Any STers delay or skip going to graduate school in order to train and compete in Ironman? I’m just curious because I’m getting ready to submit my application for the Fall semester. I have not yet competed in an Ironman and wonder how that goal will fit in with graduate school (In addition to my regular 40-hour/week job).
My goal is to do an Iron-Distance event next year. But since I’ll be going to grad school I know I won’t be as competitive as I could be.
Also, I’m paying for my own tuition and can’t help thinking that I could be spending that money on a nice new bike and other cool gear. However, I just can’t justify skipping grad school for Ironman.
Who thinks completing an Ironman is as great as an accomplishment and learing experience as grad school? What are some of the things you learned in your Ironman quest that you could not learn in Grad school?
I think it would be a silly move to compromise graduate school for an Ironman. Give school 100% and with the left over train. That being said, with good time management it can be done. PM me if you are interested. I have a busy schedule between work/studies/training, but am on target. It does help if you really enjoy training.
what you should do is train really hard over the summer for the IM and register for fall school. Enter the IM under the collegiate challenge, which many events have. that way you are entering into a subgroup that is going through the same things you are and not very many people register for the collegiate groups.
Grad school is hard but the balancing act is more difficult to accomplish. if you are strong enough and determined enough you will make it work. many of us have done it so why not you.
A graduate student here at Iowa State University, where I work, finished about 60th in IMOO last fall. Perhaps the university to which you’re applying has a student triathlon club. ISU’s triathlon club has a great bunch of students who motivate and support each other.
As a professor, I have observed that both graduate and undergraduate students do better work in the classroom if they have some healthy distractions in their spare time. Even if you can’t work in enough training to do an ironman, you could at least get yourself launched toward that goal.
I’m doing both. Luckily the graduate program I got into to receive my teaching masters is a breeze. I would rather they just give me my diploma for the 10000 dollars and we’ll just say I’ve been to the classes.
I’ve never had to make that choice but I’ll throw my two cents in. Go with the thing you are passionate about. Is grad school something you are passionate about or will the additional education lead you to something you are passionate about? A lot depends on what your motivation is. Working full time and going to grad school on the side sounds like a full schedule already. Is ironman something you are passionate about? How do you value these goals?
For me, I can see the benefits of both. I love to learn and so I could really get into taking classes and learning for the sake of learning. I think you short-change yourself if you do it to have grad school on your resume and to get a higher paying job. Being able to complete an Ironman would also be a great experience. If you knew you had a year to live, which would you rather do? On your death bed 60 years from now, which would you rather have done? To me, those are the types of questions you should ask.
Thanks for the replies. I’m definitely going to grad school. I was glad to see how many others have done it. Life is all about trade-offs. I know in the long run I’m better off going to Grad-School. I’ll just work with the time I have to train and if that means being a BOP or MOP then no big deal at least I know I tried. I’ll always have time for Ironman FOP racing in the next age-group bracket.
If you knew you had a year to live, which would you rather do? On your death bed 60 years from now, which would you rather have done? To me, those are the types of questions you should ask.
Doesn’t seem like those 2 things (Ironman v. Grad School) offer similar benefits. With IM, it’s all instant gratification and temporary (the latter is debatable). The benefits of earning a masters are all in the future and long-lasting.
Heck, for me as a teacher, waiting to earn my masters is like throwing money away every year. In 15 years the difference in pay for masters v. no-masters can be as high as 10K annually, and double after 25 years.
There is no reason why a person could not train for an IM, work, and go to grad school. Trim nthe fluff from your life and only spend time doing things that really matter. IMO, if each person honestly exmaines their days and their weeks, they will see that they waste quite a bit of time.
Of course, if someone is going to train in order to “compete” in an Iornman, than the training time, priority, and intensity may make the decision come down to an either-or situation.
I trained for my first 2 Ironman races while getting my MBA. Heck, Grad School is the EASIEST time to train. It will only get busier when you get a job following school.
I think you’ll find that both are very possible and balance each other nicely.
The $$$ may be a challenge, but just don’t buy all the “extras” and simply enjoy covering the distance (or conversely, use some school loan money to fund it…Heck, school loans are the lowest interest rates you’ll ever see so…)
Good luck. I, honestly, don’t believe you’ll “compromise” your education by training. Rather, I think school is the perfect time to re-focus on the mental, moral, and physical elements our our lives.
also, i dont think you say but if you have just graduated from college then that to me would make taking time off to do tri (and other non-traditional horizon-broadening activities) much more appealing.
i think too many people make the wrong move (for lack of knowing what else to do?) by going straight to grad school (especially law!!!). In fact, i think the english gap year tradition after high school is awesome and partly responsible for uk teenagers being, IMO, generally more mature/wordly than their US counterparts.
“In the long run I’m better off going to grad school.”
In the long run we are all going to die…
Both can be done. I did 2 Ironman races while in grad school and was training for a 3rd while in my last semester. Time management is key. I found I actually did better in school during the times that I was training as opposed to when I did not have a race on the horizon. It seemed when every minute was accounted for I was very efficient and when I had “free time” I did not get anything done.
That’s awesome…doing all four (work, school, training, and family)? In my experience, one of them always tends to slip. It’s a tough balance, and anyone who can do even two of these (yet alone three or four of them) definitely has my respect.
To answer the orignal post…I’d go for school, and train with what you can. It’ll probably drive you crazy if you’re at all like me (stuck in the books when you’d rather be training) but Ironman isn’t going anywhere soon… It just depends on your goals for the race I think. Are you looking to qualify for Kona…just finish…?