FEATURES

Derangement Isn't Always a Bad Thing....

Monday, 06 January 2014 00:10

By Holly Bennett (triathlon.competitor.com)

The medical tent at any iron-distance race is a fascinating place. It’s packed with athletes, some who have crashed on the bike or otherwise sustained injuries, and others who suffer from overexertion and all variety of associated issues. But what of the nonphysical ailments that afflict long-course triathletes? Beyond the walls of the medical tent lie far more fascinating phenomena, mostly psychological in nature. I’m talking obsessive-compulsive disorder, overwrought imagination, borderline insanity and all range of other psychoses....

There are things we flat-out forget, attributable to in-the-moment amnesia. One year my roommate was passing under an inflated arch on the run course during Ironman Lake Placid at the same moment that an ambulance drove toward her. The ambulance was too tall to clear the arch, thus taking the whole thing down and deflating it in the process.

The flowy tent trapped Laura, who fell to the ground while spectators screamed, “Get her out!” Somehow she disentangled herself from the fabric tomb and went on to finish — only to forget the entire trauma until several days later. READ MORE