Are Triathletes Deserving of a Bad Reputation?
If you spend enough time around runners, you will probably hear us talking about our triathlete cousins. And it’s not usually positive. Shelly and I have a few triathlete friends, and we like to tease them about their chosen recreation. It’s meant to be good fun, and they understand we’re only joking. For me, it’s clearly envy as I have about as much swimming ability as a bowling ball.
However, there does seem to be some serious negativity thrown at triathletes in general. I have three questions:
1. What are the stereotypical “triathlete characteristics”, both positive and negative?
2. Are these deserved or accurate?
3. Are these triathlete characteristics, or the characteristics of any person engaging in any sport as an adult?
I suspect it’s simply a case of a few high-profile triathletes shaping the stereotype, and the negativity is in no way a representation of the average triathlete. What are your thoughts?
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15 Comments
Dat Le
April 22, 2012What Trish said. Trail running is a lot cheaper and the scenery is much nicer.
Charlie
April 19, 2012Yes.
Chadisbarefoot
April 15, 2012Triathletes’ reputations, in my opinion, are the direct result of one thing: money. The average income of Ironman participants is somewhere north of $130k/year. Sign up for a tri, and you are very likely racing against a bunch of douchey doctors and CFOs. At least that has been the majority of my limited experience.
/generalization
Sergei
April 13, 2012I’ve been doing tris for the last 4 years and started trail running last year. I noticed that my personality changes depending on the context. In the tri environment I am definitely more competitive, I do care about what percentile I finish in and often see people next to me as targets to beat.
In trail running on the other hand, perhaps because running is my weakest and I am much more humble or because over long distances you often end up alone with nature for long stretches, I am much more relaxed and determined to just enjoy it and have fun.
So perhaps you can apply some generalizations even if it’s the same person.
One part that I disagree about with other comments about tris is the image of it as being pricy. My total (not annual) budget over 4 years hasn’t exceeded $1,500. I am convinced that aside from pros who actually benefit from the high end equipment, people who spend gobs of money either fell for sales shpeal not realizing that that $5K bike just bought them a few seconds off a 5 hr race or they DO have money to through and use it as a status symbol. In either case it’s their choice, not the requirement of the sport.
Rachel
April 13, 2012Positive – in shape, friendly, adventurous, strong, confident
Negative – cocky, overly confident, spandex, too competitive, too analytical, leans towards people with extra money laying around
(among many other comparisons that can be made)
Reading all these replies, it seems to me your readers generally know that a few buttheads do not define the entire sport. My problem is, those few buttheads do define the sport in many people’s eyes.
I am a triathlete, and I wouldn’t say I’m any of those negative things (but you’d have to ask someone else – I’m a little biased lol). I don’t have a ton of money laying around, but I have built up my gear over the last couple years to a point where I’m so ready to tackle a 70.3! I have loved getting out into the open ocean, where I’m completely out of my element – and finding that I’m OK afterwards – I didn’t die from kelp exposure! I also do not have any gym membership – my swim training last year was almost exclusively at Mission Bay and LJ Cove – completely free!
As for atmosphere, I would MUCH rather be at an ultra in the mountains, than a packed spandex-filled triathlon – but anymore, I also wouldn’t want to be at a REALLY packed road race!
Going out and accomplishing something you honestly didn’t think you could before – that is an awesome feeling! And that goes for a triathlon, road race, ultra, mountain climbing – doesn’t matter what other buttheads also do those things!
Anywho, there’s my three triathlon cents
Rob Y
April 12, 2012Meh, it’s all what you make of it. I’ve seen plenty of douche-bags in every walk of life. There aren’t any more triathlete douches than some ultra and other runners I’ve come across. I used to do some triathlons simply because I lived in an area where one was going on just about every weekend. All I had was my ancient mountain bike but I didn’t care I still went and got a good workout. There is nothing better than being a decent runner and coming off the bike way in the back and then running as many folks down as you can on the run. Great fun! Also, some of the triathlons I did actually had “fat tire” divisions so one could still be competitive with like minded athletes who competed on mtn bikes as well.
