Philosophical Question

dscottmd - 2009-07-19 12:23 AM The pull of wanting to do longer races is there for me also.  Between work and family I simply don't have time to train for the longer ones right now.  My wife would say the same, but I don't need her to tell me, I get it already.  I've decided there is nothing wrong with simply working on getting faster at the sprint distance.  I finished my first one this year MOP in the swim and bike and BOP on the run for my age group.  I intend to focus on moving up in the ranks as my motivator.  Most of my workouts last an hour or less except for the long bike once a week and an occaional long run every other week.  I'm dropping weight, improving my fitness and having a blast which pretty much hits every goal I set out for.  It's simply my ego that is pulling me to longer races and for now I'm trying to keep that in check.  If I can manage a few longer workouts I may do an OLY at the end of the season and I'm doing a half marathon in October to work on my weakness, running, but for a working family man, it's hard to beat training for Sprint races as the best balance. 

tjtryon - 2009-07-19 3:38 AM I know lots of people who are happy doing 1-2 sprints/super sprints a year, just for the fun of it. Not all triathletes are suppering from Asperger's to the level that some of us are, fully obsessing with the limited topic of triathlon, getting ourselves in awkward social situations by only talking about ourselves and our triathlon training/races, and not being to adapt to changes in schedules that throw off our training. Those people know how to balance having a real life while still being able to train. Those are the socially "normal" people who are happy with not having to "up the ante" every season to something faster, longer or harder. Question for you and your training: Training for Sprints/Olys, how many hours a week? Levels for sprints/olys should not be enough to upset anyone but the most pain in the arse wife. My doctor suggests that people exercise for 30 minutes, 5 times per week. At a sprint level, you can easily train in that amount of time, providing you train smart, and just allow one of the 5 days to be a longer day (1 to 1.5 hours) by combining 2 of the 30 minute days and rotating between bike and run on the longer day. I've seen people do great on Olys with a well structured plan of 6-8 hours per week. HIM around 10 hours per week, and 140.6 at 13-15 per week. Some people need to train more, some need to train less. You can measure how long you need to train, and how your performance increases/decreases by checking your splits, test sets, etc. Unless you are a top AGer, keep your family 1st. Family is far more important to you than saving 5 minutes on a sprint triathlon. Trust me on this.

cymanski - 2009-07-19 5:49 PM As the parent whose first child is going off to college this Fall.  Take your time with the Sprints whle the kids are young and leave the longer stuff for the future.  There will come a time when they are a little older and you can up the ante.  And that time will come fast enough!!

Just my thoughts....

monkeyboy64 - 2009-07-20 6:37 AM Is Usain Bolt 'satisfied with sprints'? Should he really go for it and start competing in the 10,000? Everyone has reasons for their training and racing decisions, and family is as important a consideration as there is. There's nothing wrong with becoming a strong sprinter. You can always do other distances later.