I have a question for everyone who would consider themselves not naturally gifted at endurance sports. It seems that so many successful triathletes had competitive swimming or XC backgrounds in college or high school. So my question is for those of you who don’t have this experience, how long did it take for you to be competitive in this sport?
As for myself, I’m 24, I’ve been an athlete all my life, all sports in HS, played football in college. Through out college until last year, I’ve been more of a meat head. That is, more interested in muscles and strength. I’d never run more than a mile until last year. I’ve always been the typical sprinter type, but I have got into this triathlon thing and love it because it is so hard and its a challenge, and I have loved to see my body change from muscles to a more lean figure, which is still a little hard on my ego, as I was always little growing up. It just seems so hard for me to get my running pace down as well as my swimming pace. I’ve done 1 sprint triathlon as well as 1 5k, 1 12k, and 1 1/2 marathon in the past year. I’m slowly gettin better at the distance thing, but its hard, and discouraging at times, because I’m so competitive. Sure I love going out and beating my own goals and expectations, but I’d love to be able to place top 10 AG or atleast compete to do so. Just curious if there are others in the same boat! thanks for your time!! Jon
Been doing this for almost 10 years. Never swam as a kid. Didn’t run in high school or college. Rode a bike like every kid did…ah, that old 3 speed Raleigh with the rack on the back…and jogged a bit in the 80’s…heck, everybody did.
Started training at 37 as a mom-with-2-kids. Whoda thunk Ida ever go to Kona…nevermind finsih purty high up in my old lady age group.
Took me about 6 good solid, consistent years of training to start having some real success…if you consider placing in and occasionally winning my age group at the local level success. The last 4 years have seen more hard training and a wee bit o’ success in the bigger pond. Who knew?
As gleveq said: it takes quite a while. 6 years of endurance training doesn’t surprise me for her experience with improvement. Seeing that you are ONLY 24 tells me you have at least a decade of improvement possible in endurance sports. If you were 42, I’d say you could improve for several years: 4? 5? 6?. It depends upon your background and level of commitment. Be smart, avoid injury, and if you work hard and pick the right parents, you might actually be fast
You’re 24 so I’m sure you’ll be just fine! You’ve got a long ways to go and you’ll keep getting better. I’m 26 and got serious in endurance sports about 4 years ago. I was a fat pig in high school and pretty much golfed, ate skittles, and drank Coke every day…not exactly ideal. I remember when I went out for my first training ‘run’ on a bitterly cold Thanksgiving day. I ran for a mile but had to stop several times to catch my breath. Now I’ve done 3 IMs, some 1/2 IMs, some 24 xc ski races and other stuff. I think we have a long time to get good at this stuff. Keep it up!!
The problem with being 24 is you will expect endurance AND speed and everything else to come faster than it will and easier than it will. Anyone willing to do the requisite work for the requisite time can reach “elite” (top 10%) status.
I am 35 and have been doing tris for three years now. I played only golf from the time I was 14. Since I have started tris I have gone from a 230 lb out of shape slug to a 205 lb in shape slug. Luckly I am over 200Lb so I can race in the fatboy err clydesdale division. I have progressed in my times every year and plan on continuing to get better/faster. I hope to be able to win my division in the bigger regional/national races instead of just the locals.
I started tri’s while in highschool. I was never a part of the HS swimming or running scene.
I’m 31 now and its still not happening. I’ve resigned to doing this for fitness and health benefits.
I can only think that you are:
not putting in enough time.
have some serious form/technique issues and could use a coach
are genetically predisposed to do something else but chose this by mistake. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy what you are doing.
Choose one or more of the above.
Everyone can’t be an elite but I believe anyone who is willing to put in the very hard work for long enough can get very good. If I am wrong then I still believe everyone, even the MOP and BOP people can still have fun and feel good about themselves.
Thanks for all of your positive input. You all are right, I am young and expect it all to come quick, results in months, as opposed to years. Thanks again for the support, just gotta keep grinding at it, and it seems like in this sport, experience counts. Just do as many races as I can, train right. I just want to reach my potential, even if that is only good for 20th place. Hopefully better! I’d love to do an IM somedaY! well thanks again!
I’m in my third year and come from a recreational cyclist background
1st year I was happy to finish my first 2 races then finished mid pack on the last 2.
2nd year I was allmost allways finishing in the top 40% of the field
3rd year (this year) I’m mostly in the top 25% of the field and am now limited by my running ability.
I have heard that it takes 5 to 7 years for someone to mature as a runner comming from a non-running background. Of course it could be done quicker for some people but not for me so far.
Keep going at it and don’t be discouraged by where you finish. It takes time, if it was easy, everyone could do it.
Endurance is like money in the bank and interest. For most the bank account starts out small but after years you have a pretty good nest egg. Aerobic capacity seems to build over time and year after year you should see improvement.
I played football and track and hated long distance ANYTHING. I am three years into being serious about sprint tris and duathlons. At my 'A" race three years ago I finished 74/400, last year 30/380 this year 7th overall. What stinks is to be the top guy really takes a huge natural talent plus lots of hard work. I spoke with Bill Reeves after a race (All-American level athlete…most in New England know this guy) and for SPRINT tris he told me he bikes 250 miles a week, runs 40 miles a week and is in the pool “every day”. No wonder he beat me by 10 minutes in the last triathlon I was in against him!
I have a similar athletic background. I started playing golf when I was 10 (maybe younger?), the only reason I would skip school was to play golf (did it several times). When I was 30, I just got frustrated because I wasn’t playing the way I thought someone with 20 years experience should play. My wife had been doing triathlons for a couple years so I joined her. I’m 35 now and still very excited by the prospect of continuing to improve in endurance sports for the foreseeable future. I can see results from the work I put in for triathlon training, improvement in golf just wasn’t happening for me. A big motivation for me is that every time I go to a race I see guys in their mid to late 40’s who beat most of the field (me included). I want to be one of those guys in 10 years.
I had a similar athletic background. I played football up through my first year at college and didn’t have any run/bike/swim background growing up. I did my first competitive 10k run race in 2000 (coincidentally I was 24 yo). I’ve been dabbling in tris for 4 yrs now. The last 2 yrs, I have trained pretty hard and it’s starting to show in my racing. I’ve posted a few AG/OA finishes in some local sprints last year and placed 3rd OA in a local oly this year. For me, I always race to beat my previous time and put forth the best performance that I can. If it’s good enough to bring home some hardware that day, that’s just gravy. Considering I was a 275lb lineman in my football prime (I race at 173lbs now), I think I am doing pretty good at 29. I know my best triathlon years are still to come. So be patient, train hard, and compete even harder. Just don’t forget to have fun while you’re doing it!!! Good luck brother…
I just to be a track $ field star in field events all the throws, i am a big heavy well worked athlete, and let me tell you friend i suffer in this sport, i can ride a bike with the best and swim pretty solid, but when i start to run , feels like i have cement shoes i can cry! i have done several marathons and a lot of 10 k but don’t like it as a matter of fact i hate to run. but i love to tri so i have to do it.
I came to triathlon in a round about way from a Karate injury. I used to fight as a heavy weight at 215lbs. I swam in HS and I was 154lbs.
I have been racing tri’s for about 8 years now and have been as low as 180 for Ironman. When I started I was MOP in local events. I worked my way up to the slower end of the FOP when I was in Oklahoma depending on who showed up. Here in Austin it is a bigger pond but still finish fairly well in my AG.
It will come around with time. I am finally to the point that I love to run. Keep with it.
