Why are you doing triathlons?
I noticed on a couple of the swim threads recently that people would mention how they hated swimming, so they wouldn’t do it, or would do the bare minimum, etc…
If you hate swimming so much, why are you doing triathlons?
Because then it’d be a duathlon and that’s worse than death…
Because then it’d be a duathlon and that’s worse than death…
Run, bike, run, throw up
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Because we have so few good Duathlons in Halifax (1 less this year) and I have to use my Tri membership somewhere.
Truth be told, I don’t hate swimming at all, but it is a chore to get to the pool compared to heading out the door for a run or bike. And when I get to the pool I have kayaks, water polo and underwater hockey to contend with.
no duathlons available, get too skinny upper-body with just run+ bike, and enjoy swimming some, just not a ton
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What pool are you at?
I actually kinda liked duathlons. I’m a shitty runner, but the handful of du’s I’ve done were always fun.
Maybe I can fit one in this year…
Because I’m good at it and enjoy racing, I only hate the training. Actually, the reason I hate it and am good at it is probably the same; I did it competitively for 9 years and got sick of it. So I solve the problem by avoiding the pool for the entire offseason. You might be surprised how little you lose and how quick you come back, I didn’t swim between September 1 and January 26, on my second session back earlier this week I did 4x200 on 2:45 just to see how it went and I held 2:25ish. During the season these days I would only probably be around 2:10-15 for that same effort.
I did the same thing. After college, I didn’t go near the water except on race day. I was never first out of the water, but I was usually pretty close.
I know quite a few guys & girls who are like this, and I’ve asked them the same thing - their response is usually along the lines of the fact that they really enjoy racing triathlons (the event, the community, the satisfaction, the prestige, the atmosphere etc), and that swimming is a necessary evil in order to do that. So they often do just the bare minimum.
I wonder if a lot of it has to do with status - people prefer to call themselves, or think of themselves as ‘triathletes’ than they do ‘duathletes’. And that status achievement, or ego boost, is enough to drive them to do a sport they don’t fully enjoy.
It’s not something I fully (or can fully) understand - I love swimming, I love cycling & I love running. I also love the challenge of balancing training load to achieve my best performance across all three sports. Thus I love triathlon!
Exactly, for ex-swimmers who aren’t pro triathletes the return on investment is pretty low for lots of swim training. Sure I could go 17:30-18:00 for my OLY split if I swam every day, maybe with a wetsuit and drafting I could even get down to 17:00, but I would lose a ton of training time from my running and cycling and I am certain I would lose way more than the 1-2 minutes I lose by limiting swimming to 1 or 2 times per week.
Funny you bring this up, since I was thinking something similar with regards to the bike. I’ve been primarily a runner and have fallen in love with swimming the last 3-4 years.
Classical adult on-set swimmer who has been following swimsmooth for a while and did masters when logistics allowed. Now, I discovered “fast swimming” about a year ago (USRPT, David Salo as well as Tim Floyd on this forum, and helpful comments from you and Eric Mulk) and have been going through an almost obsessive phase. Now swimming almost every day (sometimes very fast, relative to my ability, and sometimes only a few yards just to be in the water) and enjoying it tremendously. Logistically, all this works out because my son started swimming with a team a few months ago and so I drop him off and then go swim (this also helps share the obsession).
The older I get, the more I see swimming in my horizon. Back to the original point, I do the bare minimum on the bike, so sometimes wonder why I’m a “triathlete.” Wish there were more aquathlons around.
I’m in the “I hate swimming” category. I was a cyclist first, then switched to running only. At 6’0" and 142 pounds, I decided that I wanted to switch to a sport, or combination of sports, that allowed me to carry more weight and still be competitive. Seeing triathletes at running races made it clear to me that they had the overall fitness I was looking for. My triathlon race weight is closer to 155-160. I’m still as lean, but carry more muscle, both upper and lower body.
So I run and cycle because I enjoy those, and I swim because I need it. I do (sometimes) enjoy competition, so when I race, it is triathlon.
Why are you doing triathlons?
