SBR Utopia - OPEN (Page 51)

Fred: Great question... A lot of people get into tri after being in one of the 3 sports exclusively...maybe using it as a way to beat boredom, a new challenge or to hold of injury. Maybe they look at it as temporary until they get back to their main sport? I do have several friends that have been doing it for 10-20 years, those guys were doing tri back before it was popular/mainstream so maybe the new generations of triathletes will stick around bec it was a much more recognized sport when they started out in it...plus the gear has become so pricey....maybe that will force people to stay the course if they have invested a lot of money.

That said, I would be more concerned about people (age groupers) who think of Tri (or anything else) as the only worthwhile activity...and I have some of those friends too..they plan years down the line. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with having bucket list races, and obviously IM racing takes years in advance commitment but I am old and wise enough to know that nothing in life is certain...never put all your eggs in one basket etc etc. 

I look at Tri as a lifestyle but I know I would be just as happy doing other activities

Fred, I have nothing to add to what the others have said.  I think it's natural with any sort of activity to have a cycle of people coming and going.  Most will go, a few will stay for the long term, some will be in the middle.  My wife and I used to participate in dog sports a lot and at the time we couldn't imagine not doing that for a very long time.  Now, I can't imagine how I spent so much time at it.  

Ok, when I first read this I thought you said hubby was off on his mtn bike doing a century and thought that was just complete madness, LOL!

I should take jelly beans with me on long rides, sounds like a perfect pick me up snack!  

My training today was a 17 km run that started earlier in the day while it was still pretty cold as I wanted to get it done before the snow started.  A pretty decent run with 6k at M-pace - it was a bit of a struggle compared to what it usually feels like but it's done.  90 mins on the trainer tomorrow.

That sounds like a great group to be a part of!  I like how it sounds like they are breaking the stroke down to the fundamentals and building it up from there.  Is this a tri oriented group?

Darn it Arend...you caught my poor sentence structure He actually did 80 miles on a mtn bike once which was just crazy!

I recommend Jelly Belly, not the sport beans, the real deal!

That's an interesting observation and it appears that there are not many "lifers" out there.  I hear of many people venturing off into just running or cycling.  I did my first tri in the summer of 2009 so this summer will be my 4th season and I don't see 2014 being my last  Of course each year I have improved so I'm wondering what I'll do when the improving stops.  I'm guessing age will eventually settle in and it will be difficult to do things quicker.  I still like the sport and look forward to the spring and summer races.  Actually I figured when I die it will probably be while training or during a race so my Road ID has "Did I Win?" on it.

Jelly Belly's was a staple when I as mountain climbing a lot. 

I tried sport beans once, I couldn't understand why I would want to pay so much for a jelly bean.  

Here's a theory :

I remember reading an article that most will see improvement, year over year for the first 5 years, 7 max.

Depending on when you start, when aging kicks in.....maybe at first we see the improvement and chase it.Between fitness improvements, experience, equipment...we see tangible improvements

When we start showing less improvement, or aging slows us down, it becomes less encouraging. The effort required to improve becomes too much with work, familty, commitments

I think runners and cyclists have a tendency to do it more for fun and fitness. Triathletes seem a little more obsessive of results. Not all but some

Just a theory

Fred...great question.

I really don't know what will happen to me once I stop making improvements, but given my age, I'm hoping that won't happen for a while.  That said, I do look forward to training if not simply to interact with others in my training group.  We do lots of things together outside of training.  Some of them are older, or even much older than me and are past their prime, but they keep at it.

I really do enjoy training.  I've been involved in other hobbies that I have since given up, or do not do very often anymore.  Basketball, softball, golf, fantasy sports, video games, etc.  I'm pretty certain that goal oriented racing will not be a priority for the next 20 years, but I do think that overall training will be.  I like the way it makes me feel...so unless I find something that can make me feel just as good, or better, I don't see a reason why to stop. 

