This is Triathlon and most of us who have been around for a while and continue to compete usually have an original sport that got us into this. I was a club swimmer (of no note). So the swim didn’t faze me as it did others and I could “place” in that segment.
So I bought a $99 10 speed that weighed nearly as much as me, then came aero bars, later an aero bike (650 wheels how dumb is that). But even then I couldn’t run…and so it went.
At 60 I got a coach for some event and everything changed. Since then I have set lifetime PBs in bike and run (the swim is still the same speed, everyone else got slower).
Along the way technology changed and gave me hope (on the bike and run).
Add to that something just about every Triathlete has…OCD.
There’s 5 numbers to compare in every race and all kinds of tech goodies.
So I’ll bet you have a really good idea of why you are not performing up to the standard you would like…tell us!
We’ll fix you!!!
🤣
I just completed an Olympic race and felt very strong…only to see that I was 6 out of 12 in my 60-64 age group. I have a 70.3 in less than two weeks and I’m starting to question my reasons for racing when I won’t podium in anything but local races.
Put a race on the calendar and you have something to work towards to motivate your training. The result will be whatever it is. The reward is the process it takes to get there.
The months of prep going into a race and having it on the calendar to look forward to is better than doing the race itself.
The thing about some of these triathlons is that they are not standard distances. So, it’s hard to claim a PR if the bike distance was 3 miles less than another “half-ironman” or “olympic” distance. I’m getting older, so the idea of improving is going to be difficult. I’ve been doing endurance sports for 24 years. I’ve never done a race for “fun”. I’ve always pushed as hard as I could. The feeling I have is why should I be pushing as hard as I can during a race if I’m not going to finish in the top spots. Why dig deep? Why push so hard in training?
I would say that, after 24 years of racing towards goals, I’m having doubts about continuing.
i used to go as fast as most people, pushing for overall wins. then a variety of life things intervened, not least of which was a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. i still do OK, and have been to worlds in a few different sports for a few years running (swim/run, xterra, duathlon, and 70.3). but i’m also not 20 any more and have made my peace with the fact that my basic speed isn’t likely to come back. i train and compete because i still can. because i love the lifestyle and always have. because i love adventure. because i’m still chasing that elusive ‘perfect day’ when i get the most out of myself that i possibly can. because i want to set an example for my kids and share something with my partner. i’ve been national champ and i’ve been dead fucking last, over the years. it’s still worth it.
i say this with what i hope is respect: you need some perspective.
I’ve been passionate about endurance sports for close to 25 years, it’s always been about obtaining a goal. Qualifying for Boston. Qualifying for Kona. Trying to get better. When age starts to interfere with getting better, then for a competitive person I need goals, This has been my obsession for almost half my life,
If you qualified for Kona in the past and now struggle to be in 1st 50% of your age group, then, possibly, you are doing some major mistakes with your training
I just completed an Olympic race and felt very strong…only to see that I was 6 out of 12 in my 60-64 age group. I have a 70.3 in less than two weeks and I’m starting to question my reasons for racing when I won’t podium in anything but local races.
I don’t know what side of the AG you are on, but I imagine in the older AGs being at the younger end (ie 60 and not 64, or 75 not 79) probably makes quite a significant difference in terms of speed. So perhaps keep training hard until you hit 65 and then go all in on winning the AG for a year or 2 before the young whipper-snappers come up behind you and beat you again.
Or like others said, perhaps it’s time to find the fun and enjoyment in our sport rather than the competitive side. Be thankful that at 60+ you can still complete (and mostly compete) when most your age would struggle to run on a consistent basis.
Im a HS swim coach. I battle the controllable vs uncontrollable goal conundrum all the time. For my team controllable goals are of course times or mastering a skill. Uncontrollable goals are to beat x team bc we can’t really impact how they perform. My team often has the goal to “be undefeated†or “win a state title†of which I often have a hard time with fully embracing. Bc if your goal is to go undefeated and you lose the first meet…what happens then?
My question to you is would you have felt good about your race if those six guys didn’t show up that day? For me for triathlons most of my goals are training based. Finish this route in x time or be able to hold y power for this time. Then on race day I know I’m going to be better than last time even if all the studs show up or the weather is complete garbage.
