Being in the triathlon community, a majority of us are sure to be Type-A, be the best we can possibly be, people. When we interact with each other, most of the time its words of encouragement or support in our events and training. I love this aspect of the community. We push each other. We motivate each other. We offer informed advice without hesitation to help our fellow athlete.
Well, I’d like to talk about the other portion. The constant “one-uppers.” The “you did THAT? Well I did THIS” crowd.
It’s tiresome. The replies are expected. You’ll ask me what my training was for the day and I’ll answer with a time and a distance and how I felt. You’ll nitpick one of those qualities and comment on how you went longer, or faster, or how some aspect of your training session was inherently superior to mine. You might think you’re trying to motivate me, but you only succeed in pissing me off. The most hypocritical thing is that you’ll say that you’re sticking in line with YOUR training plan, yet you’ll pick apart my training sessions that are a part of MY training plan. Unless you’re my coach, you have no place to tell me what I should be doing in my training. A simple “good job” or “keep up the good work” does wonders.
Being in the triathlon community, a majority of us are sure to be Type-A, be the best we can possibly be, people. When we interact with each other, most of the time its words of encouragement or support in our events and training. I love this aspect of the community. We push each other. We motivate each other. We offer informed advice without hesitation to help our fellow athlete.
Well, I’d like to talk about the other portion. The constant “one-uppers.” The “you did THAT? Well I did THIS” crowd.
It’s tiresome. The replies are expected. You’ll ask me what my training was for the day and I’ll answer with a time and a distance and how I felt. You’ll nitpick one of those qualities and comment on how you went longer, or faster, or how some aspect of your training session was inherently superior to mine. You might think you’re trying to motivate me, but you only succeed in pissing me off. The most hypocritical thing is that you’ll say that you’re sticking in line with YOUR training plan, yet you’ll pick apart my training sessions that are a part of MY training plan. Unless you’re my coach, you have no place to tell me what I should be doing in my training. A simple “good job” or “keep up the good work” does wonders.
Do any of you share this experience with me?
I hear that a lot and have caught myself doing it on occasion as well. I think the folks mean well for the most part.
some of us like to talk trash and we will show our cards on occasion as a form of ‘junk measuring’.
then there are others that i won’t even tell them what i did when they ask because of the negative impact it will have on them. (usually more beginners)
then others will ask how my ‘run’ or what ever went. and i will tell them the details if it was something i was proud of… like last nights brick with a 6.6mile run in 42:44 after a 1hour trainer workout. (see it’s 11")
That’s what I tend to do now. If someone wants specifics, I’ll send them my Garmin data.
I just get frustrated with it. As a coach, even more so. I wouldn’t tell an athlete to directly compare themself with another. If they stick to goal-oriented training, they can beat whoever they want. I’d rather have them gain the satisfaction of significant improvement and speed rather than the “I’ve gotta beat so-and-so” mentality. To me, it’s unhealthy and creates bitterness.
It’s ok to measure the junk once in a while. It’s a lot easier to whip out a race time and let that speak for itself though.
I guess the mentality is what gets me. I’d rather have an athlete chase a time than a person. It’s a lot easier to train for a time for me. If you know that time can beat someone else’s, then great.
It’s ok to measure the junk once in a while. It’s a lot easier to whip out a race time and let that speak for itself though.
I guess the mentality is what gets me. I’d rather have an athlete chase a time than a person. It’s a lot easier to train for a time for me. If you know that time can beat someone else’s, then great.
i agree with the first part.
we aren’t doing this sport because it’s ‘easier’ we are doing it for the challenge (or i thought that)
NOT comparing yourself to others is dangerously close to that crappy ‘we don’t keep score’ mentality at soccer games that is killing our youth…but i don’t want to get into that argument i guess so i will stop responding to this thread now.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I want to beat people when I race, no question. However, from a training aspect, I can’t train against my competition day in and day out. The best barometer I have to train against is a published race time. If I tell an athlete “if you train to finish in X amount of time, you’ll most likely beat person Y.” The competitive mentality should be “beat person Y.” The training mentality should be “beat time X.”
I (like Jack) basically hang with a crowd that is much more experienced, faster (and, for the most part) younger than me - and unlike Jack I can’t even beat them over 100 M. There’s quite a bit of “competitive banter”, but for the most part it’s in good spirit. If it ever gets a bit more serious I just ignore it. I’m not getting too close to the podium and it’s me vs. myself and the course. I don’t give a rat’s ass about everyone else’s performance unless they do something kick-ass, in which case hopefully I’m the first to congratulate.
If someone wants specifics, I’ll send them my Garmin data.
I would not advise even this. Remember, you are not required to provide anything to anybody. Don’t let people convince you otherwise.
Just train, race, and let the* results* speak for themselves.
Add: If you need training perspective and advice, be very selective in sharing data – best done with a neutral party (coach, etc.).
I don’t believe ST is much of a forum to get personal help/coaching. I see little value in sharing your information on here simply because there is no way to paint a big picture, which is what is needed to receive good useful advice. This is why I find it funny when people post information asking for advice. You get guys who say “I want to run a sub 38 10k. I’m currently running 30 miles a week. help” and they are surprised when they get smart ass responses. Unless you are willing to post a full biography, injury history and your full training log dating back 2 or 3 years there is little good advice you will receive.
Instead I view ST as to simply read others POV about triathlon related topics. You can get great information when people post training ideas/strategies that did or did not work (kind of like reading an article in Triathlete or Lava). Also great information on aerodynamics (a lot of which comes from Jack) or nutrition. And then I love reading the forums filled with sarcasm or when people are made fun of (I actually expected a lot of more of that from this post). You can get a lot out of ST but personal coaching is not one of them.
