I was reading a recent thread about wheels and someone recommended not buying a disc since it isn’t legal in Kona and followed with ‘since that is what we all dream about.’ That is not a direct quote and I’m not bagging on them at all, but I wonder if I am alone in not dreaming about going to Kona. Just last week I was talking with a friend who said he didn’t care about anything but racing Ironman in Hawaii since that is where the best are going.
He is young, single, has plenty of money–and really fast–so I can understand his side of the story. I for one can’t think of a race I would like to do less than one in which you can’t wear a wetsuit, the wind always blows there to some degree and it is hot and humid. Plus the trip will cost you thousands of dollars. (Another reason why all the best are not really there. Maybe the rich best are there.)
I’m sure I am in the minority here, but somebody tell me I am not alone in this feeling.
Not a goal for me. I’m just do tris for the health benefits. First, doing Olys and HIMs is enough to get the benefits I’m looking for and is all have time to train for, and even if I do an IM, there is no reason to think going to Kona (on a lottery slot) would get me any more benefit than some other race.
Honestly, I don’t believe either one of you. Nor do I believe anyone who would say that going to the Olympics was never a dream of theirs. I believe that deep down all humans aspire to rise above the others.
Honestly, I don’t believe either one of you. Nor do I believe anyone who would say that going to the Olympics was never a dream of theirs. I believe that deep down all humans aspire to rise above the others.
I’m 38, never ran, biked or swam until 6 months ago, work 65-80 hours a week at a desk job, travel at least a week a month, have 3 kids under 6, and get to train maybe 10 hours a week. It would be complete delirium to think I could do this competetively. But I’m OK with that. We all make our own choices and play the hands we are dealt. My only goal is to keep the 20 lbs I lost off, raise my HDL and stay motivated to keep heading out the door at 4:45 am to get what exercise I can in. If I have to confess to anything, it may be to qualify for Boston, but I don’t have to beat anyone to do that and might, just might, be possible on 10 hours a week.
I would never say that going to the Olympics was not a dream of mine. I started as a runner and always dreamed about winning the 1500/800 double on the track. Of course, then I started cycling and dreamed of the Tour.
Now I’m almost 35 and most of my illusions are in the past. My dreams are much smaller in scale on most days when my sanity is with me. If the planets ever align and my family, work and training come together such that I can make an attempt at Ironman then I will do it. I would never chase Kona like a friend I know that keeps saying "Man, if I only just … " If I never do it I doubt I will spend more than a moment wondering how I might have done.
There are certainly lots of other races for which it is worth training.
Honestly, I don’t believe either one of you. Nor do I believe anyone who would say that going to the Olympics was never a dream of theirs. I believe that deep down all humans aspire to rise above the others.
Honestly, there are SO many other neat races to experience. Kona isn’t the end all be all to me. In fact, I’m pretty sure if I made it a goal, I could qualify. I just don’t care to. I keep myself sufficiently occupied with other goals that happen to be more palatable to me. I’m happy for those that do qualify and enjoy that process-- it’s just not what piques my interest. Strange that you think that everyone should aspire to the same goals you consider appropriate.
I qualified for Hawaii twice and never went, then spent ~8 years trying to qualify coming within 8 seconds once at Wildflower and then a few times within 5 min on an Ironman. In any event, I enjoy tris much more now that I have no particular focus including qualifying for Hawaii. The furthest I look is getting out the door the next morning and I am happy that I have a the health to do it. Would I want to do Hawaii ? Absolutely, but I’m not fixated on trying to race to my best anymore.
I just like being out racing and training with the boys. This morning, I got to do a 5:30 150K ride with 6000 ft of climbing with Ironman Wisconsin winner Dave Harju. How cool is that ? And he was nice to all of us tri posers, riding at our lame pace. On one climb, I was comfortably riding uphill at 159 bpm, which is the upper limit of riding and still maintaining a conversation. I looked down at Dave’s HRM and it read 112 BPM. This is what I live for. Just having the fitness to go out and train day in and day out. Racing is just a huge bonus, but not a requirement. Racing Hawaii would be icing on the cake, but not high on the priority race…but yes, I would never by a disk cause you can’t use it in Hawaii !
