I don't know.

On the one hand, people over inflate their training and work hours, and under inflate their sleep hours.

On the other hand, I've been in her shoes, "working" and training about that much, so it can be done, but it leaves a mark.

She's only 30, perhaps has another couple of years before the HPTA axis starts gyrating off center and the stress fractures come.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

I lived that schedule, only working more and sleeping less...... from 2006 to 2016. And mostly held it together. Only partially alienated my family. Mostly excelled at work. Got faster but not nearly as fast as I wanted to be. My coach told me point blank, that my work schedule was preventing me from making athletic improvements, but it did pay the bills.

During my last triathlon in 2016 I realized that I was just tired. Vowed to not ride my bike for a year and didn't miss it a bit. I raced one tri in 2017 on residual fitness.

It's been nice getting an extra hour or two of sleep every night since I didn't need to get up to swim. I've run a modest amount of miles and stayed in shape. But, I've finally got the itch to get back in to tri and have signed up to race next summer.



ETA: yes, I'm dumb.

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Jason
None of the secrets of success will work unless you do.

Good for her. The article seems somewhat balanced compared with some other write ups I have seen.

Yep. Numbers are so subjective. OC behavior, maybe. Dumb ? Let's say excessive for most people.
Energy levels are different for every person. Energy expenses are so different in any jobs both physically and mentally, it's hard to draw a line.
I know when I finish a day where I spent 8 "rush" hours on my feet preparing food for hundreds of people, I can't have a decent quality workout either running or cycling.
When I'm doing office (sitting) hours, bring the intensity, no problems.

Louis :-)

good for her for the dedication. hopefully once she turns pro and is not working her normal job full-time she'll get a bit of rest. I hope new triathletes don't read that and think that's the sort of schedule they need to do to do an ironman. I've been lucky in that I have been able to choose jobs where I don't need to work long hours on any consistent basis. I work from home now and still am not interested in putting in huge volume for my training.

there is nearly zero correlation between "turning pro" and a positive income stream... unless you mean she'll just have the financial flexibility to work less and train more for awhile.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Yes and then financial stress can compound itself. I do admire her tenacity, and she obviously is very talented, but this sort of thing won't work out for another 999/1000 triathletes. I have a feeling in 10 years she will have some regrets about burning the candle at both ends. As an aside, it is always interesting to watch athletes convert from work to sport full time. I have talked about a few over the years, insanely talented, like Lionel talented, but many of them ended up getting injured pretty quickly and then flushed out of the sport. Being a professional athlete for her should look like more sleep, and hopefully she doesn't fall into the trap (pressure) that becomes overtraining and burnout.

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she's going from working 60 hours a week to one day a week. so if she now has an extra 48 hours a week that previously was taken up working hopefully she can take some of that time to get more sleep.

Well the article says she'll be working one day a week come January... so yes it can be assumed she'll work less and train more for awhile..

Right, which is a personal and professional choice... unrelated to “going pro”

I would argue that instead of training more (assuming she’s honest about her training hours) she should just sleep more and see how that goes for awhile

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Her training really doesn't seem all that crazy. And working from 7 til 5:30 is a pretty normal schedule (and a 55hr week, not 60).

90min in the morning, bike commute, swim/run in the afternoon, and longer sessions on the weekends. Seems like if she wants to go pro, she could replace that commute time with a bit more structure and maybe some intensity. But volume seems to mostly be there already, probably ~20hrs?

Fitter Radio recently interviewed her. Episode #290. I thought it was a fun interview. Worth a listen. I didn’t think her work and training load came across as dumb but it blows my mind how people can work long hours and still train that hard. It’s difficult enough with ‘normal’ work hours! It sounds like she had a huge amount of support from zwift this year so hopefully she is on the right track to be successful as a pro.

She’s likely underestimating her sleep hours. She’s probably 6-7 hours during the week and 7-9 on the weekend. I have a similar sleep schedule though I have been trying to get 7 hours during the week this past year.

Even if she isn’t underestimating it, I do think some people can operate with less sleep than others. Swimmers for example, have been waking up at the ass crack of dawn since middle school or high school. Not many people can function with the schedule swimmers have. They get used to operating on very little sleep and still perform well (at sport, in school, and still have a social life). Don’t get me wrong, there is always a fine line and at some point it can have negative affects. That line is different for everyone though.

I think calling her dumb isn’t really appropriate. She destroyed the women AG field so she’s obviously doing positive things. I think she has a potential to be similar to Lucy Charles.... win the kona AG race and then podium as a pro. My prediction is that we will see on the pro podium within 5 years.

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blog

It’s that “I can do it all” flex. One can do this temporarily till it crashes down.

How many papers do we have to read about how important sleep is for long term mental and physical health and performance?

