How many STers out there trained hard for a long course (IM or even 1/2 IM) and when they finally completed that race, decided that was it and shorter course racing was for them? For that matter, how many just have no ambition to complete an IM race? It seems like the focus is usually on IM distance racing, but do lots of people feel completely satisfied with Sprint and Olympic distances with no real aspirations to do another or any long course races?
I’m more suited for short course. My wife is more suited for long course. I like the balls to walls effort of a sprint distance because it feels like I’m actually racing rather than just trying to survive as I would on a long course. In contrast, my wife is like the Energizer Bunny that can just go and go all day long.
BOTH…short (5-10km’s and short du’s and tri’s) early season, IM late fall (IMFlorida).
Gotta be like the OLD guard, they raced it ALL!
t~
I agree. Do it all.
But I think long course should come later. I did a couple of 1/2 IM’s early this year with some success, but I think to get any better I need to focus on short course for a few years (i.e. until I stop getting faster) and then switch back to long course. Isn’t that how runners train? 5k runners PBing the 1500m before they run any 5k’s.
my wife is like the Energizer Bunny that can just go and go all day long.
Quote of the day…
yeah, what woyts said.
i started racing tri when i was 15 and immediately got it into my head that i wanted to be the youngest ironman ever; my genetics are more long-course anyway, so this seemed like a good idea. i got up to half ironman and had some success there, but eventually saw the light.
short-course racing is the way forward. for every peter and natasha, there’s a macca, welchy, michellie, lothar, thomas or luc.
it also seems to me that - at 25 - i’m nowhere near my long-course peak. and, that i can get a good deal of the base that i need for L-C racing by doing SC racing for 10 years. (actually, it’s 11 now.) more importantly, i can race hard every weekend all season, which i sure as hell can’t do as a long course athlete, and racing is the best training.
my hope is that by the time i go to IM in something like 5 years, i’ll have nutrition, pacing, gear, etc completely dialed from 15 years of experience. too, i’ll carry in more basic speed and strength that the average long-n’-slow type. i have no interest in ‘finishing’ the IM and don’t consider it the be-all of the sport - i want to race it.
i’ll do 3 ironmans:
- a qualifier
- kona
- a PB at roth
and then i’ll be done.
-mike
“my wife is like the Energizer Bunny that can just go and go all day long.”
"Quote of the day… "
Uh, Whoops. I hope you didn’t take that out of context. 
I admit that I have no interest in paying race fees, lodging and travel for anything shorter than a 1/2IM. The hydration is easy enough that I can do solo olys. I’ve done 5 solo olys … usually on days when I had a 2:00/45 bike/run brick scheduled and just decided to through in a swim and record the time. Unless I were competing for the podium, it’d be money wasted for me.
Plus, when it comes to MY training, I’m really not all that motivated to train for the shorter courses, and have zero interest in sprint races. If I were regulated to race sprints only, I’d just go lift weights and run as part of a healthy lifestyle.
I would love to get into IM-distance races, but right now I am too slow to get what I need out of ~500-550 hours/year training. Right now the 1/2IM distance presents plenty of challenge for me, and will likely do so a couple or few more years. I am not trying to sound arrogant, but when I do the 140.6 race, I don’t want to walk most of the run, I don’t want it to be the double-leg cramp run/walk that LGE was. I want to show the distance, the respect it deserves and adequately (for me) prepare to make a good run at some decent (for me) time goals.
As a spectator, the Oly was neat to watch during the Olympics, but really … I have close to nil interest in the shorter course races … other than giving me motivating, solo, barometer workouts.
Now … these comments are only for myself. I think it’s cool that other people have other interests, and I am not one to think that the only distances in triathlon are the long ones. You race sprints and olys, and I’ll wish you the best and congratulate you on your accomplishments. We all be happy doing what we enjoy to do.
FWIW, and to better address the question … when I was done with my 70.3 race, which was an embarassing suffer-fest, I knew that it was exactly what I wanted to be doing. Started training for the next year in October, and have been doing very well. Gonna do 3 70.3 races next season.