And for those that have given up the sport, I suppose they did find something better than triathlon for them.  So if that's the case...there's nothing wrong with that.  Life should be the pursuit of happiness.  There is no point in doing something just because...if you know something else would make you feel better.

How are things going for you? I've been able to walk same day, and others have as well (procedure dependent), but then felt a bit worse the next day. A good part of that was the surgery meds wearing off more so than actually being worse off.

Interesting issue.  We talked about this today in RRCA training.  (The instructor is a long-time runner, former <2:20 marathoner, who has continued endurance sport for decades, including tri, though not at that elite level.)  There were no brilliant insights, but things to think about.  I think that one factor might well be that after 4-6 years it is pretty hard to make very big gains, or even -- depending on age -- to maintain, and that can be discouraging.  Many of us agreed that being creative about new challenges is important, but that's a bit of a platitude.

I see older guys in my neighborhood who are clearly dedicated life-long runners and take joy in the act of running.  They don't have time goals.  They just love to run.  I've talked with some of them, and some of them used to be very fact.  They don't care about speed any more, and they tell me that they had to readjust their expectations pretty dramatically, but I've never heard one of them articulate clearly how they did that.

I do think that tri is somewhat different from running.  An experienced runner can stick with it (even still racing at a reasonably high level) running just 30-50 miles per week.  That's something like 4-10 hours per week (including the shower!) depending on pace.  One is unlikely to to perform at a high level in tri on that number of hours, not to mention that tri can be logistically very complicated for many people, especially if pools and places to ride are not convenient.  That complexity grates on the mind (and family relations) after a while.

Honestly, for exactly these reasons (and others) I've considered becoming a pure runner more than once, but at least for now, I feel like I've got more I'd like to accomplish at tri, and fortunately swimming and biking are not horribly difficult (logistically) for me to do.

I appreciate speed improvement but I really want to nail things down at race time.  Part of the challenge of IM is to race well.  Not just the training you put in but things you do on the race day.  Proper pacing.  Listening to your body.  Adjusting to what the day throws at you.

It's a good challenge because I feel like there's always room for improvement.  I've raced IM distance 4 times.  None of them was a perfect race, but I feel like I improved my execution each time.  Each one had different obstacles.  I doubt I'll ever have a "perfect" IM but I enjoy working towards it.

My Canada time this year was only 35 minutes off my best.  Think about that for a second.  My fitness was much worse due to my blood clot, and the course much hillier than Western Australia.  But I knew what I was working with and executed well with what I had.  That's an area you can improve at any age.

I agree, and even quote myself "Between fitness improvements, experience, equipment...we see tangible improvements"

Execution is huge. Pacing. Nutrition, Equipment....I believe pacing is the biggest.

Last summer I did 2 races at about the same fitness level. One was good for me, one was very average. Yet I was at the same fitness level. It was all pacing. Had I done both with the same execution, I am convinced I could have done equally well in both.

I think the "peek' in fitness improvement after that "7 years" also comes at the same time as some solid experience. BTW, I don't believe there is a "hard number" like 7.

But there are always ways to squeeze out improvements. When they become harder to squeeze out, then maybe that's when a good coach can help.

This is the fifth year I will be doing this stuff and it's the first year I have confidence I may be able to do well. I just need to keep injury away.

Not sure how the above could be offensive.

In tri we struggle to find the perfect balance between swim, run, bike. We want to do it all, with certain preferences influencing our choices

Life is no different. Balancing career, family, responsibilities and sport is a challenge. And there is no perfect balance. This balance changes a lot with age. My priorities at 20 are very different than 50. And I can say I have been very fortunate and have no regrets about any decisions I made in my life. And the decisions I made are just setting me up to continue to enjoy my life. But I know my lucky streak could be over any day and that's why I appreciate each day as it comes.

When you go to bed at night and feel you did a good, not a perfect, but a good job finding some kind of balance, you can sleep well

I have no ambitions to be the best in tri. I know it's impossible and trying to get there would be about making compromises i will not make.