The internet seems to be full of “HTFU” nowadays. It’s casually tossed about as the solution to all that ails mankind. Hate your job? HTFU. Feeling depressed?... constipated?... chapped lips?... HTFU! Yes, those four little letters, short for “Harden the Fuck Up”, seem to have the same magical properties as weight loss pills and the ShamWow in making all our problems instantly go away.
The origins of the term are unclear, though some credit an Aussie comedy show for its creation. I first heard the phrase a few years ago, when Team CSC adopted it as its mantra, complete with black wristbands made up by Stuart O’Grady for the team, for the 2007 Tour de France. The peeps at Slowtwitch.com, being the friendly bunch of type A personalities that they are, quickly adopted it as the un-official forum slogan, and now anything remotely resembling a whine, complaint or the faintest hint of weakness by a forum poster becomes a contest to see who can post “HTFU” the fastest. It’s quite amusing actually, of not altogether predictable.
Well, I’m here to tell you that HTFU may not be the universal fix-all, after all. Heresy, you say! I hope Slowtitchia doesn’t get wind of this, as I will surely be excommunicated, or at the very least forced to race my next triathlon in a pink wetsuit and skirt. But let me tell you, my most recent attempt to employ the sage HTFU advice ended up a complete disaster. Fran and Angelina had been sick for the better part of the last week, and by last Friday I was starting to feel a cold coming on also. If their suffering was any indication, this was going to be a whopper of a cold once it kicked in. By Saturday there was no denying I was coming down with something, and I woke up on Sunday completely congested and feeling generally yucky. What to do? Why… go for a long bike ride, of course! HTFU. So, after shaking off the initial misery and loading up on Dayquil, off I rolled for a nice long ride. Well, after three hours of that foolishness I packed it in and retired to watch the Superbowl. Unfortunately, by halftime it was already becoming evident that this little experiment would not end well. By Monday things had deteriorated to the point that I couldn’t even muster the willpower for an easy spin in the gym (if you know how manic I’ve been about not missing a workout lately, you’ll know that that’s saying a lot), and by yesterday I was laid out in bed… down for the count. HTFU, indeed.
So, I’m willing to go on record and say that this little experiment in HTFU has failed miserably and that, despite what the good folks over at Active.com say about exercising with a cold (yes, I should have known better, as this came from more triathletes), the best remedy for that scratchy throat and runny nose is lots of beer and a totally sedentary lifestyle. The more potato chips, the better. In fact, I’ll bet you $10 that a plate of taquitos and some Fat Tire Ale will surely speed recovery much faster than any aerobic workout.
Of course, never being one to learn from my own mistakes, I woke up this morning and took the fact that I didn’t have a splitting migraine as a sure sign that I needed to run 7 miles at lunch. We’ll see how that works out for me.
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