If you have a desk job it’s easy to train after a long day. I’m cabin crew so my days of work are usually at least 10-13 hours with the occasional 7-10 hour day. 90% of it on my feet, walking, pulling/pushing 400lb carts, 10-30lb atlas boxes, etc. It’s actually quite a physical job. After those long days on my feet, it’s hard to train well. Even after a trip, my first workout at home is usually a moderate ride or swim. Day 2-3-4 at home I can really get after it.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

How do you know she’s only doing this schedule in the 3-4 months lead up to a big race?? People always brag about their big training weeks, how much they training, and how little they sleep. But no one really mentions or cares about what happens after the race or in the off season. Her training has likely been very scaled down and with a lot more rest since kona. That’s the time to re-charge the batteries (mentally and physically) in order to set you up for the demanding training leading into a big race.

I don’t see anything wrong with what she’s doing (at least what’s been put out there in public) as long as that schedule is in the weeks/months lead up to a race. It’s definitely not sustainable 365 days of the year but I highly doubt that’s the case with her. She would have been burnt out wayyy before kona if she was.

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blog

I have to increase my sleep hours while at the same time increase my training hours, otherwise I get sick.

Training outside is important. Every time someone says they just train inside it annoys me. And I'm a guy who got demolished by an SUV.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Did they say how much she trains, could not see that number. Once you have a look at the numbers she is doing exactly what heaps of other hard working AG are doing, she is very good at it.

This looks like any FOP hard working AG who bikes and runs most days fitting it around the schedule they have and lifting volume on the weekends. No mention of kids or a partner.

Her 60 hour work week is not supported by the article which has her working 7 to 530, with rides in and back, getting changed showered factored in.

Great runner

Everything about the Zwift tri academy is cringe AF. Was glad to see Lippert choke in Kona.

I thought about this post and changed it three times as I am still putting my bitterness in. She is the EA to the CIO, a 30 year old who answers the phone and manages a calendar. I respect her choice but please don't claim that as a high stress demanding job.

Lots of people who don't "get it" just don't live that kind of lifestyle.
I work in the medical field which often entails crazy hours when undertaking specialty training and then working as a specialist. Most people are very driven to work those hours and have a balanced life outside of medicine. Most are highly organised and adept at cutting out time wasting parts of their triathlon training (eg just by training in my garage I automatically increase my efficiency over those who always ride outdoors). They are used to balancing difficult work schedules and disruptions through on call rosters and travel.
Is it healthy? Is it sustainable? Is it coming at the significant cost of other aspects of her life? Hard to say, but if she is enjoying it then why should we be judging it like this.

She’s a pa

Dad up at 5 run or ride

Get kids ready pack lunches

Drop kids off

Drive 40 min to work

Work

Shorter run or swim

Pick kids up feed them get them to bed maybe work out again

Longer workouts on weekend

Congratulations to her: the success in Kona proved that she did everything right at least from a triathlon point of view.
I'm always a bit jealous how people get so good in so little time: I'm 13 years in the sport now constantly trying to get better but I have the feeling that my training methods are still not ideal.

Indeed it seems that she does not have kids or a partner (correct me when I'm wrong) and that makes it a LOT easier to plan your training/work schedule. My kids are out of the house shortly but in those 13 years I had to manage Training, work AND family. Not only the time you spent with your family, also short term obligations towards the family makes it more difficult to plan your training and work.

I used to sleep 7 or 8 hours which was not enough for me: now I sleep 9 hours which is better and which makes me faster. From this point of view I can't understand how to function with 6 hours although some people seem to need less sleep.

She has a partner who is a cyclist according to other articles.

I'm surprised she doesn't also have 3 kids and volunteer overseas for habitat for humanity every weekend. Me? I literally do nothing but sleep and triathlon. Probably not a very compelling interview.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

Working 60 hr a week right now and loosing more time with my commute. Sleeping 5.5/6 and it sucks. Always tired 😴💤

Through the week I'm get 30 mins a day on the bike but that's it. Weekend suck to because I need sleep.... I don't no how people can do it

Could be right, could be way wrong. I'm (one of several) finance directors for a fairly large public company and work closely with our CFO. I'd wager our CFOs EA knows more about what is going on in the company than 99.7% of the employees and likely myself. She easily pulls 50-60 hour work weeks and to indicate being committed to work for that long each week isn't stressful isn't correct. I'm not saying she's making decisions that will eventually cause a ripple on the P&L, but she's working a lot and that is stressful regardless.

I need to learn to be as effective as her. I’m not quite sure how she manages to wake up at 4:30, get in 1.5hr bike or run then cycle to work and be at her desk by 7. All while fitting in breakfast and showering, etc. That’s impressive. Curious how long the bike commute actually is.

This is, very over dramatically, the key, the problem with America, the problem with triathletes, etc. and also the main point of this thread.

It's not her "turning pro-ness", it's not her talent, it's not the 430am (this is not early!!!), it's not her work ethic. It's her time. It's her effectiveness.

It's obvious she lives and works and swims in the same neighborhood. In addition to all the other traits that get kicked around about "Kona qualifiers", time management (and by extension logistics and a livable city) is an important one.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

Two things:

1: I swam thru college and I always managed to get no less than 7 hours sleep.we had 5am practice 3x a weeks, and I had 8a class the other days, and 6a-10a on Sat.

