THE TEMPTATION OF SUCCESS:
I have canceled my trip to Australia.
This year has started off so perfect that I began to get greedy and want to chase it all. The top of the World Rankings, the top of T100, the IM pro series and Kona.
Yesterday was a (needed) reminder of the need to focus and specialize. To pursue a goal with all of our being. The T100 is simply too competitive and too strong to do otherwise.
I hate to make the same mistakes twice and this is hard because I have gotten too ambitious in the past. This year is like a rainbow with pots of gold and leprechauns waiting at it but very hard to actually find it. Part one of my 2024 season is now over; I am now on break and will build to my 2024 part two season.
Thank you for all the support
📸 @t100triathlon
i’m just a random age-group putz, but i think this is a smart move. i’ve been saying that same came out of the gates very hot, very early, and it’s an extremely long season this year. no good being at your peak in march or april!
relatedly i’m curious to see how other athletes are going to manage it, since there seems to be some carnage already.
Oh for crying out loud, not only is there a Sam Long thread here, but we even have a special thread about this very issue he is posting about… the issue of whether to race ironman this season.
He’s now the number one ranked athlete on the series, makes sense I guess. Although postponing a year when he’s clearly *en forme *is just strange. But I’m sure the cash will be worth it.
Seems like the smart move. Brilliant.
Sam is one of the smartest athletes on the circuit.So the smart athlete decides, with a variety of options at the beginning of the season, on a plan.
Together with his coach he constructs a training regime and follows it.
Then, after some excellent results, rising to top spot in the PTO rankings, and the prospect of additional $$$, he decides to take on a couple of Ironmans: a distance he has struggled in more often than not. That includes choosing a race around the world 7 days after this T100. His coach agrees or at least acquiesces.
Why? IMLP perhaps, but Cairns! Of course IMLP would screw him for London, which as a T100 is a higher priority.
A month later after a single poor performance (and we really haven’t heard why he thinks the day didn’t go as others expected after that complete bonus half swim, has he changed his training emphasis and did that really have an adverse effect?) he decides to change his mind again and not go for it.
Are these iterations all “smart moves” by the “smartest athlete on the circuit”? That last quote has an entertaining ‘Jack Kelly’ ring to it.
If Charles Barclay after all decides not to race in Nice are people going to say “wise move”?
I said last month, commenting/agreeing with @monty:
it is the athlete choosing to overrace. **Both the big series have set it up so that there is little room “outside” their **requirements to do other stuff. Some athletes are just tough and can manage it fine. But if you only do one or the other series, the number of races is reasonable. The big problem comes when athletes want to race outside, as they should because there is great money out there outside of the individual series.Agree: the opportunity’s there: it’s up to each athlete. Long seems to have been tempted by Eve’s apple: we will see what two IMs and three 70.3s harvests: should make top 5 IM Pro Series (Oceanside, St George, Cairns, Kona, Taupo)). Can’t help thinking that those extra races will be to the detriment of a top performance in the T100 GF and overall, and also challenging for the 70.3WC win in Taupo (perhaps he’s written that off given Wilde and the boyos will be there).Perhaps Long or a disciple read this and pondered (I kid myself, of course).
You call it a poor performance, but it put him into Number 1. #shrugs
you know it’s only the best results that count and not just a random tally right?//
Yes always amazes me that some people dont know the most basic of maths…For those interested, there are a bunch of races that counts towards the end, and many athletes like Knibb for example have only done one, and crushed it. Others have done all of them and have full points, but means nothing when planning ahead to what folks “will” have once they fill out their dance cards. Sam will be no where near #1 if he has to count this race as one of his final scores. SO thinking this new #1 overall spot he finds himself in because of this bad race, well is just not doing the maths correctly…
You call it a poor performance, but it put him into Number 1. #shrugs
you know it’s only the best results that count and not just a random tally right?//
Yes always amazes me that some people dont know the most basic of maths…For those interested, there are a bunch of races that counts towards the end, and many athletes like Knibb for example have only done one, and crushed it. Others have done all of them and have full points, but means nothing when planning ahead to what folks “will” have once they fill out their dance cards. Sam will be no where near #1 if he has to count this race as one of his final scores. SO thinking this new #1 overall spot he finds himself in because of this bad race, well is just not doing the maths correctly…
Basics of math, yes, no shit. Best results count. The point is he’s currently number 1 and he wants to stay number one because the payout will the equivalent of Kona. So, basics of math huh. You guys are the ones who are dense.
Yes, I agree Sam has a decent chance of staying in number one by the end of the year if he focuses properly on London and Vegas he has a decent chance of going into the Final at or near top position.
The pressure is on Magnus and Van Riel to have a strong second performance to beat out Sam. I think both of them can do it, if that’s their focus but Van Riel has Paris and Magnus has Roth and Kona. So Sam is looking pretty good as far as his chances go.
That said, I do agree that pivoting so quickly after his announcement reflects the brashness of his Kona announcement in the first place. If he wasn’t fully committed to do it, he should have simply waiting until after T100 SF to make that call.
I’d be happy to see him race Cairns and then Kona, but he’s got plenty of time in his career.