I noticed on a couple of the swim threads recently that people would mention how they hated swimming, so they wouldn’t do it, or would do the bare minimum, etc…
If you hate swimming so much, why are you doing triathlons?
You can’t get an M-Dot tattoo by racing duathlons! (Unless you are lucky enough to have WTC cancel the swim) 
Exactly, for ex-swimmers who aren’t pro triathletes the return on investment is pretty low for lots of swim training. Sure I could go 17:30-18:00 for my OLY split if I swam every day, maybe with a wetsuit and drafting I could even get down to 17:00, but I would lose a ton of training time from my running and cycling and I am certain I would lose way more than the 1-2 minutes I lose by limiting swimming to 1 or 2 times per week.
I’d say this is exactly it. I swim from June - March with the club team, but in the months leading up to the triathlon season I’m rarely in the water. The time put in on the bike/run is just much more valuable than if I comtinued to stay in the water 7x/week.
What pool are you at?
Dalplex. Best bang for my buck, as long as I can figure out the schedule. It costs me close to $300 less for a family membership than CGC, and has the option of a 50m pool (should I ever actually get up early for a swim).
Not enough duathlons.
Swimming is a great life skill to have and I want my kids to know how to swim so I try to be an example. (Not my ability, my effort).
Truth be told, I don’t hate swimming at all, but it is a chore to get to the pool compared to heading out the door for a run or bike.
When I’m doing a race, I like doing the swim. But training for the swim…
I can go for all sorts of rides and runs at almost any time of the day right from my driveway. It’s only a ten minute drive to the pool, but for whatever reason(s) the thought of having to get in the car, drive, change in the locker room, swim, change in the locker room again, get back in the car again, then drive home, is enough to make me dislike (if not hate) swimming. Throw in the restricted hours on when the pool is open, and I have to make some effort to plan my day around when I’m going to swim. Once I’m in the pool, I don’t hate swimming, but it’s not as much fun as cycling or running.
I can understand why people spend money on Endless Pools.
I do it for the challenge.
Seriously - if I just wanted to do things that I’m good at and suited for, I’d just run. I’m not amazing, but I’m good enough to regularly contend for the podium in small local races, and am def still easily FOP in big races.
But I’ve been there, done that. I’ve run the marathon, ultramarathon, 10ks, etc. - and honestly, I wasn’t learning as much anymore after 20+ years of doing it.
Swimming still remains for me the big challenge. At least for me, it’s something I’m sure I’m intrinsically NOT gifted in any way for, and which also comes with some pretty ridiculous logistical constraints that still takes a lot of workarounds (Vasa) and scheduling shenanigans to pull off. But that’s what I love about it - when I get better at it, I’ve really earned it, and learn a lot in the process. Heck, I believe a lot of the self-experimentation I did and documented on this forum with the Vasa trainer in lieu of the pull, even had a lot of super strong swimmers change their minds about whether someone could pull off actually improving in the water by swimming less, so even the old dogs can learn new tricks and have new approaches if you take some risks.
I’m never going to be a FFOP swimmer, and I will never, ever truly love swimming as it’s always such a challenge for me both physically and logistically, but I will add that on race day, when I pull off a solid triathlon swim for myself that I’m happy with, it’s the most memorable part of my race day despite the middling performance. I expect to do pretty well on the bike and the run, and while it’s nice to pass people, end up in the front of the AG, and contend for the podium regularly, it’s a totally different challenge for me than getting a decent result with an activity that I worked so hard to prove my ability over years despite below-milddling results for the effort.
So I’m actually glad that the swimming part is in there, despite the fact it adversely affects my race standings. In the 1-2 races I’ve done where the swim was canceled and it became a run-swim-run, despite the fact that I placed higher overall, I really didn’t enjoy the experience anywhere as much as having the swim in there. But I’m def not signing up for any pure swimming events any time soon - that’s too much masochism for even me!
I like swimming, and the prospect of an endless pool sounds like the 4th circle of hell. Like staring at a blank wall on an indoor trainer, only worse.