Why did Gwen Jorgensen quit triathlons ?

You are the one who made the asinine comment that she eats different food than her family. Take Stanman out of it, why would she eat the same food as her sedentary husband? What professional distance runner eats the same food as their non-professional runner? All of those sweet treats that you probably like to consume are off limits to any serious athlete.

You need to stop basing your theories on the Cox videos. No matter how many slick videos she posts, training most certainly does not take up most of her day. A 2-hour workout plus a shakeout run plus some plyos leaves most of the day free. Ask her what her typical day in triathlon training consisted of. It most definitely was not a 4-hour day. That would be just the bike portion of it. Nice try.

AT THESWOOSH wrote:

She stated she realized that Triathlon was a niche sport without diversity and not open to Africans due to cost of entry. Same argument for Mountain, Ultra, Trail. Triathlon, Cycling, Swimming, and Trail running are basically upper middle class white dominant sports throughout the world.

What is the extravagant cost of entry for mountain, ultra, or trail running? Or swimming for that matter?

Seems like the only barrier in terms of cost would be cycling and triathlon, so I don't get it, brah.

tri this again wrote:

Blah blah. All true but only if she assumed that she could make an equivalent salary. So the reason can also be said that she intended to win the Olympics.

Money is not a motivation for most people, especially self-employed ones. For many of us, as long as we have enough to live and maybe save a bit - that's enough we need. People don't chose a career in pro sports cos of money, it's cos of a passion for something. I'm happier now living by a month-by-month paycheck than back in the days when I sold my company and had high 5 figures to spend.

Running-only probably allows her to have more time and energy to spend with her family.

You are incorrect. Pro athletes wouldn't play sport full time if it did not pay anything. Conversely, thousands would be happy to be professional runners if it paid. If running was baseball, every 14:15 5k guy would be in the minors earning a living and every sub 14 guy would be earning $500k. 99% of of people woukd stop going to work tomorrow if they had to do it for free.

tri this again wrote:

You are incorrect. Pro athletes wouldn't play sport full time if it did not pay anything. Conversely, thousands would be happy to be professional runners if it paid. If running was baseball, every 14:15 5k guy would be in the minors earning a living and every sub 14 guy would be earning $500k. 99% of of people woukd stop going to work tomorrow if they had to do it for free.

Good points, but doesn't mean I'm incorrect. People who become pro athletes do so because they competed, like a sport and were passionate about it and had the talent to become great. Money is never a factor or motivation in the first place.

If all pieces come together, it may lead to a successful career, making a random amount of money heavily depending on the skill of the athlete, the type of sport, and the marketability.

Gwen already was at the point where she made good money. When trying to trade working hours and money for work-life-balance, she did evaluate her options. Her husband makes a lot of money. She started YouTube which gives her exposure and advertisement opportunities. She knew running would make less prize money and sponsorship money, but made sure that she can keep living a nice life without financial constraints.

Even if young, 15-year old kids say: "I wanna become a pro runner at one point!" - money is not a motivation for that, they love the sport, competing and just want to keep doing what they like.

What does her husband do for work? Thought he was Mr. Mom/Sherpa/Secret Weapon for her.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Her husband makes a lot of money.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM wrote:

What does her husband do for work? Thought he was Mr. Mom/Sherpa/Secret Weapon for her.

Well he records the YouTube videos. I know how much PewDiePie makes on YouTube, and thought if Gwen/her husband make 1% of that it's still rich. But you are right, it's actually less than 0.04% of the audience and they probably only make high 4 figures from their channel, nothing compared to the millions of PewDiePie.

You obviously aren't aware of what it takes to compete on the pro level. Yes, her day is mostly consumed with running, strength and recovery, but that's their life as a pro. Her travel is much less than it was as a pro triathlete, where most of her races were in Europe or other countries. As demanding as running is, being a pro triathlete is on a whole different level, as far as time commitment. I'm not saying the triathletes are better athletes, which isn't the case, I'm just saying that their "work day" is much more demanding.

Gwen this week made a video of her return to racing at the Husky Classic, but she is not listed as an entry. Infeld is in the 3000. Hmmm.

dominant wrote:

You obviously aren't aware of what it takes to compete on the pro level. Yes, her day is mostly consumed with running, strength and recovery, but that's their life as a pro. Her travel is much less than it was as a pro triathlete, where most of her races were in Europe or other countries. As demanding as running is, being a pro triathlete is on a whole different level, as far as time commitment. I'm not saying the triathletes are better athletes, which isn't the case, I'm just saying that their "work day" is much more demanding.

