Almost all triathlon blogs are quite serious and designed to be helpful. Here I thought we could deviate a little and have a bit of fun and not write about the sport but write about our tongue-in-cheek lust for bragging rights. Why not?
We worked hard to become triathletes, therefore it’s only natural to want to talk about it without sounding as though we are bragging. The art to effective bragging rights is based on baiting the hook and having our audience bite! Below are 3 ways to politely interject your triathlon accomplishments without seeming brash.
1. Refuse Something you don’t Want: This is a highly effective and polite way of saying “no” to something you did not want anyway. For example, if you are offered food, beverage or something you don’t want, simply respond with something along the lines of. “I am sorry I can’t, I am in training right now and have to be careful”. This is not only a polite refusal but carries credibility and is also a testament to your discipline, courage and self-sacrifice.
2. Don’t Mention your Time, Mention your Position in your Age Group: This becomes almost exponentially more impressive the older you get. I am in my mid-60’s so I also enjoy the question, how did you do? For one race I said I came in 4th place—pause—for my age group. There were only 6 people in my age group for that race. For a 5k I ran for my sons’ school fundraiser, I got a silver medal for my age group, there were 3 in my age group, so I did beat somebody and I did enjoy receiving a medal.
3. Sound Like an Expert: Elevate your casual conversation about slow jogging or lifting light weights to a much more scientific deposition of “Targeting your slow-twitch muscles for enhanced endurance” or in the event you had a poor workout where you had to take it easy from time to time, refer to this as “required interval training to maximize your cardiovascular benefits” A word of caution, if one is going to sound like an expert, it really is best to put the work into being one!
Summary:
While this is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek post, there are many parts of this that ring true. You will want to talk about your training and its success and difficulties, the art is to make it more interesting for other people to listen to. Turn your factual workout monologues into short humorous bragologues for entertainment value for everybody’s benefit. Last piece of advice on this. “Know when to Stop!”
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