Does anyone ever think of switching to Tri's?

No.

if you didn't grow up in age group swimming, forget about any elite level triathlon. swimming is a technique based sport. you will never develop into an above average swimmer. olympic style triathlon requires national class swimming talent to place yourself in the lead pack on the bike. then you can run your 31 flat. there's no such thing as compensating for a lackluster swim with a blazing 10k in olympic style tri. stick to running ya geek.

The saying goes that you can't win a tri by the swim, but you can lose it there.

You can pick it up. Someone, I can't remember where he's from and I can't remember the tri, but it was recent, won it and he couldn't even swim two years ago.

Hardly any of the elites come from an elite swimming background. Most tris are won on the run portion. People just die on the run.

I have considered switching to tri's after college. If I run well enough this spring, I am going to give myself one full year to take the running seriously and decelop it. If I don't run like I think I should this spring, then it will probably be tri's right away, but with some marathons and stuff in there as well. I plan on running fast enough to put the tri's aside for a little while longer, though.

I think I chose the wrong sport to take seriously in high school and college, as some have told me I would be a much better swimmer than I am a runner. I still swim a lot in the off season, not competitively. So, maybe, the tri's will suit me well. I am not necessarily thinking of becoming a pro or anything, but I would like to be pretty competitve.

Thoner,

Why not? I know that we all like to be "purists" on this site but, triathlon is very attractive because:

1. Tri geeks are buff therefore, chicks dig them.

2. Strength element of the sport favors caucasian builds.

3. Sport gets decent TV coverage.

4. "Human billboard" aspect of tri allows more sponsor opportunities.

5. Can you run 2:07? No? Can you run a 2:45 after a five hour warm-up? If so, you could have a professional sports career.

6. Exposure! Not many people are familiar with the LaSalle Banks Chicago Marathon but nearly everyone knows what Ironman is.

World class triathletes are studs. They deserve our respect and many B-level Americans might do well to consider triathlon. If you can't live the running dream, would the tri dream be any less satisfying?

No doubt, it takes less pure talent to win the Ironman then to win the Olympic 10,000.

Tim Deboom is a regular white American dude from the midwest.

Haile G is a biological freak of nature blessed with a VO2MAX of 90 and 22 second 200 meter speed.

HOWEVER...I bet Tim Deboom spends TWICE as much time training as Geb to win Hawaii.

The opportunities for a 6 foot american white guy are alot better in Tri than in running.

But, if you come out of the water 2minutes behind in the Olympic Draft-Legal Triathlon you are toast. Even if you are a 27:30 guy, you are not gonna catch up. You will lose more time by yourself on the bike.

It is a swimmer/ runner event, and not too many runners make good swimmers.

Good luck to you though. It's worth a try.

The triathlon is a bike race. But you can lose on the swim. The run is tougher than most people think. When you are talkin elite triathletes...you are talking about some peoples PR's here. But i know a guy who ran decent times in college such as 15 flat, 9:20 steeple, and is a great triathlete. He has developed into a good swimmer with the help of a coach who had experience with former olympic swimmers. He is an up and coming pro and won an amateur National Championship and an age group World Championship in the Xterra circuit. He was still out of the money even if he would have been pro this past year which its not easy to get Pro status. My point is triathletes are not respected enough and if you are a descent runner it is easier to make money at your local road races.

Cassidy would not have done a triathlon!!!

To remind us the importance of swimming background, Tim DeBoom was one of the best HS swimmers ever to come from his home state of Iowa. He did not run track or XC while in high school.

Schoplifter's comments are on the mark. The talent base in top-level triathlon is not yet close to the talent base in top-level running, but you still have to put in a lot of training time to be competitive.

Regarding the specific skills needed, it makes sense to distinguish between Olympic-format and Ironman. In Ironman, there is obviously a lot of cycling, and drafting on the bike is against the rules, so strong cyclists can have quite an edge. On the other hand, in Olympic-format triathlon, where drafting is legal and the whole event is wrapped up in two hours, you generally need to be good enough in the swim to begin the bike stage with the \"peleton\" of real contenders, good enough in handling skills to stay out of trouble on the bike, and pretty good in a 10-k footrace. (There are, it is true, \"world-class\" Olympic-format triathletes who are notably weak runners, but I doubt that this will remain true as the level of competition gets better.)

Dream on brotha...There is no great infrastructure for a national series (Oly distance). Tim DeBoom, reigning Ironman Champ the last 2 years, can't make the big cash. He tried to play hard ball with some of his sponsors after his first Hawaii win and lost some and took a much scaled down offer from Trek for he and his wife. Unless you go to Oz or NZ and get on their circuit which is as cut throat as it gets in the tri world, the US has a pathetic tri circuit and those damn Ironman races beat the crap out of you if you race them hard.

For sure don't go over to tri for the prize money alone. As stated by others below, the difference in time you put in training as a top-level triathlete is the same as or more than some full-time jobs. It makes little difference if you choose short-course or Ironman distance as you will be putting in 300-400 miles a week riding to be able to hold 26-27 mph for 40K (which may still leave you out of the money.) There is a steep drop-off in prize money, too....while the payout for top 3 is good at Hawaii, if you look down to 10th place, some of those guys can barely cover travel expenses to Hawaii with the money they make there.

