The Mid-Life AG Athlete’s Life Cycle?

Triathlon Forum
1

This post is for all athletes who started “endurance” training in their early to mid 30s, who have a wife, children, full-time job…. Maybe even a home and attempt to train for triathlon… This is for those 30 some-things who didn’t swim/bike/run but still always found triathlete’s and specifically Ironman alluring. This is for those 40+ AG’rs who can relate and offer their experiences…

So, I’m currently 37 years old and I literally rolled off the couch back in ’99 at the age of 29 after gaining more then 60# after graduating high school… I was a high school jock, who had a great physique but not anymore. I had spent the past 10 or 11 years since high school, focusing on my career, wife and had just had my 1st daughter. It wasn’t until the pictures started rolling in of my new daughter and I that I realized just how large and out-of-shape I had become. So I joined the gym, started lifting, doing some cardio, dieting intensely and by 2001 I was down to my high school weight of 164#, fat % in the single digits, feeling and looking great. However, I really was miserable eating the high protein / low carbs bars, watching every single gram of fat/protein/carbs I was taking in… The long slow walks on the treadmills… The endless routine of trying to put another plate on the bar… (Did it really matter that I could bench press 225 multiple sets and reps) It didn’t! I decided I needed to find something new! So I choose triathlon with the intentions of completing an Ironman within 5 years… However at the time I didn’t swim, bike or run… I finished my 1st iron distance race in my 3rd season and I finished my 2nd in my 4th season… which leads me to the subject line of this post… The life-cycle of an age group athlete?

Since July of last year I really haven’t “trained”. I’ve exercised here and there. Every once in awhile I have jumped in the pool, gone for a run, while ignoring a foot injury (turned out to be a year old stress fracture). I’ve gone for 45 min spins outside or an easy spin on the trainer… but there’s no motivation to get up early in the morning to “train”… I put a race on my calendar (TimberMan) but still there’s no motivation and I’m way behind at this point of the year, but I’m hoping that the warmer weather will appear and I’ll get out and hopefully be able to finish the race in a reasonable time, but have no intentions of going after a PR.

This seems like a normal cycle. Triathlon was a top priority for 4 years. I got the job done and was very happy with finish times of 12:19 and 11:47. I had made it known to my friends, wife and family that I was planning on “taking it easy” the remainder of the year (2006) and I wouldn’t be racing IM in 2007 so I could “pay back” my wife who has been so supportive.

However, I didn’t think the “down time” would be so long or just how much I really do enjoy spending time with the family on a Saturday morning, sipping coffee, chatting with the wife, doing home repairs, playing with the kids… Like I said, I made my intentions perfectly clear to my family for 2007 so this cycle seems normal to me… I’ve also announced that I plan on being back at IMLP in ’08 granted I can get registered… So I expect that with the warmer weather, watching IMLP '07, registering for IMLP '08, will reguvenate my desire to continue to race iron distances…

So you 30, 40, 50+ something AG’rs who can relate…. What has your experience been?

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Why not do some shorter distances so you can keep your fitness AND enjoy life with your family? It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

4

Shorter races do nothing for me for some reason… I think they hurt more then longer races… I’m no sprinter… I hate driving an hour plus to a race venue to race for an hour… I hate spending the money for the shorter races… i don’t know why… short just isn’t for me.

Believe me I wish they were but ever since i did my first half I’ve been hooked on longer course racing.

5

“…totally blows goats.”

Made me spew on my keyboard… LOL!

6

Only 3k? I blew at least 5k… and agree the cost is outragous…

7

What do you hope to get out of a 3rd IM finish. My wife and I had this conversation yesterday. The first IM was really thrilling for both of us and it was easy to be motivated for it because you don’t know if you will be able to finish, so you get yourself out of bed, you go to the pool when its cold, and you stay on your bike for 6-hours.
IM #2 - not as good - but you are not over the uphoria of #1 yet, and you’re hoping to go faster.
Like you, I went 12:20 in #1 and 11:40 in #2. Both great experiences. Even though I signed up for #'s 3 and 4 last year, I decided against both and had a fantastic season of half-IM’s. I was still in really good shape, got to train a lot and had a really fun season. At the same time, because training was reduced somewhat, it did not negatively effect my job performance or other parts of life. That’s the definition of a good hobby.
This year, I’m going to see if I can get faster in Olympic distance races. It would be really nice to come in the top 5 in a small race or maybe even get an age-group award. I’m going to try speed workouts for the first time in years after going long for the last 4-years.
Have fun - its a hobby. Try some new races - I see you are from NJ - I cannot recommend highly enough Survival of the Shawangunks as a really fun different race.