OP is a troll - don’t waste any more time replying to him. He registered 8/26/24 just to post this on 8/26/24, saying he’s a 20+ year veteran that BQs/KQs, yet all of a sudden NOW is a MOPer and questioning his continuation in the sport? Makes zero sense that someone would do this sport at a high level and first of all suddenly drop to MOP out of nowhere, and then be questioning it now after being a decadeslong veteran who has all that time to learn full well how to enjoy every part of it during training, not just racing.
OP is a troll - don’t waste any more time replying to him. He registered 8/26/24 just to post this on 8/26/24, saying he’s a 20+ year veteran that BQs/KQs, yet all of a sudden NOW is a MOPer and questioning his continuation in the sport? Makes zero sense that someone would do this sport at a high level and first of all suddenly drop to MOP out of nowhere, and then be questioning it now after being a decadeslong veteran who has all that time to learn full well how to enjoy every part of it during training, not just racing.
I want to clarify something. Although I have qualified for Boston many times, I have never come close to qualifying for Kona. When I transitioned from marathoning to triathlon, I thought that I could achieve the times that could qualify me in my age group. However, after some time I realized that my bike performance was not going to allow me to reach that goal.
As far as having fun…I don’t like working out, but love to have worked out. That means that when I’m doing hard workouts or participating in races, I’m not having fun…it’s painful. However, I love the feeling of finishing the workout or race…the sense of accomplishment and feeling of well-being.
I have always been competitive in any sport I’ve participated in. With running, it was all about PRing. I never thought about how many others in my age group were running faster than me if I qualified for Boston.
The reason that I posted yesterday was because, for the first time, I questioned my goals about triathlon. It has always been about goals for me. I don’t participate unless I have goals. That’s why I said I don’t run for “fun”. I would never participate in any race if I didn’t train for it…just to be in it. I push myself in races.
For the person who called me a “troll”, please look up definition of “troll”.
All I wanted is to hear from others who might have been in my state of mind at one time or another.
Although I have qualified for Boston many times, I have never come close to qualifying for Kona.
That changes my opinion: I already doubted if you ever KQ’d since you did not explicitly write that in post #1, although a lot if readers interpreted it that way.
So I take back calling you a troll.
Still I can understand that people do after reading your posts. Maybe you just did not communicate your experience in triathlon very well.
“24 years of experience in endurance sports”. But only shortly in triathlon?
I want to clarify something. Although I have qualified for Boston many times, I have never come close to qualifying for Kona. When I transitioned from marathoning to triathlon, I thought that I could achieve the times that could qualify me in my age group. However, after some time I realized that my bike performance was not going to allow me to reach that goal.
As far as having fun…I don’t like working out, but love to have worked out. That means that when I’m doing hard workouts or participating in races, I’m not having fun…it’s painful. However, I love the feeling of finishing the workout or race…the sense of accomplishment and feeling of well-being.
I have always been competitive in any sport I’ve participated in. With running, it was all about PRing. I never thought about how many others in my age group were running faster than me if I qualified for Boston.
The reason that I posted yesterday was because, for the first time, I questioned my goals about triathlon. It has always been about goals for me. I don’t participate unless I have goals. That’s why I said I don’t run for “fun”. I would never participate in any race if I didn’t train for it…just to be in it. I push myself in races.
For the person who called me a “troll”, please look up definition of “troll”.
All I wanted is to hear from others who might have been in my state of mind at one time or another.
As above, ok, I take back my troll post since you came back, and also made clear you’ve transitioned from running to triathlon and haven’t come close to KQ.
That makes somehwat more sense, you haven’t had the time to adjust to new/different expectations in tri vs running, and if you’ve always been a strong runner (BQ) it would make sense that your tri results are somewhat disappointing in comparison at least until you train up to your potential. BUt still, you likely didn’t win every running race you entered, so why is it so hard to readjust expectations in tri?
The hell with doing it for fun and lifestyle and whatever else, triathlon is ranked in age groups which somewhat levels the field respectively - I’m not the fastest in my AG but after each race I look at the podium times and say I can do that, and it becomes my goal. There’s inherently some “fun†in it but I’m competitive and probably always will be. I know I’ll never stand on a long course podium but I’ll keep trying like I will. People telling me I can’t or shouldn’t or won’t because of age is a big peeve of mine, especially when those people are younger and less fit than I am. Move in violence out there until you can’t.
