Why did Gwen Jorgensen quit triathlons ?

It's been all downhill since Lennon died wrote:

DudeBroMan wrote:

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

I don't think you've ever been a swimmer. High level swimming or even just "travel" level/USS swimming is quite expensive. Hundreds of dollars a month for membership/coaching plus meet entries. It most certainly is an almost exclusively middle-upper class sport.

And have you seen many competitions-sized pools in Nigeria or Ghana? Developed countries have the infrastructure to support swimming while less developed ones don’t. Running doesn’t have the same entry costs, making it open to more people. People who dominate these bourgeois, western sports - like swimming and tri - are shielded from competition.

African swimming wrote:

It's been all downhill since Lennon died wrote:

I don't think you've ever been a swimmer. High level swimming or even just "travel" level/USS swimming is quite expensive. Hundreds of dollars a month for membership/coaching plus meet entries. It most certainly is an almost exclusively middle-upper class sport.

And have you seen many competitions-sized pools in Nigeria or Ghana? Developed countries have the infrastructure to support swimming while less developed ones don’t. Running doesn’t have the same entry costs, making it open to more people. People who dominate these bourgeois, western sports - like swimming and tri - are shielded from competition.

Despite that running is inexpensive, it is still a rich person's sport just like cycling and swimming. According to a survey it was the most popular out of 50 some activities for Americans who make more than 150K. Kenya and Ethiopia are only an exception to the rule since training camps were set up a couple decades ago, but by and large poor people don't run.

DudeBroMan wrote:

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.

Swimming is a country club sport. Poor people (especially in poor countries) don’t have access to quality pools in which they can constantly train. Also, even more so than running, swimming requires starting a t a young age, great coaching and excellent form to reach potential. You’re not just going to play soccer until high school and then realize you have world class swimming capabilities.

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.

How many? MOST American pro runners eat the same as their spouse. I should know.

Session days are waaaaay more than 4 hours with travel to and from the track from the apartment at altitude...looong warmup...activation exercises...cooldown...rollout...etc. Then another evening run +|- gym session. I know you feel like you think you’re an expert, and I’m not going to change your mind. Think what you want. I won’t waste anymore time for either of us.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

She said it was the time commitment. Triathletes train 35+ hours a week, and spend another 10 on recovery. Lots of traveling to races, often weekly in the summer (tri season). She wanted to spend time with her family and kid, and a triathlon lifestyle wouldn't be for that. The next step would have been Ironman with even higher training load due to the requirement of weekly 100 mile bike rides.

With running, 10 hours of training (mileage+strength) is around enough. MUCH better lifestyle and allows her to spend lots of time with her kid.

Correct training for a triathlon is absolutely crazy. I would imagine that she couldn't fathom 6-8k swim sessions 4-5x per week anymore.

She is very good athlete and sorry to see that her running hasn't taken off like she had hoped. Endurance sports are brutal.

I'm happy for her. But I'd wager they miss that 250+ she was pulling in per year!

Another asinine take from you Phil. Watch any life story of a young athlete trying to "get out of the ghetto". A large swath of athletes play for the $$$$. Your arrogance is only trumped by your stupidity.

Hardloper wrote:

Despite that running is inexpensive, it is still a rich person's sport just like cycling and swimming. According to a survey it was the most popular out of 50 some activities for Americans who make more than 150K. Kenya and Ethiopia are only an exception to the rule since training camps were set up a couple decades ago, but by and large poor people don't run.

Think about the last local 5k you were at. Were there all kinds of people there? Were there random kids and high schoolers?

I agree that running is popular among more wealthy people (but so are other sports). Wealthier people just have more time commit to leisure and sport. If we're talking US here, it is much more likely that a lower income high schooler can excel at track or XC and go on to big things, than a kid starts swimming in HS and then ends up going further with it. Some of this is the fact that to be a good swimmer you need to start at a younger age, but the money aspect of it certainly comes into play as well.

What I"m saying is that running CAN be cheap, while competitive swimming really cannot.

She was a runner in college(Wisconsin)

Most people would love to spend more time with family. She used to spend 2500 hours per year training at $100 per hour for a total of $250k. She now spends 1000 hours training at $50 per hour for a total of $50k per year.

It's been all downhill since Lennon died wrote:

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.

And that explains why you now are posting on Letsrun and no longer are a pro. Anyone training to win an Olympic medal in triathlon is training full-time all-day every day 10 months out of the year. If you don't believe me, then ask someone in one of the main training groups (Joel Filliol's, Paulo's, Jono's, the Norwegian guys (gasp), etc). It's preposterous that people on here actually believe that the time commitment to be an elite ITU triathlete (or long course, which takes even more time) is comparable to that for an elite 5K/10K runner, but this is a running site so I guess it's expected that people have a warped sense of running reality.

Hardloper wrote:

Despite that running is inexpensive, it is still a rich person's sport just like cycling and swimming. According to a survey it was the most popular out of 50 some activities for Americans who make more than 150K. Kenya and Ethiopia are only an exception to the rule since training camps were set up a couple decades ago, but by and large poor people don't run.

It's funny how you always think you know everything, and how often you are wrong.

By and large poor people don't run? Go to Mediterranean (European) countries and you will see how wrong you are.

Figures lie and liars figure. Both are correct. It is the most popular sport amongst the rich. It can also be the most popular sport amongst the poor.

She had a kid and probably wanted to spend time with him. I'm not sure if you have ever done triathlon training, but the time commitment is insane. Running requires far less time.

Running is less time-consuming & less boring, but also much harder. Even runners make this mistake.

Running can be a good gig until you get hurt (high-impact, overuse of same muscles, greater risk of overtraining syndrome). Or until you realize you’ve got billions of competitors.

Somewhat in the middle are mountains/ultras/trails. Less impact, less competition, but you better be ready to live outside & on the run; you will train more than the other two in some cases.

coahc wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

She said it was the time commitment. Triathletes train 35+ hours a week, and spend another 10 on recovery. Lots of traveling to races, often weekly in the summer (tri season). She wanted to spend time with her family and kid, and a triathlon lifestyle wouldn't be for that. The next step would have been Ironman with even higher training load due to the requirement of weekly 100 mile bike rides.

With running, 10 hours of training (mileage+strength) is around enough. MUCH better lifestyle and allows her to spend lots of time with her kid.

Correct training for a triathlon is absolutely crazy. I would imagine that she couldn't fathom 6-8k swim sessions 4-5x per week anymore.

She is very good athlete and sorry to see that her running hasn't taken off like she had hoped. Endurance sports are brutal.

This is true of top tier triathletes. To give you runners a sense of this swim effort, imagine doing 30-40k worth of 200m repeats on the track..quite mind numbing, and they have been doing this for 10-20 years

Fast Big Ones wrote:

Why would she eat the same food as a 2 year old?

If you think her training with the Bowerman Babes takes up the same amount of time as her triathlon training, then you clearly need to learn some more about triathlon training. Her training now is only a fraction of triathlon training, which literally takes up the entire day, and can be done from home (unlike triathlon training, which generally requires one to relocate most of the year if you live in Wisconsin or Portland).

I think you might be struggling with the meaning of the word 'literally'

easy wrote:

mulmo2 wrote:

She needed real competition, so shifted to running.

She got it

The completion would have been even harder (for her) in softball or wrestling.

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.

Agreed as far as hobbiests go, and for most of those sports. Except pro cycling - get a lot of eastern european riders who use cycling as a way to give themselves opportunity, as opposed to working in a mine or factory. That being said, it still is very geographically limited sport.