for swimming in the pool there is no proper substitute.
If you have shitty roads or bad air you can build up a grate base on treadmills or smart trainer.
there is no such thing (easy accessible) for swimming.
And open water is in general a huge barrier for some people especially when you are around with a bunch of other swimmers

Time

IME, it is the swim. Most of my interested friends came up with cheap equipment for the bike. But, it was the swim that held them back. They either were not decent swimmers. Or, they had no reasonable place to swim.

In the USA...…..culture.

We have become obese, generation Z is not that interested in sports, this sport cost a lot, and takes up a lot of time.

To me the biggest barrier is the overwhelmingness of having to Swim + Bike + Run. And the fact that you can't just go "try" it. You can't just show up to your local pool sprint and try it out. You go out and walk a 5k in 45 mins. You do that at the sprint level it's going to take you 2+ hours, and then add in the fact that you have to swim.

I see people all the time going in and "dying" after 1 25yd or even a 50yd swim. "Oh man that's hard". Ok well do that 7 more times and that's the most basic triathlon race level....oh yeah and then go bike for 50 mins and run for 45 mins on top of all that.


The totality of the sport + it includes swimming is just always going to be a huge barrier. You must actually train for even the most basic 1st time newb race.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

As an outsider to triathlon, I am always surprised how big tri is in spite all of the barriers to entry (equipment and facilities). Seems bigger than cycling and swimming alone.

I think it is a combination of a lot of things.
I talk to so many people who want to try it, but always hear the same things. Usually it is a fear, or lack of experience swimming in open water. They don't have a bike. They were never a runner. They don't have the time. etc etc
They also don't know where to start, and how to structure getting ready for a triathlon. Most other sports are single activity sports... lets say tennis... you get a racket and go to a tennis court and hit the ball around versus triathlon with all the equipment required for three sports and the places you have to go to train and race.
I think too that people have this perception that they have to be prepared to race... rather than just show up and do it. They are intimidated.
For a lot of people wanting to do it it looks like (and is) a big commitment just to try something that they are not sure they will really enjoy...

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Member of the Litespeed Factory Team
www.litespeed.com

Its not bigger than cycling alone. I see bikes everywhere......I don't see too many triathletes.

The barrier to entry is also what attracts many of us to the sport. If everyone could/would do it, I suspect you would see a very different culture and demographic around triathlon in general.

The people that are attracted to it and make it a priority are exactly the people who know what the phrase "We don't do it because it's easy. We do it because it's hard" means.

Swim, swim swim. X10. Obviously.

Almost nobody entering these things is afraid of the bike and run. If anything, newbies tend to dramatically underestimate the bike, assuming 'they can already bike', and can survive the run.

But swimming? That's the major barrier. It takes a long time to learn to swim decently well. Then you neet a wetsuit. Then you need pool access, reguarly, to improve your stroke if you're a green swimmer. Then you need to get open water swim practice before race day. By the time you're done with thinking about all that, most newbs think 'f-that, no way.'

I think it's promotion of the sport. Running at all distances gets a lot of exposure. Cycling gets exposure. Swimming gets exposure. Kids are able to participate in all 3 at a very early age. Triathlon... Not so much. Most kids have never even heard of the sport. The ones that have are the kids who has a family member involved and even fewer of those kids will have attempted a kids race. So we have a sport that basically no one has heard of until they become an adult and meander over from a different discipline. Most townspeople in a local event don't even know that the tri is happening until the day of the event. The sport is notoriously bad at getting information about training/ events/ etc. and even worse at getting builder/ feeder programs established for the youths.

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

Ok, so I disagree here a little bit. Or rather I've seen people just go and "Try-it" usually poor results. Best example, this guy I was chatting to in the vic next to us at first sprint this year. It was a pool spring and the water was heated to like 86, it was awful. In the guy's limited research he learned about wetsuits, well he bought a surfing wetsuit. I didn't see him get in the wetsuit, they sent the slow swimmers first and I see this guy struggling in the pool. He had just purchased a pretty cheap duel suspension mongoose. So...yeah, there are folks who show up for sprints to just try it.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Without question its the swim. I am a competitive amateur and have friends that are elite ultra runners, cyclists and just general athletes and I hear regularly that they would do it but they can't swim and I don't blame them. I taught myself to swim 6 weeks before my first tri and the first 6 weeks were miserable, the rest of the first year wasn't great, second year I didn't mind it and now that I am a 1hr Ironman swimmer in my third year I finally enjoy it. Compare that with running where most people enjoy it after regularly doing it for 6 weeks and cycling many enjoy from the very beginning. You can also start group running and cycling almost from the beginning and although in theory you can join masters with swimming, its pretty intimidating until you get to a decent level and still not very social.