8

I started riding my bike to work back when I was in my early 30s (50 now). It augmented my training time by 6 hr/week, while only adding about 1.5-2 hr/wk to my commute. Seemed like a very good trade.

9

My experience has been quite different. I started my endurance training at 15 as a crappy high school athlete becoming a mediocre college athlete. After college I was a moderately capable runner. Running 80 miles or more per week started taking its toll after about a decade so I picked up a bike. This is my 19th year in triathlon. I do around a dozen races a year and still almost cry when the season ends. For most of my life my day has included a workout, it seems strange if it doesn’t. Three months without a race means it’s time to load up and find one. There’s just more gear to pack now

10

I think, from my sample of one, that this is natural and that the cure is a break form triathlon and trying some new challenge. You were motivated by the IM challenge and now that it is accomplished, you have lost your motivation. It is hard to stay focused on all three sports, year after year.

Join USA cycling and enter some masters bike road races. You will find it a new challenge and that you have a lot of room to improve, which makes the training fun again. At least it did for everyone in my sample. (1)

You will be refreshingly surprised, after doing the IM thing, to find that the masters open class at a road race is not filled with the masses just placing another notch on their belt. There is nowhere to hide when the attacks start. You either go or get dropped. That will give you the motivation to train.

Besides, getting a new road bike (Vortex) to hang next to the tri bike (Saber) just looks cool, and is a way cheaper mid-life outlet than getting a girlfriend.

11

Why not sign up for the Harriman Mini in a couple weeks and just do the race for the joy of doing the race? Its beautiful, its really, really cold, and its really, really hilly. But I’m sure you have enough of a base to finish, and you might surprise yourself and even do well. I spur of the moment decided to do the half last year and after six-months without a race everything was pure fun from the smell of my wetsuit to wondering if my feet were frostbitten during the swim.

12

My experience is somewhat similar. I decided to race an IM in November of 1995. I had a good background of both cycling and running, but could not swim. So I learned to swim and completed an IM in 96 (11:4x). I was extremely nauseated by the race, walking, then laying down for a few minutes, for the last half of the “run”. I took five years off. I was really disappointed in the drafting during races, and I didn’t really see a reason to “race” if there were so many rule infractions, and getting so ill during/after the race was a horrible experience.

In 2001 I decided to take a second shot at IM. I did IM California in 10:29. Just as ill after the race, I had to take stops every mile during the last half of the run due to severe diareahe, and I spent 2 hours in the medical tent literally feeling like I could die without attention. (My father, a doctor, was present and said that he too thought I could have died right there without the right treatment.) Again a very unpleasant experience.

Another 5 years, 2006, and I figured out my stomach problems. I decided it would be cool to be at the first 70.3 WC, so I started training and tried to qualify, which I did.

What I realized with the 70.3 series is that: it is long enough to give me the long course fix. it is still very fast, in that I feel like I am racing start to finish. the training does not take up so much time. the long training still leaves me with enough energy to go out and do other things on the weekends. I am really happy with this distance.
So now I only race HIM’s. I am betting that the 70.3 series is going to get HUGE just for these reasons, as I think there are a lot of people that are going to realize that IM is just too much when balanced against a life with career and family. It is great for full time athletes, and I still think about trying one again at some point, but right now I really like HIM. Plus, I can race an HIM every 8 weeks or so, as I recover within a few days to one week max.

So go HIM!

Paul

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I was never an athlete in high school, college, or after; but always participated in sports or exercise of some kind (running 1-2 miles two or three times/week, taekwon do, indoor soccer, pickup basketball, weights…). I was 37 when I first was talked into doing a sprint triathlon, and I trained for about 3 weeks to get ready. Not being a swimmer, nearly drowned in the first couple hundred yards - slow bike ride on my $79 Target special bike (trying not to get sick) - and barely a jogging pace for the run.

I’m now mid-40’s and have gradually built up my speed to MOP level, and built up endurance to where I’ve done a couple of 1/2 IM’s; and a sprint really is a sprint now : ) I’m signed up for IM FL this November, and discussed with my wife and kids before doing so. I don’t know how I’ll feel afterward, but right now I’m thinking that it will be time to resume to some level of normalcy for next year. Probably do nothing longer than an Olympic. Of course, I also said that about the marathon 4 years ago, and have done it each year anyway.