Chuck
April 12, 2012My problem with people that do tri’s is that tri’s and ironmans are used interchangeably by a lot of people. I have a lot of respect for ironman and 1/2 ironman finishers, but a sprint tri is little more than a 10k to me, yet Beyonce makes the news for finishing one.
Bare Lee
April 12, 2012Don’t all races involve a few hyper-competitive jackasses? Are you saying all ultra runners are laid back?
I must say, if I too weren’t such a crappy swimmer, I might consider trying a tri at some point. I used to travel by bike, so perhaps there’s some muscle memory left.
Vincent
April 12, 2012I can somewhat understand the mentality that some may take going into triathlons since I am somebody that played and semi-excelled at every sport I played, specifically track&field and swimming (the jack-of-all-trades talent lends one to contemplating such things) but to me it seems like that combined with the mainly bike-oriented expenses turn what might simply be competitively inclined people into obsessively micromanaging psychopaths who like to pretend they are professionals when they actually spend far more than they could ever hope to make.
Personally I don’t care for bikes. I learned how to ride late in life because when I was being “taught” by my parents I was more interested in working on my basketball game then dealing with what I saw as a silly machine. Now those “silly machines” play a direct role in the competitive aspect of that sport.
Jen
April 11, 2012I agree with all of the previous comments re: tri expense, gear, etc. I have a few friends that have done sprint triathalons, and they are pretty normal, nice people (though they are primarily runners, so does that count??). I do think that the people who are SUPER into it get caught up in stats and gear. I prefer the low-key running crowd.
Plus, I’m with you Jason — I can’t swim competitively in a pool, let alone in the open water with a bunch of other people!
Paul Mastin
April 11, 2012Here’s my take. Let’s say we have identical twins who go through identical training regimes, with the exact same workouts. Put on on the 10K tri-bike, and one on the $600 off-the-rack bike, and the one with the tri-bike will win. But put both on a trail race with their choice of shoes, even if one wears expensive trail shoes and one wears cheapies, the race will be much, much closer. Trail running favors the strong, fast, determined, focused runner. Tris favor the one with the deepest pockets.
Jeremy
April 11, 2012First, some background. I am a trail/ultra runner who dabbled in the world of triathlons a few years ago (up to the half-iron distance… not a fan of the swim!). My wife and father-in-law have been doing triathlons for over ten years now, and they both finished their first Ironman last summer.
I’d say the stereotypical triathlete characteristics (good and bad) are as follows: type-A overachiever; obsessed with gear ($10k bikes, pointy helmets, etc.); wealthy; data whore (splits, VO2 max, etc.); egotistical; hyper-competitive
I do feel that a few of these ring true for *most* triathletes. I think the sport naturally attracts type-A overachievers, even more so than ultras. This could be due to the fact that there are three different disciplines involved (as opposed to one), and thus people assume it must be harder. The sport also requires a much more significant financial investment than trail running, even if you buy the bare minimum of equipment, and thus attracts a more affluent crowd.
Similar to a recent observation you made here, I have noticed that the people who give triathletes a bad rap are the not-quite-elite age groupers. These are the people buying $10k+ carbon-fiber bikes, wearing pointy helmets, and running you off the road in order to shave a few seconds off their time. These are the few a-holes that are giving the sport a bad name.
As for me, I found that trail/ultra running was a lot more my speed. Fewer egotistical maniacs, less spandex, more down-to-earth people, and MUCH better scenery
Kai
April 11, 2012I’ve heard people say triathletes are arrogant jerks but all my triathlete friends are really nice people. maybe I’m an arrogant jerk too so I don’t notice
Vanessa
April 11, 2012I dabbled with triathlon dreams back in the day. I loved biking before I found running, and I even took swimming lessons and got fairly good in the water. At the time, I was running barefoot-only, and I learned that the tris in my area didn’t allow barefoot running of any kind. I got so turned off I stopped training. A few weeks later I found a trail, ran it barefoot, and the rest is history.
What bothers me about tris is the amount of gear/expense associated with that sport. It’s too rich for me. A tumble in the mountains costs almost nothing
Trish Reeves
April 11, 2012the only reason I don’t do triathalons is because I don’t have/can’t afford access to a pool and don’t have/can’t afford a bike.