No ambition to do an IM whatsoever. None. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Not one iota.
I’ve done a half-IM, and that was far enough, thank you.
My personal feeling is that their is too much focus on longer racing - 1/2 IM and beyond. I know that everyone has goals, and that’s fine. If people are serious about their performance, and not just finishing, in the longer races then they would spend more time focusing on the shorter races. If someone has done IM races for a few years and wants to REALLY improve performance at IM, I would suggest a season of focusing on sprint and Olymic distance races and trying to establish absolute personal bests in the 1500m swim, the 40K ITT and the 10K run. I bet they would be shocked when the following year they came back and did an IM, that they would have carved out a HUGE PB at the IM distance.
Unfortunately, many people don’t want to hear this and they just keep piling on more miles and grinding out more IM races.
Fleck
No ambition to do anything over oly.
Too much knee pain when running,
Too much training to get prepared,
Don’t want to travel to race,
Prefer shorter, more intense activities,
1/2IM or longer - not enough real estate to catch the swimmers otherwise.
Agreed. I’m 23, been racing since 17, at 20 attempted my first IM with 3 sub 4:30 halfs under my belt - I decided that I was more suited to long course racing, as I’m sure many people decide simply by the fact that they don’t care to push the pain envelope that short course racing requires to be successful (I know that’s how I felt, even though I had no evidence to prove otherwise). A bike crash caused me to DNF the IM and I said forget racing IM for a long time (not worth wasting a year of training for one race with no back up plan if it fails to go according to what I wanted). Spent 2 years racing mostly sprints, road running races and only a few olympic distance tris trying to improve my 10k so I could do ITU points races if I wanted and not get embarrassed on the run by having an open 10k PR that was 5 minutes slower than what some of those guys can do on the back end of a tri (bagged the idea of turning pro this year to spend the proper amount of time at work so that i wouldn’t get fired - being a college student was the life). I came back to race a few half IM’s this year and all of a sudden I was riding top bike splits, running faster than ever for the half mary distance, and doing sub 4:20 total race times with MUCH less training than before. I don’t care to prove it, but as you said Fleck, I’m sure that would work for some IM folks as well, especially a few of the early to mid 20’s guys who are already throwing down 9:30 IM’s.
Started doing triathlon about 11 years ago. I did my first Ironman within 2 years (stupid). Got caught up in the hype. Did not finish the first one due to problems on the bike. Did another one 4 years after the first one just to do one and say I finished. After finishing Ironman Canada, I said I would never do another one. I have not to this day. I just do not have the desire to train that much anymore. I love swimming, riding and running but to be out there for that much time all the time is just not for me. There is so much more to life than Ironman. Sorry people.
New baby on the way, have tripled my income and have become a lot more rounded person than when I was in full Ironman mode. You have to admit that there is not much time left after training, sleeping, eating and working. Not a very balanced life for sure. I love the shorter stuff and it leaves more time to spend with family and friends.
In my first 5 years of triathlon I did every distance triathlon up to Ironman, did every running distance race up to an Ultra (50km), and did some ultra swims and some killer rides. I just know that after doing all that, the shorter stuff is fun. I just love to redline the whole way.
I have respect for anyone that can do an IM at a high level, but I’m just not cut out for that distance. I do races I can train for and can actually “race” to some degree.
I’ve decided that if I ever walk during a triathlon that will be my last one. So for that reason alone I’d better not even think about doing an IM or even a 1/2 IM.
Of course finishing a sprint or oly is not a challange that’s not the point. The challange is being able race them at the highest level possible. At least that’s the way I see it. I enjoy racing, there are few age groupers that can race more than one or two IMs per year.
Before this spring I had never done a sprint distance race. Probably because none were located close to me and it seemed odd to drive five hours one-way to do a race that would last an hour. However, after doing the Desert Sprit tri in La Quinta (Palm Springs) and have to say that it was about as fun a race as I have done. The swim was frenetic, the ride required no pacing and the run felt like a 5K. It was great. Painful, but simple.
