cartsman wrote:
Before you get somewhere close to your optimal fitness you need :
1) The commitment/selfishness to want to do it in the first place.
2) The resources (time and money) to make it happen.
3) Smart decision making
Well said. I'm an outsider/beginner to the sport, but that much is clear.
Have y'all watched those "Quest for Kona" videos? I've watched a few and so far no one has KQed. And these are people who are profiled because they pretty much do the above.
Very few of us get close to our potential, but even if we did, we'd need very few others to get close to their potential (we're competing against others after all).
And I still think you need natural talent. I've been around track and field and endurance sports for 40+ years and have observed that talent is kinda a big deal. Less so in endurance sports and less so as you get older and fewer of the talented folks are competing, but it's still a big factor.
I've been around top level D1 T&F - I was a D1 conference champ and my son was a D1 All-American - and have been around D3 - my son is a coach at the D3 school I work at - and the differences in talent are visually obvious.
One of my students was on the track team and loves running more than anyone has loved running. He worked so hard. He came closer to his potential than just about anyone. He just had no talent. He never did qualify for the conference meet (again, it's D3). Now I see him at local ultra races and he places fairly high up in the field. A below average D3 runner is a very good recreational runner. But he's never going to qualify for top level races. And if he did triathlon, I doubt he could ever KQ. Or maybe his short muscular legs would be good for cycling.
I was over 200 lbs as a scrawny six-packed college high jumper. I have many years of hard training in front of me if I want to reach my potential in triathlon, but do I ever have the potential to KQ? Maybe Marcel Kittel could KQ, but I kinda doubt that my big body could be transformed into a top-level triathlete, even in the over 60 division.
I'm trying to get better, but "anyone can KQ" seems like "you can achieve anything". Nice thought, but not really true.