How do you know if you’re a genetic freak?
Many of the pros are deemed genetic freaks; however, they train 30+ hours a week. Are they called genetic freaks because if they trained 30+ hours a week, and I trained 30+ hours a week, I would not be able to keep up?
Given that I cannot train 30+ hours a week, how do I know I’m not a genetic freak?
If you have to ask you’re not…
14"+.
In the late 80s, a guy in Austin signed up to be an active but untrained participant in a study. He played ultimate Frisbee but did not do any formal endurance training. His VO2 max in his untrained state was 80ml/kg. The guys running the study told him he had unreal potential as an endurance athlete so he took up triathlon. Turned Pro and in a few years finished as high 6th at US Nationals. Eventually quit and went back to playing ultimate Frisbee.
How’s that for freaking genetics?
Cheers,
Jim
How do you know if you’re a genetic freak?
Can you train 30+ hours a week with out getting injured is the real question.
I hear this all the time “If I could train full time like the pros I would be that fast”. I call bullshit, The pros have the ability to adapt to much higher training loads than the average athelete. That is part of why they became pros, not something that happened when they became pros.
14"+.
14"+ x 4"
.
14"+.
Wow… That’s a pretty thin thigh.
How do you know if you’re a genetic freak?
Because Tyler Hamilton was actually referring to you?
Sorry, couldn’t resist. I would opine that if you are earning podium spots on minimal training and require next to no recovery time, chances are you have been blessed.
Can you train 30+ hours a week with out getting injured is the real question.
I hear this all the time “If I could train full time like the pros I would be that fast”. I call bullshit, The pros have the ability to adapt to much higher training loads than the average athelete. That is part of why they became pros, not something that happened when they became pros.
Yea, but they trained for a couple years at 15 hrs/week, then a few at 20hrs/week, then a good block at 25+ hrs/week, and then 30hrs a week became the new benchmark.
It’s not like all of a sudden you just start training 30 hrs/week, even if you’re full-time. At least not if you have a smart coach.
How do you know if you are a genetic freak?
A buddy of mine just went from not exercising at all two years ago and finishing a super sprint out of breath at a 10 minute pace, to running a 1:20 half marathon with under two years of triathlon training. His running training really started only 7 months ago when he tried to qualify for Boston, which he did.
I’m pretty sure he’s a freak and can’t wait to see how fast he’ll be a year from now. So if you can make huge improvements like that, then you may qualify as a freak.
Also part of the equation. At each progression in training load some people fall apart while others continue to perform well and adapt. This is what I am implying. Training load is not the most important factor, it is the ability to adapt to that training load and successive progression in training load.
train 15 hours a week
if you get within 95% of pro bike power or run pace, you are a freak.
How do you know if you’re a genetic freak?
Many of the pros are deemed genetic freaks; however, they train 30+ hours a week. Are they called genetic freaks because if they trained 30+ hours a week, and I trained 30+ hours a week, I would not be able to keep up?
Given that I cannot train 30+ hours a week, how do I know I’m not a genetic freak?
Sorry but that’s not a genetic freak. That’s kind of fast but not on par with I would call a genetic freak. Most people training for 2 years from an untrained state will see massive improvement. I guess it’s all relative though.
Can you train 30+ hours a week with out getting injured is the real question.
I hear this all the time “If I could train full time like the pros I would be that fast”. I call bullshit, The pros have the ability to adapt to much higher training loads than the average athelete. That is part of why they became pros, not something that happened when they became pros.
Yea, but they trained for a couple years at 15 hrs/week, then a few at 20hrs/week, then a good block at 25+ hrs/week, and then 30hrs a week became the new benchmark.
It’s not like all of a sudden you just start training 30 hrs/week, even if you’re full-time. At least not if you have a smart coach.
most find out that they aren’t pro material when they start getting sick or are always fatigued when the weekly hours go north of 20.
if you can actually train effectively at 30hrs, that indicates some serious ability to recover
When you can recite the Pi for 24 hours non-stop.
.
I talked to a couple of buddies, I’m at 17-18 hrs per week, they’re at 16-17 and I think they’re fairly close to pro-level. My guess is that since we are at the younger end of the spectrum we train less? Not so sure. Another time in the sport thing I assume. The other thing I’m rather interested in seeing is if the 30 hours a week is intensity or mostly base building. Obviously a lot of those sessions regardless are to simply develop time in the sport and to build proficiency.
How do you know if you’re a genetic freak?
Many of the pros are deemed genetic freaks; however, they train 30+ hours a week. Are they called genetic freaks because if they trained 30+ hours a week, and I trained 30+ hours a week, I would not be able to keep up?
Given that I cannot train 30+ hours a week, how do I know I’m not a genetic freak?
You do NOT need to train even over 10 hours per week to know you’ve ‘got it’.
All the top elite endurance athletes in S/B/R were superstars in the first 6 months of even casual training.
Ryan Hall ran a 15 miler with zero problem with no run background, no significant other sport overlap, and dominated the moment he started run racing. At well under 40mpw of training.
Lance was a dominant PRO triathlete even in his teens, and even in that realm, even moreso dominated the bike legs without being a pure cyclist beforehand.
Phelps was regarded as a future world-record breaker in his early teens, despite his lack of focus and discipline early on. (ADHD)
I forgot the name of the female pro cyclist recently who even at an adult age, jumped with almost no endurance sport background (I think) right into pro cycling and was near the top in under 1.5 yrs of training.
You know you’ve ‘got it’ when you don’t do any hard work and wonder why everyone else seems to be going so slow. This also happens for budding amateurs training with various groups.
I’m not even close to qualifying for Kona, but I do recall that even with <4 weeks of true road bike experience, and being barely able to clip into my pedals without keeling over, I could easily ride with the main pack of competitive roadies in Socal (I latched onto their ride as I caught them on the PCH) most of whom were Cat5 - Cat3 - I actally thought they were deliberately sandbagging the ride since it felt so slow at times, but turns out that was their typical 50 mile paceline pace.
Too bad with swimming, even with serious practice, the only folks I can catch is the grandma in lane 2 =(
no, its just in general, that 15 hours of real training will get you about 90%-95% of your potential.
that last 5 or 10% is the pain in the ass
I talked to a couple of buddies, I’m at 17-18 hrs per week, they’re at 16-17 and I think they’re fairly close to pro-level. My guess is that since we are at the younger end of the spectrum we train less? Not so sure. Another time in the sport thing I assume. The other thing I’m rather interested in seeing is if the 30 hours a week is intensity or mostly base building. Obviously a lot of those sessions regardless are to simply develop time in the sport and to build proficiency.
yep
but your point should be qualified a bit, in that even the people who start REALLY REALLY slow, while they may never break the hour record, dipping into ironman stud (10, 11 hours) is probably possible with enough effort.
hard work can do amazing things
but it cannot make all of us ryan hall
Obviously everyone’s different. But the question I’m curious about is 15 hours for how long(years)? Maybe a guy training 15 hours for 5 years will be faster then a guy training 25 hours for 2 years. I think in the end it just comes to total time allotted but I could be wrong.