I believe long-course–IM distance–is popular because of the perception that finishing is a great accomplishment in and of itself. I’m sure this is true, but the average person doesn’t care or understand the difference between a 10-hour IM or a 15-hour IM. Both are beyond the imagination of the normal person and will receive the same numbers of oohs and aahhs. Thus a modestly talented athlete can garner a good deal of recognition regardless of place/finishing time.
This is not a bad thing, but certainly prompts people to do IM that are not likely to have the time to prepare properly to race the distance. Meaning they walk half of the run.
I feel no need to test myself at the IM distance until I am adequately prepared to race, nor do I feel some unrequited longing for Kona every fall. Ironically, WTG did me a big favor by creating the 70.3 championship, so I feel even less drawn to the IM distance than before.
Chad
I’ve done 5 IMs over the last 4 years and am sticking with half and under for the next couple. I enjoy the challenge of longer racing and training but short course training is much more manageable and I’m slightly better suited for those distances. Going to work on getting my 5k/10k times back down, have gotten slow in the last couple!
haha context is funny…you all missed the balls to the wall opportunity though. geez.
cg you should have said something like…the only place i cant keep up is in the pool or on the run…but thats probably enough. your wife will kill us all, or at least threaten it loudly.
short or long?
at the moment for me short, but i am a beginner and still learning too much from the sprints that i am doing…and the training times are more manageable.
at the present time i dont have aspirations for anything longer than maybe an olympic. while i have large quantities of respect for the iron people and that achievement, at the moment i have no desire for that length, i just dont think i would enjoy that volume of training, and i do it because i enjoy it.
I prefer short course to long course. I did my first tri in 2001, and I’ve probably done 25-30 races since then, all but seven have been sprint distance races. I’ve done four half IM’s, two Oly distance races and one IM. I did the IM two weeks ago (Duke) just to say I did one. I have a two year old and plans for another child soon. With a young family, I knew it was do an IM now or wait a decade. So I did it. I struggled mightily and had a long, long day (15 hours), but I finished. I left about 45 minutes on the course due to a mechanical on the bike, and the last half of the marathon took me 4 hours to finish. So I feel a little unfulfilled as far as my IM effort goes. That being said, I don’t plan on doing another one. I just don’t have time to train properly.
I plan on doing strictly sprint and Oly races next year. And I don’t plan on doing very many, just a couple that are close to home. I’ve spent too much money on equipment, race fees and travel over the last four years. There’s a small chance that I might throw in another half IM; I really want to find a flat one and try to go under six hours. All the half IM’s I’ve done have been very hilly; my best time is 6:15. Since I live in the flatlands, I think I can knock 15 minutes off my time if I do a flat race.
It does get a bit weird when you travel three or four hours to do a 75 minute race, but I’ve done it (I’ve driven six hours to do a two hour race!). I like the sprint races. It’s fun to just get out and hammer in all three sports and be done in a short period of time. I also get very weary of 4 hour plus bike rides. I can get up early on Saturday and do a two or three hour workout and be home before my family wakes up. Or wait until my son takes his afternoon nap. I can get in a long-ish ride while he naps.
I’ve done some long course stuff, but I’ve never been very good at it. Short course is more convenient, and less strenuous on the family.
RP
Haaaa! I’m going to throw down the gauntlet at you, Chad…
First, I’ll be coming to du SC…so you’d better get it straight this time and not let my presence jinx you…
Then I’ll tackle a couple of 70.3 races (Florida and Eagleman)…
Then I’m planning on IMLP (assuming I can get a slot from the Florida or Eagleman races, which shouldn’t be an issue)…
If the gods smile on me at IMLP I’ll take a Hawaii slot at IMLP…
More likely outcome (than Hawaii) is that I’ll see you at the 70.3 championship in November…plan on it and bring your A game (which we both know is better than mine, at least on the run…)
Is it a go, amigo?