One more reason to NOT do triathlons!

2. The lack of athletes. While there are some very inspiring athletes that are triathletes, the vast majority are not now nor ever were an athlete in their past. I just have a hard time getting inspired. I don't know about this. I see a lot of superb athletes at triathlons. I'd say the vast majority are athletes. As to fees, can't agree with you either. For about $60 I get to race for well over an hour at least, with police at intersections, get a t-shirt, a SWAG bag, enough food and drink at the end to skip a couple of meals, a closed OW course, etc. Yesterday I ate a foot long sub, two bottles of gatorade and two bottles of water when I finished. I think I consumed more than I burned off. I definitely got my $60 worth.

I don't know about this. I see a lot of superb athletes at triathlons. I'd say the vast majority are athletes. You have got to be kidding. No way. The vast majority are not athletes and in way over their head in the swim. You just have to look at the times.

Quick, run 20 minutes, swim 20 minutes and bike 20 minutes...congratulations, you just completed a triathlon. NOT HARD. That is not a triathlong. It's more like, swim 5 minutes, run 20, bike 20.

I don't know about this. I see a lot of superb athletes at triathlons. I'd say the vast majority are athletes. As to fees, can't agree with you either. For about $60 I get to race for well over an hour at least, with police at intersections, get a t-shirt, a SWAG bag, enough food and drink at the end to skip a couple of meals, a closed OW course, etc. Yesterday I ate a foot long sub, two bottles of gatorade and two bottles of water when I finished. I think I consumed more than I burned off. I definitely got my $60 worth. Good point, geek! I forgot about the food. One triathlon I did had Subway sandwiches, big cookies, beer, and great live music. I definitely got the most out of my money there! Rob - True there are many out there that are not good swimmers, but some of those folks can run or bike pretty darn well. Careful, there are a lot of elite runners and bikers who do triathlons who could claim that there are a bunch of former college swimmers who do triathlons that can't bike or run worth a ________. I've seen some outstanding swimmers finish at the bottom of their age-groups. They may have the best swim, but it seems that is all they can do well. Also, you can't get an accurate idea of the time on the swims because the distances are always off. You can't even gauge running ability sometimes because even the best runners can bonk on the run after an all-out bike effort.

(posted earlier this evening in the OW area) I wonder what USMS' Open Water Participant Mortality Rate is... The article referenced clearly points to an issue with people swimming that shouldn't be swimming. If these tri first timers were smarter about their training, they'd try a longer, possibly OW, swim-only event before taking the deeper plunge and adding a bike and run to it. That may open their eyes (and constricted blood vessels) to a need to work at swimming more so that USAT didn't have to haul their carcasses out of lakes later on. Unfortunately, this is a good example of survival of the fittest (and fittest in the fitness sense can also apply here). I don't think anyone has died in 25+ years of the bay swim (not a USMS race). They have some controls in place to limit this situation so that if you're not fit to swim the race, you aren't going to be allowed to swim. The article did not point out the length of the races where the deaths occurred, but perhaps USAT could take a page from Lin-Mark's Bay Swim book and for events of Olympic distance or greater (assuming that is where the majority of deaths occur) require proof of completion of a swim-only event of 1 mile or greater. Perhaps this is where USMS can lend a hand.

1. I would rather die in the water hammering it than on the couch eating bacon flavored cheese curls. Bet those go good with beer. :banana:

I prefer Cheesy Poofs.....

Bet those go good with beer. :banana: My wife read the post and informed me that they(bacon flavored cheese..) are probably dog treats so I made no point. Anayway, maybe if they made a bacon flavored powerbar...

Would I be safer in a black & yellow polkadot suit? Mel, I feel safer just knowing the Animal is near by. Although glare reducing smoked googles are a must. :)

It is my observation that triathlon is now being dominated by people who just can't swim and have the mentality that its ok not to even work on it. All the time I hear people really stressing about the swim before we start. I have a friend that I used to fear for during the swim, it would take him almost 30 mintes to go 400m. Why do I state all this? Becasue it affects the sport. Races get cancelled or RD's turn swim's into a second run when waves pick up a bit. I dropped $185 on Steelhead 70.3 last year to have the swim cancelled. Take out the swim and I lose my overall advantage and my qualification to compete at Clearwater. Now lets point the finger at me, I am not a super runner, never was. I know this. So I work at it. I did the research, I asked everying, I even called my old HS XC coach for advide. After 3 years I can finally split 6 min miles/ 10k. A triathlon is 3 sports, embrace ALL 3 or do something else. I hate the overwhelming number of people who think they need to change their lives with Tri but aren't willing to put the time in to succeed at the whole. I wanted to play football, I even tried once. I just couldn't get my once 125 lb body to be effective. I recongnize that's not my sport. Others need to do the same. Sorry, just a short rant from somebody who thinks people who can't swim shouldn't. Cmonster - I can understand what you mean about the need to train adequately for the swim before taking on a triathlon. At the same time, it is not fair to single out the individuals who are not strong on the swim. If I sat around and really thought about it, I suppose I could get annoyed at the age group or college swimmers that come in and do a triathlon for fun and who can't bike very well (mainly because they haven't practiced it). Often they smoke everybody on the swim and then are out on the road biking before everybody else. I suppose I could complain that they get in my way of having a better bike split and make my biking portion of the race more dangerous because I have to pass them. At the same time, fast runners could complain about people like me that they have to pass when trying to run their fastest times on the end of the triathlon. Don't blame the weak swimmers for a race director's decision to cancel the swim portion of a triathlon. Blame lawyers, our legal system, and juries.