I have been at it for 7 years. I'm 28 and I just passed the bar. However, I'm really worrying right now about my future in this sport. It's something that has been a staple in my life for a long time, but I'm scared that to become a good attorney, I am going to have to sacrifice a lot of my training time early in my career.

I don't know if this is when I should continue or just drop it all.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

I'm assuming you'll have a heavy load and or stressed. Getting out on the bike or hour lunch run a day or a weekly masters session could be the perfect remedy. I think that's the one thing to keep in mind. You don't have to do the sport only with a FOP viewpoint. You can simply use this sport as a total stress reliever, and if so as long as you change your goal/mindset you'll have a ton of fun with. It's when people like your situation stress over trying to do 2 things really well, and one suffers but they don't then change their viewpoint that they start hating it. But if your a person that cant just "enjoy" it, then yeah put the bike away for 10 years and come back at a later date.

So in your case, sacrifice training, but just change your viewpoint/goals and you'll have receive as much satisfaction as you did when you were all in. Because then you'll likely be a kick ass fit attorney that uses triathlon in the right prospective for your current career focus years.

ETA: Now of course that's hard as hell to do, it's sorta an "ego check" that I think some people simply don't want to handle. Going from FOP, train all you want to limited hours and thus limited results, that can be hard to handle for some people. But I also think it's a mindset of being process oriented versus results based.

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

Nope, I live in Brazil, and New Zealand is a developed country. ;)

Unless you have goal to become a pro, you need to enjoy the training sessions if you are seeking longevity in this sport. And I don't mean the training sessions where a coach is constantly driving you to go faster.

A useful question to ask yourself is - "Would I be swim/bike/running every week if there were no such sport as triathlon?" If the answer is yes, then you have a good chance of making this exercise regime part of your lifestyle regardless of whether there is a competition to aim for. And a lifestyle based around these three disciplines that you enjoy will lead to longevity in the sport and an almost permanent state of fitness.

Having said that, most people want to challenge themselves against others to gauge how they are going. This can help with motivation when the spirit is flagging and the prospect of missing a training session is inviting.

Lastly, the beauty of this sport is that persistence and consistency over the decades will pay off in spades.

I'm at year 33 myself doing triathlons and just can't see myself giving up the streak. Also as an Exercise Physiologist and health club owner, being overweight and lazy isn't being a good role model for my members so I have no choice but to keep going. Sad thing is that I've been through so many training groups of friends over the decades and I'm the only one left standing. A few years back I started mixing in Xterra races and really love going off road. Crashing however at age 57 isn't so fun at times and pretty much par for the course in mtb racing. Maybe the new Road-Optional races will take hold in the states because you have to keep things interesting.

Amen to that.

Train 1 hr/day and rotate through the three such that you have 7 S, 7 B, and 7 R every 3 weeks. Only race local/regional sprints and Oly, e.g. races within say a 4 hr drive.

Further, at the risk of quibbling over semantics, I really do not think "hobby" is the right word for triathlon. It is an endurance sport so let's just call it that. You are a full-fledged attorney now and as such should be quite good with words. A hobby is something like gardening, stamp collecting, woodworking, or restoring old cars or houses; none of these require you to get out of breath for more than a few seconds every once in a while. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Been at it for 5 years here, and this rings pretty true with me. Though I don't really keep pushing harder to beat other people, or my friends, rather to see if I can one up myself, beat my previous times/races.

I do question and think about how how long I will do this for, but for now I genuinely enjoy it. If I was not training for a specific race, or trying to stay in tip top shape, I would still be doing all three disciplines, albeit slower and with much less focus/intensity.

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Tough Times Don't Last, Tough People Do.

My wife did an ironman last October. She trained really hard for it for 9 months, had a great race and experience - and has not been on her bike or near a pool in the 12 months since then - she's run a few times and goes to the gym a couple of times a week.

It just took too much out of her and she's turned off totally from triathlon now. It's a big commitment in terms of time and money - it took over her life for the best part of a year and she grew to resent it.

Last 30 september I raced the 70.3 Cascais, where 5 AG M65-69 and 5 AG M70-74 finished. I mean.. Triathlon is a sport of 40 years! The firsts old fashioned atheletes are arriving.

Main reasons that do people hang-down of competitive triathlon:
- triathlon races are every year more expensive and more and more crowded. So you have to really think about do a race, and you would do it only if you are fit enought to enjoy. Many people swich back from triathlon to other "one sport" (marathon, trails...) or more funnier (swim-run?)...
- when you start you cannot train a lot.. your "life" is not focused in training, you have not such endurance to train many hours... as far as your life is focused in triathlon and you can train more and more hours, many people do that.. and they will improve their performance at the same time... until a peak.. at this peak their performance is not going to increase so easy, they try to train more, to train harder.. normally too much than they can support (it increases the stress their life / family / work, it increases the injury rate, the probability of having an accident), the age also helps.. the older we are, the more time we need to recover... all that means... at some point if we cannot fin an equilibrated state of enjoy sport / time invested (not spent) in training / family / work / recovery ... we will end exhaust, tired, overtrained, injuried, unhappy, frustrated...

