Colleen Quigley Giving triathlon a shot

If Houlihan was not sufficiently "high up" for clandestine treatment, CQ certainly is not.

You should have very modest expectations for her, because her swim is weak. She's talking about not being comfortable with her "head down in the water" and having "difficulty with breathing". This indicates she was not a competitive hs/club swimmer, which is virtually impossible to overcome.

Swimming is a technique sport. Like gymnastics, skating, skiing, equestrian and golf, you may become competent, but never smooth and effortless like someone who learned as a child.

This is also another thing why anything short of a outright win by Colleen in her age group category is a failure: Quigley is a full time professional athlete that gets paid to just train all day whereas pretty much none of the other women in her triathlete non-pro age group at the race has that benefit. If Colleen can't even beat these hobby triathlete women with real jobs, what chance does she even have at the elite category that will be much faster?

"No one" is a stretch since I care and everyone who clicks on a CQ thread seems to care. People who post about her seem to care.

As a runner who swam in HS, I am always curious to see what elites can do in sports that are similar to but not the same as their original sport. I find this super interesting. Lolo Jones in the bobsled? Yep, I care. Jordan playing baseball? Sure! Lance in triathlon, fascinating (even though he is a cheater and a jerk). Tour de France riders trying to run a marathon? I'll watch that.

It is interesting to see what humans can do when they have that much talent.

So you are wrong in your assertion about "no one" caring. Even you care a tiny bit or you wouldn't have bothered posting.

The "head down in the water" comment is the end of this thread, sadly. She will get destroyed. I was hoping she was a varsity level HS swimmer or something. If you can't swim with your face underwater the whole time (and rotate to breathe), then you are going to be massively gapped. Bummer.

p.s. I watched a young, super-fit NBA player try to swim about five years ago. He could not really make it down and back without being utterly, 100% gassed. So, if you are bad enough, you really don't stand a chance after the first leg of the triathlon. Too bad for us, as fans. I was rooting for her.

Why not just wear a snorkel and be able to breathe all the time in the water? With all the technology available these days, a $1 plastic tube isn't much.

Could she beat Joe Frazier?

A couple of comments from a guy who was a competent age grouper in the early days of triathlon in San Diego. First, this will be a race that Quigley can really minimize any shortcomings in her swimming because the swim is shorter than the usual Olympic distance tri; Mission Bay is dead flat calm water; and wet suits can significantly reduce the time difference between very good swimmers and half-way good swimmers. Second, in San Diego there are some really talented and dedicated "hobby triathlete women with real jobs." For example, I have run with a local woman who is a PhD scientist at a local biotech company. She was a D1 swimmer who switched to UC San Diego for its bioengineering major, and became a D2 conference champ distance runner, and she still takes her training seriously. There are a lot of very good amateur triathletes who live and compete in San Diego because of its great training environment. Quigley will face some very talented competition, but the race course is a good situation for her to do well.

So your PhD scientist, D1 swimmer, D2 conference champ distance runner is just sandbagging it in the women's age group hobby triathlete category instead of competing with the elites? Does it feel good for her to pick on much weaker women all the time?

Running is the least important part of the triathlon.

By being truly elite, CQ could make up 3 minutes in the 5k (18 vs. 15 min).

A decent cyclist or swimmer could easily put that much time on her. And don't need to be elite.

You need to be a fast runner to win, but you need to be a really good Cyclist/swimmer to even make it to the point where that matters.

Morgan Pearson is probably the best runner in the field (or one of) and look how long it has taken him to get to the point where he is there ibn races for that to matter. Also morgan started as a really good high school swimmer.

Swimming I get. But why does everyone think she will be helpless on a bike with training? Bike/runner/XC skier transitions are not entirely wrought with difficulty for elites with genetically freakish CV profile.

Because we've seen the bike riding skills of another elite women's runner.....

Beth potter?

She more than held her own in 2022 following her athletics to tri transition

We are all glad that you communicated that to us. Thank you.

It's a multi-sport sport. To be at the top, you can't suck at any of the three and hope to make up a huge time deficit on your strength. That's not happening. The competition is too good in totality.

Also, there are technical / tactical issues as well. If you are way back on the swim, then you won't be with the lead pack on the bikes, which is a big deal with drafting and pacing, etc. Trying to catch (bridge a gap) a pack of cyclists who are working together is super hard all by yourself. You are burned out by the start of the run, not to mention you have a big time deficit to make up on the run.

for the record, lance was a swimmer first, competing at a high level as a kid, then moved to pro triathlons, then to biking.

why not? it's against the rules

If she wasn't a high school varsity or youth swim league kid then I would be surprised if she could be competitive at a high level.

That's a dumb rule. Why not get everyone to swim naked, then?