I could totally do a triathlon, but I don’t have the time.

Newsflash: nobody has the time for triathlons. Those of us who are training and competing make the time. We sacrifice late nights out, lie-ins and time spent watching TV in order to train twice a day or go for a 50km run. Trust us, we always need more time.

Doesn’t your wife/husband/partner/family get tired of you always training?

Why, yes. Unless they are tri competitors themselves or have equally time consuming hobbies, yes they do get tired of it. The thing about spending our spare time training? While we still make sure we see our wife, husband or children and take care of them right, of course they want to spend even more time with us. At some point even the most patient and supportive of people are going to be fed up with being dragged to another tri race in the freezing cold. So don’t even remind us….and certainly don’t bring it up to the family! You will cause World War Three to erupt and also be cut from the “friends” list faster than you can blink.

I do crossfit/other random exercise, I bet I’m fitter than you

So, we’re not detracting from the HIIT workouts or even the theory behind them. Yes, interval training is great for building fitness. Yes, crossfit is legitimate exercise. This doesn’t mean that longer endurance athletes are not fit. We do interval training too, and we do HIIT. Sprints on the bike, in the pool and when we run are all included in our fitness regime. Some of us even do interval training at…gasp…the gym. Yes, with weights and everything.

It can’t be good for you to train so much anyway.

Sure. I’m injury free, healthy and energetic. I can swim, cycle and then still run a marathon without collapsing…but it’s probably bad for me. Of course, triathlon training can be very bad for you if done incorrectly. We accept that. But so can tennis. Or your gym routine.

Would you be able to beat a cyclist/runner/swimmer in a race?

No, probably not. Definitely not. But then they wouldn’t beat us in a triathlon, so we’re even.