I’m looking at the races(7) I’m signing up for and it’ll be ~$450 just for signup fees (says so on my spreadsheet … I guess I am a geek), which I’m sure is lean for this group. Unfortunately funds are gonna keep it this way, with me doing only local races.
So, I was wondering how much does everyone shell out to punish themselves? Let me live vicariously (sp?) through you big spenders.
I need Matthew Lesko to come out with a new book, “How to get all the triathlon stuff you want … and get the government to pay for it!”
2nd part … my wife digs the triathlon stuff b/c it gets my hyper rear-end out for a bit and burn some of the excess sugar I ate when I was 7, but she’s not all that thrilled with me being gone most weekends out of the summer. How do you all balance the racing time with family time?
To balance it cut the races as short as possible. Meaning it’s fine to get arrive early because my family is not up at 5:00 am. Race starts at 8:00. Done 9:30 ish (depends on race of course). Drive home 20 minutes after completing race. I was home by the time they got moving.
Or the new technique: Have them sign up for some event. Many of the races in the Seattle area have multiple stuff happening. Last year I did a tri at 8. At 9:30 they had a 5k. I did the tri, finished ran to the 5k and did it with my wife and daughter. Only problem is we got there at 7:30. Didn’t have time to check my bike. Guess what, I had a big problem because my bike nearly fell apart during the race. Oh well.
Geez dude,even the title of your post is wordy. I always get a kick out of the complaints of entry fees. They seem pretty small compared to equipment,hotel nights, food ect…Seem a smaller % overall. Look at IM. $400 yet minimum 5 nights at how much plus food training equipment. Taking family out for vacation at the same time ect… Like $50 less would matter?
Spend on racing this year: approx 800$ entry fees + 700$ travelling + 600$ in “training camp” + Hawaii if I qualify. But since I got a new bike last year, there will be no big spending on equipment.
How to balance family time: Adjust the training times to the family activity: Long trips starting early in the morning, short run when the kids are in bed at night etc. Limit the number of races, only participate in a few of the races that needs travelling, and don’t participate in all local races either. Support my wife and kids in their activity (and spending). (Driving them to the ski resort, pay the ski-lift for them - while having a nice XC ski workout for myself…)
Bustin’ my chops … =) It was either one long title or 2 seperate threads. I flipped a coin. It was heads.
I posted what I did b/c I have a 2 year old and at the time of 5/22 (my first race) I’ll have a 2mo old, so vacation isn’t a possibility. I was curious to see how others in the same situation did it. I assumed that many in their late 20’s early 30’s had the young kids, etc. I’m sure in the future I’ll do out of state tri’s and they’ll be “vacations”.
I was curious as to what others were spending, so I could get an idea of how much to start saving per month … for next season. Plus, I wanna read about someone going all over the country/world, spending thousands of dollars, so I could have a 5-minute daydream, pretending that was me.
Not really complaining about the fees, just noticing for the first time what 7 races would cost total. I chose this sport, no one begged me to do it, so I can’t really complain.
The amount spent hurts too much to think about. I am racing in Hawaii in October and was looking at accomodations online … looks like it will run somewhere between $1000 and $1400 for the week, plus airfare, car rental, entry fee, … and that’s just one race.
As for the family thing, I always bring mine along with me (they were in Florida cheering me on … my 8 year old told me “don’t worry about qualifying for Hawaii dad, couldn’t we just go anyway and watch the race if you don’t make it?”). I have a cheering section of 3 at every race that I do (we camp at a number of venues since there are often campgrounds at or near lakes where they have races). My daughters have been at races since they were infants so it is sort of an expected series of events in the good weather. When I did my first ironman in 1999 in Penticton we made a family trip of it and drove across the country to get there and it was an awesome family trip. My wife has mentioned a few times though that she might like to go on a vacation that doesn’t involve a race somewhere … I thought I’d be ok going to Myrtle Beach in March but noticed that March Mauler du that seems to be calling me
Plus, I wanna read about someone going all over the country/world, spending thousands of dollars, so I could have a 5-minute daydream, pretending that was me.<<
Sometimes it’s better to not know.
