OK, so my dilemma for some time has been deciding where to go to graduate school. I currently live in Virginia and attend undergrad here and have gotten used to some fairly mild weather. I would really like to continue my triathlon career throughout grad school since I seem to be getting better at it each race I do. I have been thinking that I’d like to be somewhere south of here to take advantage of the warmer weather. The only problem is that there are a lot of amazing schools up north. So for you people up north… How is tri training where you are? Is the weather/normal temperatures a huge factor in your training schedule? I’m also curious to hear from anyone who was a triathlete/graduate student. I will be going for chemistry so I’ll be working around my time in the lab (which I’ve been doing for the past 2 years as an undergrad). My main worry is that I’ll have to give up the one activity that I love outside of science. Of course education comes first, but I’d like to hold on to my only chance at sanity if possible. Thanks in advance for any advice.
in what area of study? That is the first question we will all need answered in order to help you out.
If I may… check out the BEST grad schools for your area of study, figure out if you would like it there, then pull the trigger. remember, Grad school is what will determine your future and unless you are making ALOT of money racing triathlons you will have to rely on your education to get by in the not so distant future! You can race and train ANYWHERE so think about school first. Take this from someone who has been in higher education for 10years! ERIK
i know nothing about how uw-madison’s chem dept. ranks for grad schools, but i do know that the triathlon team here (UW-Tri) has a relatively large number of grad students on it. i think that having more extreme weather variations is great for training. It allows you to focus more on each aspect of triathlon during the different seasons. ex. swim focus during the winter, bike focus during summer. but, i’m tired and it’s late, so if you’d like more info on the area and our team, just let me know.
I’m in my third year of graduate school in Seattle and I just finished my second ironman. If you really want to train, you’ll be able to find time. Grad school won’t make triathlons impossible, although in the first year or so you’ll have more work than in subsequent years. So you might have to tone it down a little until you pass your quals. As someone already mentioned, grad school trumps triathlons, no matter how much you love the sport.
The weather up north won’t impair your swimming or running, but it might be difficult/impossible to bike in the winter. I bike all winter here (which is ~40 degrees and raining), but the combo of slick roads, short days and high air density makes riding less than ideal. The good news is that there’s a quick fix: bike on a trainer (if you can stand it). Alternatively you could just realize that northern cities don’t have triathlons until ~April and take the winter off.
The only part that will be tricky is maintaining a vibrant social life in addition to triathlons and grad school. There are only so many hours in the day, so I usually have to choose 2 out of the 3. Joining a triathlon club will help fix that sort of thing, though.
Hi, I’m in my final year of med school and you can definitely mix both graduate studies and triathlons. I don’t think you should have to give up triathlons at all. I currently fit in anywhere from 15-25 hours of training a week, depending on what rotation in the hospital I’m doing. And I’m able to have a pretty fun social life (my fiance wouldn’t have it any other way!) Obviously you can’t be going out every night or anything like that, but you can still have a very good life. As long as you are able to manage time properly, and don’t waist too much time on things that don’t matter, you should be able to find a great mix of social/triathlons/graduate studies. In my course alone there are several adventure racers, three or four triathletes, a paralympics basketball player, and an olympic kayaker. Also, if you want some motivation, look at Mitch Anderson. (Former IM Western Australia winner, several great finishes at Kona, 3rds and 4ths at IM Australia.) He finished med school last year and is currently doing his intern year as a doctor, and working 70-90 hour weeks, and still got fourth at IM Australia this year! Obviously he is incredibly talented, but even he still has to put in the training. I only pass along his story because I’ve always liked hearing stories like his…they motivate me.
Some things that I’ve noticed while trying to train in school.
You’ll almost always be tired and/or trying to find more time to study/train/be with your significant other…etc…This can often lead to people (me!) feeling grumpy or miserable. Learn to realize this right away, so that you don’t get grumpy with the people around you when you are tired. I remind myself every day how lucky I am to be able to be in school/train/have a great supporting fiance/etc. That keeps me happy, even when I’m exhausted. Also, coffee is a very, very, very, very good thing.
Your studies WILL get in the way of your training. Don’t let it upset you too much, and be flexible. Just this week, I had a great sounding track workout planned for Thursday, but ended up in the hospital until 9p.m. On Friday I was so rested from not working out the day before that I had a HUGE workout (for me, at least…)Just get used to adjusting your training schedule, a lot.