In my opinion, in one point we have to step back and decide not to race so much, not to train so much, to find the exact quantity of run, swim and ride we can enjoy, and in this point we will do sport as fun, and we would be finishers with 65 or 70 (if health allow us to do it). If not.. we will swich to other sport or couch-surfing.

I really dont think cost/money is the reason. Triathlon really is not that expensive for a person with a normal academic job, unless they absolutely WANT it to be (read must have a p5x etc). Sure some initial cost etc. but i really dont see that as the problem.

It is 100 % the time consumption! It works fine when you are just a couple and dont have kids, once you have kids, well, i cant seem to see how that would fit together (talking IM distance at least), untill the kids get older.Which is why I guess a lot of people 50+ are into tri, kids have moved out, need something new to use the time on.

Cost/money is one reason. When you are not able to be fit enough.. you are more restrictive to expend so many mony in a sport "only for remember that other are fitter than you, that you are every year worse..."

I don't think in this way, but I have seen many times, people that are tired to expend so many money for races that are every year more and more expensive, and more and more crowded.

One example, in Spain, Triathlon of Vitoria was a middle/full distance which cost between 200-350 EUR (depende on the distance), it was a crowded event, but for 2019 it will be Ironman branded... the price has been doubled! to 600 EUR, with more people. It is more atractive for international athletes of course, it is not all bad... but for many people it was a door closed, and they need to find an alternative. They could pay the price increase, but they simply don't want to pay the double for the same or less (since they don't value the M DOT).

It is complicated, but there are many other sports with same problem: for example Swimmers when they reach the finish of their competitive life and need to swich to "masters" many of them left the sport.... the thing with the triathlon is that is even more complicated and more expensive.

I've been doing tris for about 10 years now, several races every year but never super long. I know that for me, if I committed to a training schedule that is essentially a part-time job, I'd have no desire to do tris so I've always done shorter races.

Aside from being much more susceptible to injury now than I was 10 years ago - the novelty of it has gone. I loved the excitement of the swim not knowing what the conditions would be like - now I just go and do ocean swim races instead. I don't have a tri bike, wet suit or super gifted parents so I'll never be competitive. I don't mind that other people have gifted parents but I never liked the aspect of tri that gives racers an advantage if they have the $$$.

So during my "break" (1 year for now, I'll review again next year) I'm doing a lot of trail running which I'm loving, refocusing on ocean swims again (we are hopefully moving closer to the beach soon), and lots of vigorous sweaty yoga. I still do all three sports but do not have a race as the end goal. It's given me a lot of freedom to "listen" to my body and not stress out when it does break down... For me, the break was due to the injuries but also doing the same same all the time ... I don't think the break will be forever though.

9 years so far, 12 IM's and about 20 halfs.

It has taken over life, but it's taken over a life that had a big hole in it (wife left me, taking the 3 kids so only a part time parent) and it's stopped me doing things even more destructive instead.

I still love it but do feel the end is coming, perhaps 2-3 years. I qualify for KOna legacy this year so will get to the big dance one way or another in that sort of timescale and that, at this point, looks a good way to bow out.

Came into it from doing just running and a bit of vanity pushing weights down the gym; hated the swimming early on, especially open water. I'll leave the sport with a profound love of cycle time trialling (there's a superb Vets scene in the UK, guys racing competitively into their 60s, 70's - even 80s) and open water adventure type swimming so will be able to do those things for themselves not as part of 'getting fit for Ironman'.

It's been expensive, all consuming but rewarding. I hope I do stop at the right time though.

I think triathlon as something to be involved in, as a keen competitor, has become pretty horrible. I started in 2000 and in the UK even then it was a bunch of people having fun with the odd really quick guy or girl in there too. Now nobody seems to have 'fun' doing it. Everyone has a coach, a lot of people I know have their own facebook profile and then a 'first name-last name triathlete' profile too AND a website - seriously, why?

The idea of doing the sport, for fun, has gone - as I see it. It isn't that much fun for me tbh going and competing with egotistical, aggressive people who give you abuse on the bike for doing something they perceive to be wrong. I've done loads but in the last 3 years I have done 2...I don't find myself looking to enter more races either. Sadly.

I know very few people who I would consider to be "proper" triathletes over a long period. By "proper" I mean people who train consistently in all 3 disciplines, and enter multiple triathlons every year. And that's for the reasons above - it's expensive and time-consuming. The people I know who are like that are ones whose lives largely revolve around triathlon - they're either single or have partners/spouses who are also into endurance racing, they're active members of their tri club and they socialise with triathletes. They also either have jobs associated with sport and/or jobs which give them plenty of free time to train.

I know a lot more people who are more like me. People who stay generally pretty fit by doing some combination of swim, bike or run, but who dip in and out of actually racing triathlons. They might easily go a few years between triathlons if they're busy with young kids, work or other life stuff (I'm just back from a 9 year break in triathlons, though did a lot of biking/running in that time and quite a few duathlons as well as bike and run races).