2003: Triathlon and travel came to around $14,000 (give or take) and I didn’t even get a new bike. I did go to: New Zealand, France and Kona, plus a number of other local inter-California trips and a trip to Missouri for an Ironman (and to visit my parents). That was actually a pretty big year. This year it’s no New Zealand and I’m thinking about not going to Kona and saving up more vacation time for 2005 for a big trip to Australia. I am doing 3 weeks in Belgium/France in July this year. Caveat–I’m single, have no responsiblities to anyone but myself, do not own a house (nor do I really want to) and work a lot of hours where they are extremely happy with my work (i.e., overtime and bonus, 6 weeks time off/year), and triathlon, cycling and travel are my passions.
Now if I could figure out how to work it to get PAID to travel, train and race, living at the level I’m accustomed to.
Edit: OK, looking a little closer at the details, that’s a little high. There is some pure family (non-tri) travel in there and some of the race entry fee expenses are for 2004 races, but were paid in 2003. Likewise, the deposit for the 2004 Tour de France trip was paid in 2003. Big ticket tri item was a set of good training wheels.
As of right now I’m looking at 3 Du’s, a marathon and a 5k for 2004 and that comes to $325 not including hotels and meals. The marathon and 5k are local so that helps with the overall costs but my family comes with me to the away races so we have to plan on extra spending for those trips. There is usually a zoo or a park in the budget but sometimes a hotel with a pool will do. I start planning my races early in the year and budget what we can for racing and equipment. I also try and take advantage of discounts for signing up early. There is always a huge list of wants and I’ll write them all down and then whittle down the list to what I really need.
We have 3 kids, 6, 4 and 2, my wife and I both work and she is working on her Ph.D so time is an issue for both of us. She is happy that I’ve found something to get out and get my body into a shape other than round and many times gives me that extra kick in the a$$ to get me out training when its raining or cold which is often late at night while she is doing her homework. Also my getting out and moving is paying off in another way, our local 5k has a 1 mile fun run after the main race and for the past 2 years she and I have run that after I ran the 5k, even in the rain last year, we couldn’t talk her out of it! This year she is going to do the Country Music Kids Marathon and my 4 year old wants to do the fun run after the 5K so family time and training time are starting to come together.
I sign up for races within driving distance and my wife does homework on her laptop while we are driving, (amongst 700,000 mamma requests from the back!). After we get checked in to the hotel they go swimming or I drop them off at the zoo or something while I go get registered and drive the bike course and then I will go join them. Usually race morning they will drop me off and then go out for breakfast and then depending on the venue and the length of the race, if it has a play ground or park or something entertaining to them they will come to the race, if not they will go to a park of swim and then they usually show up at the race to cheer me on for the run and finish, they usually have lots of time before the finish! We let the kids pick where we eat on the way home and they normally don’t get to eat at McDonalds so we stop at the ones with playlands and let them have fun. I think it’s going to get more expensive real quick though, my 6 year old has ditched her training wheels and play’s “racing” while I’m working outside. I’ve seen some races with categories for 7-10 year olds, I’d better start working on next years budget now!
Some tips for spending more time w/family and maximizing training time. If you are going on a day trip pack the night before you leave. You leave 2 hrs early on your bike and they pick you up. I used to do this going to the relatives for holidays. Go to a hiking trail, you run out 1 hr, they hike 1 hr, both turn you catch them and finish your run hiking with them.
To reduce costs try to find a homestay or roommate to share them expenses. If you have friends driving to a race you have to fly to have them pick you up/drop off at the airport saving car rental. You pick up the dinner tab. Always stay at the same hotel chain for your business and pleasure travel. Those points turn into free nights and some hotel chains give away free weekends if you stay so many nights during some time period. Same with airlines. Make sure you can combine your hotel points and airline points or earn points for one while staying at another. If you have a major hub in your area get a credit card for that airline charge everything paying it off monthy and you’ll rack up a ton of points. I earn 2-3 RT’s per year that way. I raced 3 times on the east coast flying from the west for under $250 total excluding entry fees by using air points and hotel points.
We let the kids pick where we eat on the way home and they normally don’t get to eat at McDonalds so we stop at the ones with playlands and let them have fun. I think it’s going to get more expensive real quick though, my 6 year old has ditched her training wheels and play’s “racing” while I’m working outside. I’ve seen some races with categories for 7-10 year olds, I’d better start working on next years budget now!