape, especially when you have kids. Now, I can take my daughter wherever I want and she tires out first! And who wouldn’t want that? My personal favorite in this department actually came when I was teaching her how to ski. Since she was little and going really slowly, I had to ‘pizza’ the whole time and I would hold her between my legs to escort her through some challenging turns. But not to worry, I was up to it:
There is also that lovely moment when your kids see you cross that finish line! My daughter LOVES seeing me compete (and by seeing me compete I mean occasionally taking a look – it takes HOURS after all). I think that knowing your little ones are watching what you’re doing is a powerful motivator during the race. After all, don’t you want them to push through hard times? Don’t you want them to be proud of you?
To test your own limits
Some people just want to know how much their body can take and they test it at every opportunity. Your ego drives you to prove that you can do it. I think it’s one of the better motivators (as long as you do it safely, of course) – you see what your body is capable of, build understanding of your own mental strength and develop stronger feeling of self-worth. Ok, so it may turn into one of those people who do it to show off easily and become annoying to everybody around… But it’s great to know that you are strong and you can handle anything!
A little personal note: when I had a panic moment in the water during Ironman 70.3 Gdynia, I managed to talk some sense into myself. It may have been a fast lesson, but I definitely learned a lot about myself in those ~36 minutes in the water. I don’t care if people around me think it’s ridiculous that you could grow as a person in that short of a time. It was for me and for me alone.
For the fun of it
This may sound crazy, but I just honestly enjoy my endurance training. Obviously, not always 😉, but in general: yes, very much so. After all, I used to run crazy numbers of miles every week just for the hell of it. It took me a very long time to start entering competitions. I enjoy the endorphins and how that alone time gives my mind time to recover from the craziness of our daily lives. It’s unlikely to push you to complete a challenge when you hit a wall or the conditions are miserable, but it’s what got me out the door in the first place.
So why do we run/ bike/ tri? As the common joke is:
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