Not sure there is much that triathlon can change to attract people in the second category to race more. Races are always going to be somewhat expensive given the need to accommodate all 3 disciplines, safety marshals, insurance, etc, as well as the need for a wetsuit and a tri bike if you're halfway serious. And it's always going to be pretty time-consuming training for 3 sports, unless you're lucky enough to have done so much swimming as a junior that you can just rock up and be top quartile in a triathlon swim with little to no training. Seems to me that duathlon should be the answer - eliminating the swim cuts down on the training time (and the leg that most triathletes seem to like the least), and also gives much more flexibility on race venues once you don't need a large body of water. But for whatever reasons duathlons just don't seem to attract people, the ones I've done have nearly all been poorly attended and are scraping by, there's no equivalent of the Ironman races that sell out in hours. Seems people would rather moan about how much they struggle with swimming than just enter an event that doesn't involve swimming!

I agree with you in terms of how few do train year-round, year after year.

That said, I'm one of those that does train year-round, and I def do not have my life revolve around triathlon, even if I'm putting up 10+hrs/wk of training. Plus, my spouse/child are pretty much unsupportive of my tri training ("you train more than anyone we know - probably too much!") and aren't into sports at all. I don't race a lot, but at least several times per year - although no IM for me.

I will add that if you're like me, who has completely unremarkable genetics/talent for the sport, just grinding away at it year after year at reasonable volume and intensity (I'll dip to 7-8hrs for the off season; a hour a day is pretty doable), you can get to the FOP (upper 15%) in most races just by dint of hard work. I suspect this is true for most endeavors. You'll still get crushed by the talented guys that work, but you'll def be in the upper group of when taking into consideration a typical field.

The main things I really like about tri that keep me at it year after year with a definite eye toward long-term participation:
- Nonimpact swimming & cycling gives the leg impact from running a break. Not an issue when I was <M35, but a real, def issue now that I'm M40+ with osteoarthritis (unfortunately). When my joints no longer support running (will def happen), I will go aquabike as long as my body permits.
- Variety is good - I like the upper and lower body emphasis
- Racing is fun!

Bingo. Life happens, priorities changes. Not at all unique to triathlon.

You probably already know the answer to this, but unless triathlon is going to pay the bills...

Also, at 28, you could take an 8 year break to establish yourself and your career (while still maybe running?), and come back at 36. 36! 36 isn't old.

objectively, triathlon competition at a high level is very expensive. you came from "sailboat racing," which presumably wasn't the Optimist category. That's "very, very" expensive. Relativity doesn't change objectivity.

I don't think anyone can argue against the "triathlon is expensive" thought (I agree with your first post about the time consuming nature and expense so that isn't directed at you). Are things more expensive? Of course. But the vast majority of hobbies cost less than a triathlete would have to spend to get a damn bike trainer. I see golf used a lot as something that is more expensive. But unless you are traveling to courses monthly, golf will still probably be less expensive to the majority of golfers. Obviously we have people in any sport that want to buy the newest thing which drives the cost up. But to be a hobby golfer you can get a set of clubs for under $600 then golf every weekend at a local club for like $60 and a cart (those figures are for around the Chicago area so maybe cheaper other places).

The other, bigger, issue I think is how time consuming it is to be competitive. I often wonder if I would be ok with being MOP in triathlon. And I am NOT knocking any MOPer out there but as competitive as I am I think I would stop racing triathlon and go strictly to running, which I have thought of doing, since I could still get better at running with less training hours. Hell, this last year for me was the worst racing year I have had and I was still training a lot. But having a 9 month old daughter I often wondered this year if I was being too selfish with my time even though I was doing most of my training outside of our time together.

I am lucky to have a supporting wife and family and the great thing about triathlon is we have traveled to a few places we might not have been to and hopefully will be able to race in Canada next summer. Also the thought of having to travel with a wetsuit, bike, clothes, and everything else sucks big time, even when just driving!

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Twitter - Instagram

This is the story for me too. I did tri's for about 3 years or so, did a bunch of shorter stuff and 2 halves. Never had any desire to do a full. Then I realized I didn't really like swimming, or more accurately, the training for it. So then I did mostly bike racing with a few marathons thrown in. Now I just bike race. I do road, MTB and CX. That said, I see the road racing fading over the next few years too. Interests change...

I keep track of how much I spend (using YNAB), but I dont have the courage to take a look at the reports.
I skip a lot of races because I can't process how much they are charging us.
Not to mention the ridiculous tax we pay if we want to buy bike parts here, the currency rate and the dangerous of being robbed and/or killed at the roads.
Geez, we are f***ed

I race to win or at least podium

But I compete in very non competitive caregories

Aquabike and used to do Clydesdale tri sprints

No age group so as I get older it is tougher to win

When I can’t win anymore I may give it up.