Post Island Race Thoughts
TL;DR After taking some time to reflect on my triathlon, I think I will shift my focus back to running. No plans to do longer distances right now, but would love to try an olympic distance some time in the future. Training for longer distance events involves more commitment and resources. I look forward to running more, and picking up some weights again this fall.
My last post was a bit long winded, this one is too.
Thoughts about triathlons
The sprint tri was a fun and challenging race, I think I did as well as I could have. The question now is, where do I go next from here?
I recently became aware that there are even races like ultramarathons, and ultra triathlons recently. WOW. These kind of races (more like survival courses) truly push people to their physical and mental limits. What kind of madman thought of and designed these things?
I've met a couple of groups in my area that train and compete at a much higher level than I. These atheletes compete in Ironman distances, regularly cycle over 100km per week, swim kilometers in lakes, and are part of run groups that go to half and half marathons all over the world.
I don't think I'd like to be one of them any time soon. My addiction to pain and endurance sports is still not that serious. After talking to a few people, it becomes apparent that training to compete is lifestyle, takes up a siginficant amount of commitment. When you plan your trianing in units of weeks and months, it likely takes up a chunk of your life.
From my recent experience, I think a sprint triathlon is very doable for most people. The biggest challenge is learning to be comfortable in open water. If anyone takes their time, and train, I believe they can absolutely become a hobby triathlete like myself. In fact, I encourage you to try a super sprint/try-a-tri distance if you are ever interested in a fun challenge.
However, training is recommended and I do not suggest winging it. You kinda miss the point if you just do the event without first preparing for it, in my unhumble opinion. Similar to people who sign up for half/full marathons and do them without any sort of training. Why bother?
Experience with Training
I trained about 3-4 sessions a week to prepare for the sprint. Which translated to about 4-5 hours per week two months leading up to the race. I don't think it was anything crazy, and I think it was a healthy and maintainable lifestyle.
However, if you start adding the logistics, planning and preparation, it takes realistically take longer than that. Especially while training with a group.
The past half a year, I have been going on runs on Tuesday with a club after work. I usually do a 5-8km run, depending on what the evil running app tells me. It's easily a half-an hour run depending on the pace. But getting to the meet up point, socializing, and getting home can easily take up 1.5 hours to 2 hours of your evening. So far, not bad.
Group bike rides, and group swims, follows a similar pattern. If you did all your training after work like me, it slowly eats up a good part of your evenings. Especially after factoring in any kind of meal preparation, and/or recovery sessions like physio or stretching.
I relied heavily on group training because I was not confident in having the discipline to training solo. It was uncomfortable to go road cycling and open water swims by myself. You may argue, well, training by yourself in early mornings would be the way to go, and that it'll save you tons of time. To that, I'd say, you are absolutely right.
It really depends on your motivation and your why in doing a triathlon, or any race in general. For me, it was more to meet and socialize with different people, and to discover the sport(s). If it meant I had to wake up 6am in the morning to train for these things. I think it's going to be a harder sell than, oooh let's try these things because it's fun.
Thoughts about the island sprint
Back to the race experience, there were about 600ish people that showed up. It's a good turn out, more people if you include the Duathlon, and relay groups. I placed around 299th out of 600 in the sprint. Which mean that I was technically top overall finishers - since I was in the top half just by a hair.
In my age group (30-34), I finished near the bottom of the pack. I believe people ranging from late 20s-mid 30s are the most competitve athletes in this sport. Likely due to the phsyical conditioning of these age groups, in addition to having more resources to train and buy equipment.
I realized that if I wanted become competitive in this age group, I'd likely have to change the way I train/prepare as well as the timing of my workouts. I am not sure I want to be more serious about this yet. Since I somewhate believe this activity has some kind of diminishing returns the more intense it gets. Perhaps I am wrong, please drop me a line and enlighten me.
A few of my friends have asked me if I will start training for longer distances. It seems like the natural thing to do. Currently, there's no plans to do that. If anything, maybe I can just focus on running for the next little while. Easier, no new equipment needed and I can just run out of my place with shoes on right after work.
I have lost a bit of weight and muscles training up to it. I'd love to spend the fall, and winter getting back to a more general fitness, as opposed to cardio/endurance specifically.
As for an olympic/standard distance triathlon. I don't know if I can manage two times the distance without more, or better training. I felt pretty dead after the sprint, might be possible that it's simply a different pacing strategy at double the distance. Triathlon isn't hard when you separate the events, combining them is what makes it a challenge.
Maybe it's okay, that I keep it as a hobby and decide to not to pursue more. I've discovered the joy of cycling on weekend mornings, and swimming in a lake - nothing beats this inside the gym/pool. It's a beautiful scenary and you really get to enjoy the outdoors in a completely different way. That to me is a win.