Triathletes

I hate the generalizations that triathletes are mediocre at 3 events. It was a joke. My gosh, lighten up. I have many triathlete friends and swim with them when they show up. People get so uptight these days...

Originally posted by beireland I don't know how to let everyone know this, but USMS is losing out to the UST(or whatever their organizing body is). The largest open water swims are all triathalons. OK, they aren't a pure swim but there are a lot more and they have more competitors. I can't tell you why its easier to get people to sign up to try to master three sports than a single one but it is. Most masters team have a large tri contingent. Mine does. Tthe underlying question of why triathalons are growing rapidly and masters swimming isn't, is something that we need to recognize. I don't know why. Is it more satisfying to get slaughtered in a triathalon than in a pool meet or open water swim because there is a greater assumption of accomplishment associated with completion of a tri? I don't know. I don't really know how USMS gets new members. I'm always surprised when I come across someone who has actually heard of us. Most of the people I swim around were at one time members but felt they got nothingout of the organization but some workouts. Many tri's aren't life-long swimmers. I really think that they make huge improvements when thye coem and worout with swimmers. At least most of the tri's I know do. We have a mini-tri in September, our lanes get so much more business then.

Well, I'm not a triathlete, but I came to swimming recently with mainly a running background. I'm not fast as either a runner or a swimmer, but I love both sports and want to learn as much as possible about how to improve my performance in both. My masters' workouts now are pretty much on my own since the official masters' practices aren't being run during the summer at my pool. The coach e-mails us workouts which we do independently. I will admit that IM workouts are my toughest ones, but if they're what's assigned, I do them as best I can. (And I will say I've made some progress at butterfly...couldn't even last the length of a pool the first time I tried. I can hang in longer now, but it's not pretty.) Also when we do workouts together, whatever he says we're doing, I'm willing. I'm there to learn something, so whatever's being offered, it's an opportunity. Flip turns: I ENVIED the more experienced swimmers their ability to do flip turns and celebrated finally being able to do one myself. (I still need some work on my technique, but I once thought I'd never master this skill.) In fairness to triathletes, many of my triathlete friends work hard at their swimming and are not only willing but eager to try the different strokes and the flip turns. Several I know swim in meets as well as triathlons. As for me...as I mentioned in the aquathlon thread, I don't see myself getting into triathlons b/c the bike investment is huge and my balance not too great, but a friend is doing Ironman Lake Placid this year--and has really come a long way in all three of the sports, putting in a lot of training, abt 4000 or so yards per swim, century bike rides, 60-70 running miles per week.... My swim coach--whose background is primarily swimming (on his college swim team and a school leader in distance swims)--has recently branched out into triathlons and is planning on a full ironman next year. I say more power to him! Whatever gets ya movin'!

You get out of the sport (and USMS in particular) what you put into it. The many triathletes and fitness swimmers are not interested in anything more than going to the pool for exercise, then going home, or to the next practice. They may not see what USMS does for them, but only because they don't realize that without USMS, there would be precious few places open for them to train. USMS could be the reason that Triathlons even exist (USMS has been around since 1970). No age group teams would allow the shenanigans triathletes are accused of on this forum. There are very few (if any) pure tri folk or fitness swimmers trying to open pool time or running workouts or volunteering their time to make USMS run. That doesn't happen automatically. As I inferred in an earlier post, They pay the bills, the competitive swimmers run the show (because someone has to). It is a mutually beneficial symbiosis, even if some do not appreciate it.

We have some triathletes on my team and they don't exhibit any of the ettiquette breaches mentioned earlier in this thread. All the triathletes swim the workouts as they are written on the board. After reading the other posts it made me wonder what the difference is? Perhaps it is because two of the better triathletes on our team are awesome IM swimmers? As one of my team's coaches said when reporting the results of an open water swim with well over 100 participants. Congrats to NAME_OBSCURED. First place in his age group and fifth overall out of N people - that's awesome! That's N-5 people who clearly didn't do enough butterfly.

Triathlon: Why excel at one sport when you can be mediocre in 3? Or, why be mediocre at one sport when you can be mediocre at three, and thereby above average in triathlon. There is some talent in being able to do all 3 things. I've seen these types of discussions on running forums. "Excellence" is relative. I'm sure there are more talented swimmers that could make the same criticism of the Masters Swimmers that make that broad brush statement of triathletes. While some triathletes come from a swimming background and understand the workout ground rules, many don't and struggle with learning technique, ground rules, everything that us swimmers had years to pick up as children without the pressure to keep up. Just my 2 cents...as an ex-swimmer, now triathlete.

Yeah John, they all looked really scard when you showed up to swim at the Resevoir the other night sporting wing tips and a cheap suit!!! Tell the truth, the only reason you are going for this is an outside shot at making some money on a lame bet!

As long as you learn the secret USMS handshake and chant, you may join a USMS practice. The hazing comes a few weeks thereafter.

It was a joke! Lighten up, discussions do not always have to be serious.

OK, so I was thinking seriously about joining our local masters swim group, came to this forum to find out some info., saw this thread, read it and am now thinking I don't want to belong to a group who doesn't want me there for any reason other than the collection of my membership dues. I'm sure if you came to our local tri club and expressed an interest in doing a triathlon, you would get an overwhelming response of support from other club members. Everywhere I seem to go - the local running club, local group rides of cyclists- the response is the same. I always identify myself as a triathlete and always seem to get the cold shoulder. I have never made any waves about it and don't intend to. But, I also won't join and support any groups who really don't want me there, no matter how unfounded their opinions are. Thanks for shedding some light! Pete