In a podcast interview with Ali Feller this week, Gwen's husband Pat said he represents several athletes as an agent. I don't know how much he makes, but he said he enjoys it and also said it's likely that he and Gwen will do this for a living when she retires. (She was an accountant and does the books for Pat's business, while he does the relationship part).

YMMV wrote:

Gwen this week made a video of her return to racing at the Husky Classic, but she is not listed as an entry. Infeld is in the 3000. Hmmm.

She's listed here in heat 3 (of 3) for the Women's 5K:

RandyMullis wrote:

YMMV wrote:

Gwen this week made a video of her return to racing at the Husky Classic, but she is not listed as an entry. Infeld is in the 3000. Hmmm.

She's listed here in heat 3 (of 3) for the Women's 5K:

https://gohuskies.com/documents/2020/1/29/final_heat_sheets_to_post.pdf

Those are the heat sheets for the UW invite 10 days ago....

Fast Big Ones wrote:

You are the one who made the asinine comment that she eats different food than her family. Take Stanman out of it, why would she eat the same food as her sedentary husband? What professional distance runner eats the same food as their non-professional runner? All of those sweet treats that you probably like to consume are off limits to any serious athlete.

You need to stop basing your theories on the Cox videos. No matter how many slick videos she posts, training most certainly does not take up most of her day. A 2-hour workout plus a shakeout run plus some plyos leaves most of the day free. Ask her what her typical day in triathlon training consisted of. It most definitely was not a 4-hour day. That would be just the bike portion of it. Nice try.

So you're sayin her hubby is a stay-at-home shiftless bum, huh?

World triathlon series circuit demanding. Race every 2 weeks, flying half away around the world with your equipment, so 2-3 days of training lost, good luck finding pools too. The equivalent for running would be flying around the world every week for a half marathon for ~ 10+ months

We should be so lucky as to have Gwen's options and abilities. Not sure if was mentioned, but cycling at a competitive level is pretty dangerous. After you have a kid, you do a double-take on what risks are really worth it any more. She's already a gold medalist and will be forever. LV is a prime example, poor guy. Bike crash certainly affected his life - and he didn't have a toddler depending on him. Plus, Gwen left running to become a triathlete. She knows what she can achieve in triathlon, but running was still an open-ended question. Good for her for trying a "second" career.

tri this again wrote:

You are incorrect. Pro athletes wouldn't play sport full time if it did not pay anything. Conversely, thousands would be happy to be professional runners if it paid. If running was baseball, every 14:15 5k guy would be in the minors earning a living and every sub 14 guy would be earning $500k. 99% of of people woukd stop going to work tomorrow if they had to do it for free.

Are you joking? People literally choose to be homeless to pursue sports they love. We have 2:25 marathoners living in vans just so they can make trials.

josh1988 wrote:

tri this again wrote:

You are incorrect. Pro athletes wouldn't play sport full time if it did not pay anything. Conversely, thousands would be happy to be professional runners if it paid. If running was baseball, every 14:15 5k guy would be in the minors earning a living and every sub 14 guy would be earning $500k. 99% of of people woukd stop going to work tomorrow if they had to do it for free.

Are you joking? People literally choose to be homeless to pursue sports they love. We have 2:25 marathoners living in vans just so they can make trials.

Those are what we call exceptions to the rule. 95%+ of college cross country and track runners are no longer running when they graduate because it doesn't pay. If you don't believe me, think about your own college cross country team. How many kept running? I ran for a couple years after college because I was making a couple grand a year. Eventually the time and effort required to make that money was such that it wasn't worth it.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

She said it was the time commitment. Triathletes train 35+ hours a week, and spend another 10 on recovery.

This isn't completely accurate. I have trained (as a short course pro) with many Olympic-calibre triathletes, and most rarely would break 30 hours for the week (including myself, especially if you live at altitude). Ironman would require a bit more time (with longer long run and longer rides).

So yes, short course triathlon does require more time commitment than marathon training, but not quite as much more as you're claiming. I think you also have a good point about the travel commitment for short course racing.

I also think she just got bored with it.