Pi$$ed Off Tri-Geeks

Wow, that guy really hates triathlon! I don't know enough about triathlon or triathletes to make a call as to its accuracy.

THANKS FOR POSTING A LINK TO YOUR BLOG CHARLES BROADWAY!!!!

Awesome job 10/10

Would read again

Would definitely spam again too

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The situation with IM is really despicable, but it's a bit harsh to put all triathletes in this category. There are many (younger athletes, especially) who get by on sponsorships from local shops and businesses to keep costs reasonable. I used to train with a D3 all-american who got into triathlons and payed for it this way. And for anyone less than that, a $800 road bike with aerobars, $200 wetsuit and 10-15 hrs per week is PLENTY to do OK in local races.

Of course there are lots of rich d-bags who give the real athletes a bad name, so he's not totally off the mark. Go to your local sprint and intermediate tri, and it's a lot like your local 5k. Mostly normal, down to earth people enjoying the challenge of pushing their bodies. It's the longer, official IM events that you get more of those people described in the blog article.

Rather looks like Charles Broadway would fit right in on letsrun.

I competed in triathlon from 1994-2003, including 7 Ironman races (2 M-Dat races). I qualified for Hawaii twice and was an all-american twice.

During that time I was either in grad school making $15k per year while my wife taught, or was a teacher making about $30K per year while my wife made about the same. We did not fit the income profile the guy stereotypes at that time, nor did many of the people who competed in the local races I did.

On the other hand, many of the competitors at the M-Dot races fit that profile, and I found that the attitude there matched the income stereotype. I had less fun at those races than I did at the local races or at the non-M-Dot IM races.

That said, I think that triathlon has some serious, serious drawbacks beyond just the money and elitism, the main one being the insufferable narcissism and selfishness that the sport encourages and promotes under the banner of taking on the challenge of triathlon or IM. I trained 20-30 hours per week, which means that I was not at home during those hours. During many of the other hours I was home I was tired, especially after the usual 6-8 hour Saturday workout. I missed a huge chunk of my daughter's life in this pursuit. That's not to say that everyone behaves this way--they don't--but many do.

It's just not a healthy thing to do for many people. It seems like it would be, but I just don't see it.

Why on earth didn't you start that post with "This is the story of Johnny Rotten"?

Should have.

Why is a triathlete who spends 25 hours a week a narcissist, but a swimmer who spends the same amount of time in a pool not? I know elite runners who run 15 hours a week running and spend another 5-7 in the weight room.

Why dos the author think people making $150k a year are rich?

Triathlon does not make golf look cheap. Unless you play less than 20 times a year on public courses. Golf is generally a much more expensive hobby.

Granted, training for an Ironman takes a lot of time. But training for Olympic Distance tris or shorter doesn't take nearly as much time. You can live a balanced life and do that.

Triathlon is no more a 'contrived' sport than decathlon. Come to think of it, all sports are 'contrived'.

Some people just like the variety of training for three sports. That's all there is to it. Nothing more, nothing less.

Occasional Triathlete wrote:

Why dos the author think people making $150k a year are rich?

In that case, how many Kenyan try-athletes have you heard of?

Only 7% of all *Americans* make that much money. Talk about a niche sport...

Occasional Triathlete wrote:

Why dos the author think people making $150k a year are rich?

.

150k/yr. definitely qualifies as "rich" for most people.

I personally think he is an idiot. Yes the situation with Ironman isn't great, but triathletes don't like that either. They aren't the one's who own Ironman. How are they a$$holes because a lot are dedicated and train over 20 hours a week?? There are lots of people who train over 20 hours a week, I don't know how long on average but gymnasts train a lot. I realize that the average income of a triathlete is a lot, but how does having money make you a d-bag? Also I don't know the guys name but an older guy completed an Ironman in jean shorts and a bmx or mountain bike (I forget), so no you don't have to have expensive equipment.

awesome. triathlons are so gay.

wempe wrote:

There are lots of people who train over 20 hours a week, I .

Seriously?

Occasional Triathlete wrote:

Why is a triathlete who spends 25 hours a week a narcissist, but a swimmer who spends the same amount of time in a pool not? I know elite runners who run 15 hours a week running and spend another 5-7 in the weight room.

Non-elite Ironman Triathletes commonly train 20+ hours a week.

Swimmers in the same age group don't swim anywhere near that much. Masters swimmers are lucky to get 1 to 1.5 hours per day.

That is quite an interesting blog post. I can just give my two cents after spending several years in tri, including some Ironmans and longer races:

-Training takes up a lot of time, but I was single while doing most of the training...so, it wasn't that big of a deal.

-I really enjoyed my long training weekends.

-Triathletes that I encountered (again, just my personal opinion) tended to be less friendly than the other sports I've raced (cycling, running, ultrarunning, mtn. biking, xc-skiing)

-I now run ultras, for the most part, and don't miss triathlons at all.

Concerned Citizen wrote:

wempe wrote:

There are lots of people who train over 20 hours a week, I .

Seriously?

I'm not saying the majority of people train 20 hours a week but there are quite a few. My brother does MMA and on average he trains 3 hours a day. Do you know how many hours on average that is a week? Well, it's 21, which is 20+ hours a week. And why do people care if other people train over 20 hours a week? Who cares what others do in their spare time. My track practices average 2-2.5 a day. I know that isn't 20 hours but I'm sure their are plenty of people who practice longer than us.

wempe wrote:

Concerned Citizen wrote:

Seriously?

I'm not saying the majority of people train 20 hours a week but there are quite a few. My brother does MMA and on average he trains 3 hours a day. Do you know how many hours on average that is a week? Well, it's 21, which is 20+ hours a week. And why do people care if other people train over 20 hours a week? Who cares what others do in their spare time. My track practices average 2-2.5 a day. I know that isn't 20 hours but I'm sure their are plenty of people who practice longer than us.

Hey, folks can do whatever they want with their lives, I'm just surprised. That seems like an awful lot of training. Maybe it's just because distance runners don't train as much (time-wise) as a lot of other sports/activities.

After reading the first page of posts on the slowtwitch response thread I came to one conclusion: triathletes are even worse at applying proper grammar and spelling than the brojos.