2: being fast doesn’t make you “not dumb.”

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

 
Anybody knows why sometime she is called Ruth Purbrook and on her insta / twitter / facebook is called Ruth Astle ?

When people complain that they've had a 60 hr week, I, not jokingly, say I've had one of those too . . . most of mine are much longer!!

I'm not sure what you don't get??

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

A full time job

A part time job

60+ hours every week

Out Drinking about every night (lived above a bar)

Show up hung over and smash a bike race on Saturday

Drive across the state

Smash a triathlon on Sunday

Ahhhh to be 20 again 😀

Now I wake up with a sore thumb from using the remote too much the night before

I see this fluff piece omitted the part where her "60hr workweek" is as an executive assistant, unlike the last one.

I swam through college as well. I know the schedule.

How is she dumb exactly? Is she dumb just because she doesn’t get 8-9 hours of sleep every night? Unless you know more about her specific training and schedule than what interviews/articles have shown, your statement is really out of line.

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IMHO it's not healthy, which makes it dumb.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

For some reason, triathletes like to eat their own. Here's someone out there living her life, enjoying sport, and seemingly pretty happy with how things are going. You, for some reason, disapprove and accuse her of both being dumb and unhealthy. Not sure why her lifestyle deserves any judgement from you, but here we are.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

I agree almost everyone inflates training hours and work hours. The most important part is sleep hours!

On my side I have been doing 800 hrs of training/exercise per year and roughly 2500 hrs of sleep per year for around 30 years. On the work front, it typically levels out at 2200 hrs per year (so I sleep more than I work which is my objective). The last two years starting my own tech company I do work way more than that, but it feels like tech hobby and not work and my office is 2 km from home, I have two pools within a 5 min ride, running trails that connect my office and home, so its all more like continuous training and work all going on all the time. I just view it all as "life"....revenue generating part of life and revenue consuming part of life, and not 'work + training' anyway.

Sleep is overrated

Divorce

Respect her achievement and her choices. The article misleads on a number of things as these pieces generally do:

The job is a PA not CTO, CIO head architect.

Is this every week or peak weeks.

The training hours are not out of the ordinary for FOP AG

She has done really well, wish her all the best as a pro

OK, thanks.
So I guess Purbrook is her real name and Astle the name of his ex-husband. Beginning as a pro for 2020 I guess she will fix that.

Digital image..... one of the kids choose name of an AD&D character for Facebook account.... now working he realized he need to change that...

I'm not saying all triathletes do this, I know many put in some serious hours of serious training, but my observations have been that many people who boast of training 15-20+ hours per week are often stating their lifetime peak volume and acting like they average that year-round, and/or being really generous/ridiculous with what they count as training time.

My favorites are (these are real, not jokes/fibs) (i) the guy who counts driving 20 minutes to the pool, 40-minute swim, drive 20 minutes home, as 80 minutes of swimming, and (ii) the guy who tracks every minute he's in the gym for lifting sessions and adds that onto run/bike/swim time (never mind that a half-hour gym session is maybe 10 minutes of actual exertion).

I am not sure how many age grouper do you know that get a solid sponsorship deal and an article in a big nat paper making it easier to find more sponosors ...
looks more like she is a good networker .

I read somewhere that the person on top of the mountain didn’t fall there. Turns out it takes a lot of hard work to be the fastest AG in Kona.

Also this is a broad and uninformed generalization.

Do I really need to say “n=1” after everything...I’ve had desk jobs and physical jobs. It’s easy to train after a day at the desk vs 14 hours on your feet, it just is.

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"The person on top of the mountain didn't fall there." - unkown

also rule 5

Still a broad and uninformed generalization. “Desk job” covers a lot of ground and just because yours was easy and left you plenty of time and energy to train doesn’t mean they are all like that. Sort of like saying anyone who only sleeps 6 hours a night is dumb.

Even the same desk job feels totally different day to day. You can have a nice day with no major incidents and you can handle according to schedule. Then on the other hand you can have days where many things go wrong at the same time and you are mentally exhausted just by reacting to stuff. That's me anyway. Putting on the running shoes takes a bit more effort in such cases.

I think ones commute has a huge affect on training, and quality of life. If you can get your home, office, and pool in a reasonable distance from each other, everything becomes easier. As somebody who commuted 90 minutes each way 20 years ago, I now do 7 minutes on a bad day. I would never do that type of commute again. Living and training is so much easier without it. She seems to have a reasonable commute since she cycles it.

I wish I could sleep 6 hours a night! I used to sleep like the dead. Insomnia started in my mid 50s. *sigh* If only they would let me nap at work!

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"Remember: a bicycle is an elegant and efficient tool designed for seeking out and defeating people who aren't as good as you."

--BikeSnobNYC

You could have just aired your scepticism on Herbert's original thread on the ST interview.

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/..._interview_P7066704/

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29 years and counting