So your picking a handful of examples to counter my overwhelming point that most certainly most people don’t just pop in for a triathlon.


There isn’t a whole lot of people that go sign up for a tri 10 days from now. I don’t care that you can nitpick 2 examples that now “disagrees” with that experience I’ve seen in triathlon.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I started training and racing a year ago. For me, the barrier was swimming. I'm lucky in terms of facilities...I have a cheap gym near me with a pool and 2 of our tri club members open their lakeside homes to us damn near every weekday to swim in. All I read in those first 2-3 months were OWS warnings...getting kicked in the face, pulled, punched, anxiety, cold water, being pulled out of the water, cardiac arrest etc. Dying during a sport is not something people want to risk. I did a mud run once every year or so and never felt any danger...it was just fun. Lining up for my first tri I had to rid of thoughts that I could die.

Of course financially it's a huge barrier too. This is the primary reason we see fields that are predominantly 40+ year olds who have disposable income. The MINIMUM price even if you somehow have an adequate amount of bike, swim and running gear is still going to be well over $100 to do a local sprint. We (millennials) can't afford houses and have student loan debt out of the ass so taking on a sport that will inevitably cost thousands of dollars doesn't sound appealing.

Ok, so serious question. Would you consider a one and done of an Ironman Race as a "try-it"? Because I know you've seen and met plenty of those people.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Besides the general perception that exercise is painful and sucks... the need to train and equip for 3 completely different sports.

No I’m talking about ppl signing up the week of a race. You don’t just try triathlon cold off the street like you can the local 5k.

There seriously are lots of ppl that will “walk” a local 5k for charity for their work once a year and do zero training. But again it’s just walking for 50 mins at worse.

You cant really do that with triathlon. Ppl don’t just “oh hey I see a flyer for tri I’m going to do it” even though I’ve never s/b/r.

So triathlon there is an commitment before you even so a damn sprint that isn’t the case in other endurance events.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Within the greater culture, there is a perception about triathletes. Most of it has come from the good will built by Ironman. That triathlon is tough. And well...it is. And most people don't want to do tough shit in their leisure.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Do you realize how long it will take a person who just “shows up” for a tri like many do for charity 5k’s.

They’ll probably easily swim 3:00+/100 if not stop and wait 1 min + after each wall. So pool swim 300 could easily take then 15 mins. Add in 5 mins of T’s “what do you mean I’m only 1/3rd way done”.

12 mile bike will likely take 1 hour. 5k run well If they are doing it in a charity at 45 mins, after SB fatigue probaly at 1 hour.

So your likely looking at someone just showing up and walking a 5k in 45 mins vs same effort for tri would easily take them ~2hr30min.

So nearly 3 times what they would put out energy wise in just the “charity” 5k. Not many people are doing that.

I’m really not sure what your disagreeing with. It’s stupid what your disagreeing with me on.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

That I've definitely seen multiple people just "show up" and do pool sprints on a whim. And yeah, the number fits somewhere between what I can count up based on the digits on my hands and feet. And yes, for the most part, these folks struggle.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

This! Almost everyone has SOME experience biking and running and generally overestimates their ability even if they haven't been on a bike for a decade. Maybe some feel like they need a super bike to start, but think most will feel like any old road bike or even mountain bike will suffice while they try out their first sprint or mini sprint. I remember my first tri. I trained hard for swim as I was essentially starting from zero. Figured bike and run were things I had in the bag. Borrowed a buddy's 56cm bike (I ride 51cm now!) with cages for race day only and felt "fast" the whole time. Think I did ~17-18mph,...lol.