I wonder how many runners or swimmers put in the time and effort that us BOPer do.
The AG (as in kids - pre HS and HS), serious swimmers have got you beat - often 14 practices a week or 20 hrs a week.
that’s all I’m going to add to this thread because it’s DUMB.
you always seem to miss the point in pretty much every thread so ill break it down for you.
Dave only understands Dave talking about Dave.
a 17 hour ironman finish is downright pathetic for an average healthy human being and is quite uninspiring. You clearly don’t have a good grasp on what an average healthy human being is. Even a marathon alone isn’t normal for an average healthy human being, much less a marathon as a third leg.
Triathletes are “bad” at their individual sports because an average person isn’t good at three sports. Grab your average collegiate swimmer and force them to run three miles. Toss your average cyclist in the water and ask them to swim 1500m. Be prepared to laugh. Most runners I know would roll their eyes at the thought of getting on a bike.
Then again, most triathletes have at least one sport they have a background in. Some, like me, suck equally at all three legs. It is what it is. But lazy? No. Lazy people don’t train for anything, much less train for three things.
that begs the question, why do triathletes suck at individual sports.
Triathlon is one sport, not 3. If triathletes put as many hours into one of the 3 disciplines as they do into triathlon, they would be much better at that discipline.
You should probably question the work ethic of single sport athletes who get beaten by triathletes at swim meets, time trials, 5Ks, etc.
Why are you taking someone else’s quote and responding to me?
If anything I see triathletes that I hang out with and work with working like slaves to get faster and fitter. We might not work smarter and we might not use the best approach, but by and large most triathletes I’ve dealt with have an excellent work ethic not just around triathlon, but around life in general.
Dev
Seasons is either a massive elitist d-bag or a troll. Why is anyone even bothering to provide coherent, logical reply’s to obvious flame posts?
that begs the question, why do triathletes suck at individual sports.
the answer is obvious, they dont train enough or fast enough and each of their problems stems for this.
if they spent the time training, they wouldnt ask questions about handling, gearing, nutrition ect they would know these answers due to trial and error.
triathletes are lazy because they dont put the necessary training time to answer basic questions or make adaptations needed for racing well.
a 17 hour ironman finish is downright pathetic for an average healthy human being and is quite uninspiring.
its not misguided information. in the age of information and access of tons of books and coaches, this type of retarded training is inexcusable. theyre too lazy to be a student of the sport and get better.
I’m going to go ahead and disagree with you for the most part on these points, because what I think you are suggesting is tht if one were to train one’s arse off you would by default find the optimum training scheme and become as fast as anybody. I think though that the existance of coaches, books, etc seem to point out that this information is better devined from those with experience. I had tonnes of questions when I started the sport about five years ago, adn I still have questions today. I don’t think that asking for answers to those questions makes me lazy, I think it makes me a student of the sport. I get some answers I go try them out, and if they don’t work I’m left with more questions.
I know that the 50+ yr old with the P4 and 35% body fat is out there, and yeah, maybe that guy is lazy and looking to buy some speed. I sure don’t show up to many triathlons and look around an think “look at all these lazy bastards!” And sure, maybe jsut about anybody that knows how to swim and is in reasonable shape can turn in a 17hr effort. So what. Most of us work a full week 40+ hrs, take care of families, have social lives, run to the store, mow the lawn and still manage to train. Maybe that doesn’t leave enough time to become an elite at three sports, but I still maintain that “lazy” is not the right word.
I don’t know about swimming and cyling but it’s simply not possible to put as many hours into running as I do into triathlon when I’m really traninig. At some point, your legs simply cannot take any more pounding.
That’s a big part of the drag about triathlon. The time it consumes. To properly train for long course triathlon - even Olympic - you should say goodbye to your friends for a few months because unless they’re training with you, you won’t see them.
Comparing this with the most thorough running training I’ve done and the time values simply don’t compare. I once had a month in which I averaged over 130 miles a week running and I still had time to go out two nights a week. Most weeks it was 13, 14, 15 hours. The highest mileage week was over 17 hours of running. My rude awakening to triathlon was finding out that, while 17 hours is not a bad week, it’s nothing spectacular.
Wait, you went to worlds?
Good point, but swimmers sure seems to put in a lot more time than athletes in any other sport. My daughter was 6th in the state at 2 miles her junior year in HS and her XC team place 2nd three years straight. Her team trained less than I do now and I’m at the low end for most AGers (probably why I’m at the BOP). I just don’t see how anyone that trains for a tri can be considered lazy…SC obviously has issues.
You are hilarious and I LOVE slowtwitch!
Between you and roadhouse I don’t know who I look to more for worthless information.
Why are you taking someone else’s quote and responding to me?
Because I clicked the wrong reply button. Sorry.
I think you’d have to take someone’s motivation into account to truly know if they’re lazy or not. Some people do this just for fun and fitness and don’t care all that much how well they do. So when you compare them to people who take triathlon very seriously, they look lazy in their training. But they’re not lazy. They just don’t have the desire to train 20 hours per week.