An oft-mentioned reason to NOT pursue triathlon is swimming. This, IMO, is wrong. Yes, many top triathletes migrated from swimming (Lance Armstrong, Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Luc Van Lierde, Wolfgang Diettrich) but this is more reflective of the dead-end nature of competitive swimming...either you make it to the Olympics or it is over post-college. Also, guys who have swimming backgrounds know about hard training and have the work ethic you need for tri training. (Not a diss on runners' training...just pointing out the virtues of training 6000-8000 m/day). But despite the high number of successful triathletes with swim backgrounds, it is sport which fundamentally is about the guy who rides well enough and then SLOWS DOWN THE LEAST on the run. In an Ironman, guys walking 15 minute miles will give up time quickly even if they beat everybody out of the water. Lori Bowden is one of the top female competitors and this year just broke one hour for the Hawaii swim (top male pros go 48-51, top male age groupers go 54-60 mins). so don't look at swimming as too much of a barrier.

Pick a sprint or OLY race and try it out and see if you like it better than running races.

I was competitive on a national level before an achilles injury took me out 2 years ago. Can you swim? I think that is the deciding factor...yes, you can learn to swim, but it could take years of practice before you can compete at a high level. If you are already a sub-30:00 type guy, that time might be better spent training for marathons (at least in terms of prize money - there is not as much money in triathlon as you might think).

Do you have money for a bike? You can get by with a "so-so" bike, if you are just starting out. If you want to be competitive, you'll need a decent bike with a tri-setup (aero bars, decent wheels, etc).

Do you have a LOT of time? My training was around 60mpw running, 300-400 on the bike, and 3-5 swim sessions - and this was to be successful on at the Oly distance up to half-ironman! More training would be needed to do an Ironman at a high level. Forget about partying, etc, if you want to do this.

You need plenty of time, talent, and money to do well in triathlon. Remember, at a big race with prize money, you can be sure you'll be racing against athletes who could probably be world class at swimming or cycling, or national class at running (not many REALLY fast runners who switch to tri's, but plenty of really fast swimmers and cyclists do).

I'd suggest trying a few out. Start training now (swimming, cycling) for a few summer races. See what happens.

In response to the person who said that Tim DeBoom doesn't make much $ in tri's, consider this. Yes, he didn't get some of his sponsors to pay him the money that he wanted, but he just picked up 100,000 for winning ironman. Plus the sponsors he does have are still definitely paying him, and he gets appearance fees and prize money for other races. So, and this is purely speculation, he is probably clearing 200,000/yr., which ain't too bad at all.

Also, I know a lot of mediocre pros who make 40-60,000/yr by living the dream, and that's not chump change when you're doing something you love.

In response to people who say the talent pool isn't quite as deep in tris, consider someone like Chris McCormack. When he won the worlds in 1997, he brought home the 10000m run in 29:50. Mind you this was AFTER he swam 1500m all-out and rode 40k averaging 27-30 mph. I know lots of people on this message board would like to be able to run 29:50 on a track in perfect conditions. He has also gone 29:00 in during regular training sessions in the middle of a regular week. Not too shabby at all, and DeBoom kicked this guys ass in Hawaii.

Man I would if I were fast in the water. I did a triathlon in college just after track season ended - 400 Meter swim, 10 mile bike and 10K run. There were 101 entrants, and I was the very last one out of the water - after all the women and a few little boys and girls. I figured that I knew how to swim and that it wouldn't be a big deal - WRONG! Fortunately for me I was by far the best runner in the field and moved all the way up to finish 2nd over all. The guy who won was very good at all three events, but not great at any one event.

So, after the self-aggrandizing post, I will say that NO, I will not be attempting a Tri career anytime soon.

Who are the mediocre pros making $40-$60k? Do you mean with sponsorships or just prize money?

I don't know many folks in that strata, but I never had a pro card, either.

Hey quantrill,

Having finished 3 Ironman triathlons, I think I'll chime in here. I'll respond in two parts:

* Winning a triathlon. Unless you have been swimming competitively for a long time and have a solid cycling base (I'm assuming you have sufficient running skills), forget about even being near the stage at the awards ceremony. You will be so far behind (and tired) after the swim and then the bike, that your killer run will only enable you to pick-off a few straglers who went too hard on the swim/bike. Been there, done that.

* Run if you want to improve as a runner. Although triathlon has helped my "overall" fitness, I was always at my fastest running when I was "just" running. One of the tenants of training here - specificity. If you wanna run fast, run. If you want to be best at swimming then cycling then running, train for triathlon.

Best regards,

-Clive

http://www.ironclive.com

29:00 is not 26:22, is it? I would also contend that the swim and bike ride are not as tiring as people make out. My reasoning for this is that in any major swimmming competition, the swimmers compete in many different races often on the same day. This would not be possible in running. With cycling, 40Km is not a long distance in relative terms. They never seem to go for it on the bike either. Therefore I am not overly impressed that the world champion can manage 29:50 after a 1.5km swim and a 40km bike ride. Surely this would be expected. Due to me not being impressed by this, I agree with the previous posters comment that the talent pool in tri is not as deep as the talent pool in running.

Ironclive: Have you ever been to Hawaii? If so, how long did it take you to get a qualifying time on how many hours of training? The reason I'm asking is because I'm tinkering with the idea of doing some tris with the ultimate goal of an ironman. Hawaii is not a goal, I'm just curious about what it takes to get there.