You can put in a lot of volume on the weekends. Sometimes I can only do about 4 or 5 hours of training total during the week, but still end up doing 5-7 hours each day on the weekend, and you end up with a decent week volume.
Don’t worry about cold weather. It will make you tougher… At least that is what I always used to tell myself when I used to live in Michigan and train through the winter. Get a mountain bike for long slow rides on snow covered dirt roads. I found that this was a great way to keep your bike handling skills up and also it forces you to go a bit slower and just build a great base through the winter. When you want to go fast get on the trainer or treadmill. Indoor pools and weight rooms are open year round, so no excuse there. I’m currently in studying in Sydney, Australia, but will be working in Massachusetts when I finish school, and completely plan on keeping up the training up there. Today I almost didn’t ride because it was 50 degrees F and raining, and had to remind myself what a wimp I was being…
Ok, my study is done for the day, I’ve got a party to go to tonight and a long day of training in the morning… Best of luck to you with your studies and racing. And enjoy them both!
I disappointed that you are only going to continue triathloning through college and not when you are working. As for where to live, North is cold but is manageble, you can complete everything you want to, if you are dedicated - plus the Spring is incredible, nothing better to finally hit the roads - I only spent 6 weeks locked up inside this winter. South is too hot, and you get bored, never get away from it - plus the colleges are not so good. West coast is good spot, weather is never too extreme, and the schools are good. If your grades are good enough for U of Michigan, good athletic population and great place to live.
Thanks to everyone for the great advice. I really enjoyed the view point that the varying weather allows you to focus in on each individual sport better. Also, I failed to realize that it gets cold enough in the winter not to ride here also. So whether its 35 degrees or 10 degrees, it’s still too cold for a reasonable training ride no matter where you are. School has always been my first priority, and it feels better to know that I’ll be able to fit in some training time also. Just a quick question to the person that I wouldn’t be able to find time when I get a job. I was suprised at this, so you mean when I can actually afford it I won’t be able to find the time? HAHA, I really hope this isn’t the case, because 90% of my income has been going to nice bikes, race wheels, race registration and all that stuff. Thanks again to everyone!
12 years ago I went back and forth between going to a “nice” climate (not so good school) or a “bad” climate" much better school. I was not into tri’s back then and thankfully, I picked the better school. I got a great education and now have an awesome job that allows me to do virtually anything I want with lots of time to train. My advice at your age is to go with the good school, that is why God made treadmills and indoor bike trainers (not to mention HD television.
Oh and for the first person who asked. I am studying chemistry, applied math, and physics in my undergrad. I work in a bioninorganic research lab where we make anticancer drugs (platinum based, if you’ve ever heard of cisplatin or oxaliplatin). I’m sort of leaning towards physical chemistry/chemical dynamics for grad school because of my math and physics background. I’m not so picky though since I love science all around and especially chemistry. My only request is that I end up somewhere in a nice area that I can enjoy (i.e. not the middle of nowhere).
When I went to grad school I wasn’t involved in tri, however I made my decision based upon who was willing to pay the most money. This was probably the biggest mistake I have ever made as I should have gone to the better school doing the research that I wanted to do. You will be able to train anywhere, but you will not be able to get a great education or do the research you want anywhere.
Joe…who are you that you define it as “my triathlon career”. Your real career unless you are already going sub 1:50 at Olympic tri will likely come from whatever you do your academic work in. Go to Grad school where it is best for your academics. Triathlon will take care of itself. There are many people that live in horribly freezing weather 6 months a year who get on podiums all year. You don’t need good weather to train and race well in triathlon…you just need motivation, lots of training, some good genetics and have to be organized.
As someone who has a PhD in Chemistry it depends on which sector of chemistry you want to persue. Think about going to a place attached to a national lab. That means funding, funding means less teaching, less teaching means more training time. NHMFL in tallahassee has some great professors as well as oak ridge TN, Los
Alamo and Sandia are all moderate climates. What ever you do make yourself standout and take all the english classes that you can fit in. Communication in chemistry is terrible and it is the guy who can write the scientifically sound grammatically correct memo that rises to the top. (not me). There is a flood of PhD’s right now so competition is tight last year at Pittcon I think I had 1000 PhD. Resumes and maybe 10 BS chemists.