My longer term plan is to stick with shorter distances for at least a couple years. By then, I will only have one child left at home, and she’ll be mid-teens. Depending on health and other circumstances, I’ll see if I feel like starting to do some longer distances. I do hope to keep doing some form of triathlon for as long as my body holds out.

Bottom line: There has to be a balance, and it has to be fun. Nobody is paying me to do this, and honestly, nobody else really even cares if I do it or not. I do it to have fun, be healthy, and exercise a little competitive spirit. In a given year, the number and types of races that I do will change as the circumstances in my life change.

14

My problem is finding someone to train/ride with year after year, as it’s been my experience that people just get too busy with family, work, or just simply lose interest in the sport after 3-4 years. I think one cause of the dropout phenomenon is IM racing. Some people do it too early in their “career,” cross it off their list, and then lose interest in all distances shortly thereafter. The really fast guys I know in the sport who’ve been racing for 10+ years don’t do IM.

15

I could put ditto on to your story, sound like my story all the way down to 2 IM’s and now a year off. I find that taking some time off and only riding/running/swimming when I feel like, not training, for a few weeks every year I get motivated after a few weeks to start pushing again. I like to do the same shorter races every summer to see if I can improve from the previous years and thats what keeps me going besides the fact that I would weight 260 again if I dont!

16

Agree with shortening distances or changing focus. I have done longer races the past few years and now with kids activities taking up the weekends I shifted focus to Intls…after Wildflower long though. This shift permits me to have more time with the family and to focus on my weakness (the swim) and my strength (the run…more quality). I thought about focusing on running exclusively, However, I need triathlon in the future for the cross training benefit and injury prevention (knock on wood). My joints thank me for swimming and biking after a good long run or track workout.

With family, work, and everyhing else you have to flexible enough to reshuffle your deck every once in a while. The real beauty of Tris is that through the multisport exposure it is easy to change your focus and go shorter or focus on individual events for a while. If you do decide to shorten the event make sure you set goals appropriate for the distance. Just becasue the race is shorter should not make it any easier.

17

Great post and great perspective. Not sure why so many people get locked into the IM thing. Don’t get me wrong, It’s a great goal to have and a tremendous achievement to finish one, but there are so many other things that you can do within the context of the sport if triathlon that I am confused when people seem disjointed when they can’t do an IM.

18

Check out Brad Kearn’s Book “Breakthrough Triathlon Training”. He’s got a great quote in there something like “would the world be a worse place if the around Oahu bike race was 50-miles or if the distance from Athen’s the Marathon was only 18-miles?”

19

In keeping with the blowing goat theme, iron anything blows any and all farm animals IMHO. Get involved with something your wife would enjoy - tri/athletic related other something else completely. Try and get her to do a DU with you or a mini adventure race. If not then get a MTB and explore the off-road.

Sorry you lost your mojo.

Rick V.

20

It is scary how close to home your post hit me. I’m 37, just completed my 1st IM two weeks ago. I’ve been training pretty much non-stop for the last 4 years for several different races with the goal of competing in a IM. Well I did it. Told myself after the race that was my first and my last. But no longer than 8 hrs later I was trying to figure out which IM I will do next, but with the understanding that it wouldn’t be until 2009. So it gives me quite a bit of time to enjoy my family without the stress of getting my workouts in. My intentions are to continue to swim with my Master’s team and start up yoga again. I’m going to take off time from running so I can heel up from a case of PF. I have no intention of getting back on my bike for awhile, but the urge will come one day. I too, have enjoyed the time off having my morning coffee and not rush to get out the door to get my workout in before the kids wake up. I mentally prepped myself for the timeoff and I’m doing OK with it now. I eventually want to try different things, like trail-running. I live in the Pacific Northwest and have an abundance of opportunities to get myself and the family out to enjoy the outdoors. This will keep me active, in shape and will involved my wife and kids. They know how much I love the sport of triathlon and how much I like training for it. But, I want to make this time available to them. Knowing the fact that I will eventually be training for some upcoming race gives me the motivation that I need without any pressure.

I guess what I’m trying to say is enjoy the time with your family. If you able to register for the race it will give you the motivation again to start training. If not, try something that will give you that satisfaction. Who knows it might be as simple as running in the woods with kids.

21

This is why I’m not jumping into IM. I’m going to work my way up slowly. This year I’m doing a middle distance race in the Santa Barbara Long Course. Then I’ll probably do HIM for a couple years, and maybe start considering an IM.