The hell with doing it for fun and lifestyle and whatever else, triathlon is ranked in age groups which somewhat levels the field respectively - I’m not the fastest in my AG but after each race I look at the podium times and say I can do that, and it becomes my goal. There’s inherently some “fun†in it but I’m competitive and probably always will be. I know I’ll never stand on a long course podium but I’ll keep trying like I will. People telling me I can’t or shouldn’t or won’t because of age is a big peeve of mine, especially when those people are younger and less fit than I am. Move in violence out there until you can’t.
Hah you’re preaching to the choir here on ST. Almost everyone in this fairly die-hard forum does this sport competively, even if that means they’re just contending for a local AG podium in a small local race. You don’t get too many ‘I just wanna complete the race’ folks here with the exception of folks doing their 1st IM, and around here it almost always means they were competitive as above on shorter distance races beforehand.
Hah you’re preaching to the choir here on ST. Almost everyone in this fairly die-hard forum does this sport competively, even if that means they’re just contending for a local AG podium in a small local race. You don’t get too many ‘I just wanna complete the race’ folks here with the exception of folks doing their 1st IM, and around here it almost always means they were competitive as above on shorter distance races beforehand.
Just one of many ST Urban Legends…
I would suggest that the vast majority of ST members are not overly obsessed podium chasers and are in the sport as a lifestyle.
,
Hah you’re preaching to the choir here on ST. Almost everyone in this fairly die-hard forum does this sport competively, even if that means they’re just contending for a local AG podium in a small local race. You don’t get too many ‘I just wanna complete the race’ folks here with the exception of folks doing their 1st IM, and around here it almost always means they were competitive as above on shorter distance races beforehand.
Just one of many ST Urban Legends…
I would suggest that the vast majority of ST members are not overly obsessed podium chasers and are in the sport as a lifestyle.
,You are both right. A distinction can be made between ST members and those that actually contribute to the conversation. I think the majority of forum members do view triathlon as just part of their lifestyle. However those that take time to post here could be characterized as “fairly die-hard†as lightheir suggests.
Hah you’re preaching to the choir here on ST. Almost everyone in this fairly die-hard forum does this sport competively, even if that means they’re just contending for a local AG podium in a small local race. You don’t get too many ‘I just wanna complete the race’ folks here with the exception of folks doing their 1st IM, and around here it almost always means they were competitive as above on shorter distance races beforehand.
Just one of many ST Urban Legends…
I would suggest that the vast majority of ST members are not overly obsessed podium chasers and are in the sport as a lifestyle.
,
Just because you’re not on the podium doesn’t mean you’re not interseted at all in it.
I would definitely disagree that most ST members are in it just for the lifestyle.
If you truly are in it just for the lifestyle, you really would’t care much about powermeters, aerooptimization, or even fine tuning swim speed in the pool. You can do all the triathlon stuff and have ‘fun’ without any of that expensive, somewhat arcane (power training especially) and frustrating and time-consuming (swim technique improvement) efforts it takes to squeeze the best out of yourself for race day.
If you’re doing any of the above that I just briefly mentioned, you’re racing. You will care about the podium if you can get it. Just because you can’t get it doesn’t mean you’re automatically a lifestyle athlete. (By that criteria we’re all lifestyle athletes since we an compete in the pro WC race - there are some coaches that do think this! I recall on one podcast last year, one highly respected tricoach for pros and top amateurs was asked how an AGer could optimize training in 10-12 hrs/wk for HIM/IM racing, and that coach just laughed and said, ‘hey at that low volume, you’re just having fun, do whatever you want and enjoy yourself! Unless you’re ready to seriously commit 20-28 hrs/wk, forget about it!’
I would clarify that I don’t think many folks here are in the sport ‘just to podium’. Triathlon is to deep and hard to last too long with that mindset. But we’re all training to grab it if we can. Very different mindset than one-n-doners and true lifestyle athletes who are not interested in training to their near-max to squeeze out results since it makes it less fun at that point.