I’m with you in the minority. I’m truly happy for anyone who makes this their dream and is someday able to realize it. However, I’m the type of person that is crowd adverse and shuns events that are heavily promoted/hyped. I guess I just travel to the beat of a different drum.
I recently discovered ultra running on trails and just love the solitude found from being out in the woods and nature. That is the direction my fitness will be going the next few years. I will still probably do a few smaller triathlons just for the cross training motivation, but an Ironman or Kona just doesn’t appeal to me.
I think Gadgetgirl should just sign up for Ultraman:www.ultramanlive.com. No crowds, big island charm, low key and you get to the run the Kona bike course from Hawi to Kona in the heat of mid day !
No desire to go to Kona. No desire to do an Iron distance race either. I try to keep my life relatively balanced, and the time committment to train for an iron distance race would throw too many other things out of balance. And I just don’t like biking enough right now either to put appropriate bike miles in.
Feel free to throw a Goo at me for that remark.
So for the next couuple of years, I figure I’ll stick with marathons and 1/2 IMs when I feel the need to do a long for me race, and maybe someday I’ll feel the IM siren.
As for the Olympics, my dreams for gymnastics gold ended somewhere around age 8 when I realized I just didn’t have that kind of talent in me.
GU not Goo!!! Although it does get pretty gooey at the end of the day - I can never get it out of the packet and into my mouth without some getting on my hands.
Chad,
Here’s one place where we’re divirgent in our goals. I have never been in a position to really give a solid effort at qualifying for Kona. In my younger days, when qualifying was not such a big deal…I DID think like you expressed here. Frankly it had more to do with the fact that I couldn’t afford to travel and race there than whether I really wanted to go. Scott, Allen, Molina, Tinley, Pigg, PNF and the rest were my triathlon heroes. My triathlon genesis sprung from the infamous '83 crawl footage. I took up triathlon the next year ('84). That race has a calling on me.
Over the years, the qualifying passed me up. I don’t have the time (with the number of deployments I’ve done in the last 7 years) to really focus on qualifying. Between my family, my duty, and my racing…something has to give…and it’ll be racing every time in that equation.
In other energy gel notes, about an hour ago, I discovered you could run a bunch of CarBoom!s forgotten in a bike jersey pocket through the washing machine and they fortunately do not lose structural integrity.
However the outsides probably now taste like Tide Free.
No desire to go to Kona. No desire to do an Iron distance race either. I try to keep my life relatively balanced, and the time committment to train for an iron distance race would throw too many other things out of balance. …
Wait I dont have the time to train, nor the body to do a 1/2 Ironman let alone a full one. But ya I’d love to go to Kona and win the darn thing. I’d Love to go on a space walk to, and walk on the moon. There are lots of things I’d love to do that are not going to happen, because I have made choices to do other things. Dont mean if I could Blink my eye and make it happen I wouldn’t want it to.
So what Im getting at is your first to sentences say you have no desire to go to Kona or do an ironman, then you start giving reasons why you are not doing them. Sounds like you do desire to do IM just have other priorities so your not going to. (Big difference).
Great points by Dave, and no, I still don’t believe a single one of you who says that you could care less about going to a world championship (except the guy who has been there, and he would feel different had he never made it). I don’t believe it one bit, and deep down I doubt if you really believe it either. All this “I do it for fitness and frienship blah blah blah” is just a cover up. You want it, you know you do… It’s human nature to want to win. And don’t give me any of this “I compete against myself” crap either.
prof, flame away, but I don’t have any desire to do an IM let alone go to Kona. Well, I’d like to go and watch, but that probably isn’t what you mean.
I did watch IMAZ and that was a lot of fun, but I couldn’t help but think that I was glad I wasn’t racing. And yes, I did have Olympic dreams. In figure skating.
While I’m not a world-class athlete in any sport, do you think that world-class sprinters dream of Boston? I dunno, they might, but you’re projecting when you disbelieve that some of us don’t have our sights set on Kona. OTOH, Lifetime Fitness? Perhaps.