I am currently in my second year of grad school now. I am studying to become a Physician Assistant. The first year was spent in the classroom, where I took 21, 24, and 26 credit hours per semester. I was in class generally from 8a-7p, then in the library until midnight studying. I made it a priority to get at least a 30 min. workout in each day during the week days and then longer on the weekends to maintain some sanity. Many times though instead of S/B/Ring, I would be playing basketball, ultimate frisbee, soccer, etc with my classmates over lunch. I’m way out of shape now compared to being in Ironman and ultramarathon shape, but I’m still in decent shape compared to the rest of the couch potatoes. Now I am in a general surgery rotation where I’m putting in 12-36 hour days/shifts, so I fit in a run when I can. I realize that this will only last 2 years and I will have a much better job afterwards that will allow me to train and do more than I was able to before. I miss it but sometimes sacrifices must be made; Triathlon will still be there when I graduate. Good luck, hopefully you will find a school that is more conducive to training.
Oh and for the first person who asked. I am studying chemistry, applied math, and physics in my undergrad.
…in which case, continuing triathlon training should be the least of your concerns.
If triathlon is actually playing any role in choice of grad school, then you need to sit down with your academic advisor immediately and get straightened out on how to make a wise school choice, because it has hardly anything to do with location, prestige, or any of that other superficial stuff.
I’m a Ph.D. candidate in biochemistry, and I wouldn’t worry about having to choose between training locale and grad school. I compete in triathlons and also work like crazy in the lab so I know what I’m talking about. I did my undergrad in Kingston up in Canada, and it got really cold here. As someone said earlier, if you really want to train, you will train - regardless of where you are. You won’t be a hermit doing both either. A social life is easy to maintain in grad school, especially in the sciences. Hell, pretty much all scientists (and grad students) love poster/beer sessions.
As a grad student, you’re gonna have to understand though, that you will pull a few all-nighters. Getting some experiment to work, or something like that (at least I have). You will need to focus and maximize your time.
What’s more important is your choice in lab and PI. That should be your main concern. Pick a good lab and PI above all else. I can’t stress this enough. GOOD LAB AND PI!! GOOD LAB AND PI!! <— LOOK HERE!!!
And a tangential word of advice from someone who has (unfortunately) been there; don’t get sucked into the “star power” of some labs, where you think you’ll get a gazillion Science or JACS (in your case) papers. Save that sort of stuff for your post-doc. You want to get into a lab that is friendly, gives you the support that you need when you need it, and a PI that will be there physically and fight for you in your department.
Just think of all the top notch triathletes that come out of Canada. There are too many to name. And not all of them live in Victoria (which gets little if any snow). I believe Samantha McGlone went to McGill in Montreal, trained with the McGill tri-team. It was posted here earlier that Ottawa is the most winningist AG ironman city in the world sending more athletes to Kona then any other. period. Trust me, you’ll be fine.
Unfortunately, unlike many of the other posters here, I’ve had a hard time juggling grad school, training and a girlfriend/wife. A very hard time. I’m a PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill. one big thing is my advisor is not a fan of me doing triathlons and not seeing me in the lab on the many weekends I am racing. Good luck finding your niche - like everyone says, choose the school/labl/PI over the climate!
Started doing tri while in grad school in North Carolina, Winston-Salem to be exact. What an awesome place to train year round. I also used to live in Georgia and I enjoyed the climate there as well. I live in southwest Florida now and while it may seem like a great place to train because of the year round warmth, it’s not as great as it sounds. Constantly dodging thunderstorms in the summer and dealing with high humidity and heat then also. Not too bad during the off-season however. I’m stuck here though so I make the best of it. Could be much worse.
At least that is what I always used to tell myself when I used to live in Michigan and train through the winter. Get a mountain bike for long slow rides on snow covered dirt roads. I found that this was a great way to keep your bike handling skills up and also it forces you to go a bit slower and just build a great base through the winter. When you want to go fast get on the trainer or treadmill. Indoor pools and weight rooms are open year round, so no excuse there. I’m currently in studying in Sydney, Australia, but will be working in Massachusetts when I finish school, and completely plan on keeping up the training up there. Today I almost didn’t ride because it was 50 degrees F and raining, and had to remind myself what a wimp I was being…