Every sport has this. Go watch a marathon sometime. There are a lot of people in the back of the pack that didn’t train very hard. Who cares?
Seasons–I like your style. You’d do well in a quadrathlon: swim, bike, run, panty twist. Even if I’m oftentimes guilty of the things you accuse, it’s all good. I’ll admit to being lazy 
That may be one of the best comebacks I’ve seen from an Aggie!
I often wonder how those people with families, full time jobs etc can still put in the time they claim to whilst training (as a starting point, anything over 15 hours per week is quite time consuming on top of a 40 hour plus work week) and not be divorced…there is more to life than training, perhaps for some people on slowtwitch tho that is all there is to their life? who knows. maybe seasonschange falls into this category…
I think you and Alanis Morriset need to hang out. She seems to not understand the word ‘ironic’ like you seem to not understand lazy.
your examples (like Alanis’s) are examples of things/people sucking. I think what you’re trying to say is that Triathletes as a group suck at the indiviual sports that make up our sport (as compared to good athletes in the individual sports). Maybe you are right in that sense. I mean I know a lot of Triathletes that are average swimmers, bikers and runners. Then again I know a lot of slow runners, swimmers (well not so many swimmers), and cyclists.
I think your big mistake is comparing the average Triathlete or beginner triathlete to experienced or good cyclists, but in anycase I’m not sure how you get ‘lazy’ out of a group of people that train an average of five days a week. They may be slow, misguided, and technology heavy but I’ve not met many that are lazy as compared to jsut about anybody else.
I agree with all that TiT’war, except I do think 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife borders on the ironic.
I disagree with much of what’s been said about lazy, as often times I feel people are mostly misguided, but when it comes to swimming, I think the majority of people on here are lazy. I don’t even post that frequently, and a half dozen times at least, I think, somebody has told me that I spend too much time swimming based on my distance, when I probably spend less net time than many… I just happen to actually SWIM it, and not meander for a mile, and then another, at a no effort pace, and then call it a day.
People don’t want to swim harder, and say that they’d rather spend the time improving their bike or their run, when it takes LESS time to get a better swim workout in. Ugh.
Dev, I just smile on these topics. When I went for my physical last week, my doc was impressed at the shape I am in for my age. He says most of the folks he sees at my age need hip and knee replacements. When he asked about their history, they said things like they had been running for 30 years. I thought I was done after my back went out last year. I take each race now like it might be my last, and enough smelling the roses, even if I am last.
I cannot tell you how many older folks I talk with who USED to be able to compete when they were younger. But they did not understand how to find balance, and it was all or nothing. Now, they cannot run at all. How many pros no longer can race once they get into their 50’s.
So, for some, enjoy the glory for today. For others like me, my goal is to just have a heart rate and still be able to race, which may be lazy and slow, but sure faster than the ones who cannot race anymore.
I also love to see the guys who think they are so great now. I talked to one of these guys who used to bitch about slow folks in races, etc. Then he got hurt messing around with this kids and can no longer race like he used to. It was then interesting to hear how he had a different perspective on the “slow” folks he used to give a bad to comment on.
I train with 2 gals that put in as much time and effort as just about anyone that I see train. But, they did not get the genetics and will never be fast. But, they sure work hard. One is going for a 350 mile bike ride goal in 24 hours for the Agony ride at the end of July. I will be there to swag for her, but no way do I have the toughness she has to even consider something like that.
Don’t get me wrong (unless you’re just replying to the first thing you see, that’s cool) I’m all for people having a balanced life–encourage it.
I also like to see peeps get offended that someone called them lazy and users of tremendous amounts of gimmicks, and seasons is playing the role nicely. Not sure if he/she is terribly serious about what he says either. We all could use a little getting over ourselves.
Sure as a population, we might be a lot more motivated than the average schmuck, but why would I ever want to compare myself to him or her anyways? I don’t know really lazy people, so my bias is screwed up… well, maybe the roomie is pretty lazy.
I think you and Alanis Morriset need to hang out. She seems to not understand the word ‘ironic’ like you seem to not understand lazy.
your examples (like Alanis’s) are examples of things/people sucking. I think what you’re trying to say is that Triathletes as a group suck at the indiviual sports that make up our sport (as compared to good athletes in the individual sports). Maybe you are right in that sense. I mean I know a lot of Triathletes that are average swimmers, bikers and runners. Then again I know a lot of slow runners, swimmers (well not so many swimmers), and cyclists.
I think your big mistake is comparing the average Triathlete or beginner triathlete to experienced or good cyclists, but in anycase I’m not sure how you get ‘lazy’ out of a group of people that train an average of five days a week. They may be slow, misguided, and technology heavy but I’ve not met many that are lazy as compared to jsut about anybody else.
I agree with all that TiT’war, except I do think 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife borders on the ironic.
But don’t you think the odds are, that at least one of those 10,000 spoons would have a sharp enough section of it to be used as a knife? Or, you could file one down a bit to sharpen it, and voila! 9,999 spoons and a ‘spife’. Take a dremel to another one, and now you’ve got a ‘spork’ too.
You can do a lot with 10,000 spoons.