The Slacker's Guide to Tri

Six grand bikes, six-packs and 16 hours of training per week. Triathlon has a hardcore rep. And yet it doesn't have to dominate your life, wallet and weekends. Here's our ultimate slacker's guide for the timecrunched triathlete...

- Matt Baird

slacker

noun [C] informal disapproving

a person who does not work hard enough

Slacker and triathlete. Two nouns you rarely hear connected. One suggests a lifestyle largely conducted horizontally. The other is seen to only get horizontal when swimming or power napping between high-intensity sessions, the ultimate sporting figure with broad shoulders, calves of steel and abs made from titanium. There’s a reason why the BBC wheels out triathlon for every Children in Need challenge, right?

And yet, these unlikely bedfellows don’t have to exist in mutually exclusive realms. I, for one, classify myself as both slacker and triathlete, and I know plenty of other triathletes whose primary goals when ‘racing’ include getting to the burger ten – sorry, finishing line – before it’s dismantled.

Completing over competing has largely been the mantra of my tri career, and yet it’s one that’s taken me from sprint-distance races at Dorney Lake to the Snowdonian mountain climbs of the Slateman and off-road adventures in the Cairngorms via the world of Ironman-distance events. And all on a handful of hours of training per week. I still play Lego with my kids and spend evenings with my longterm loves – the sofa, a bag of lime Doritos and my Nicolas Cage DVDs.

Charles Darwin reportedly only worked three hours per day, and it’s a productive approach you can take with tri. Maximise the hours you have, establishing clear goals and enjoying every minute. Here’s what I’ve learnt – and what you can too – from my 15 years of triathlons, while remaining a Big Lebowski fan…