I saw this query on the Endurance Nation forum today:
“Ok I need someone to tell me this is crazy (or not) or I may just go do it. There is the IM 70.3 Buffalo Springs June 24th. I’ve never done a triathlon, but according to last years results the bike and run (50 mile bike, 14 mile run) I had this weekend would put me 1st in my age group and this after my highest volume week ever. The question is should I do the race?
A little about me, my training ride was only my 5th time riding a bicycle, since the age of 12 and I’m seeing big gains quickly. I consider myself a runner, I need to play around more with running off the bike, but the run time of the 1st in AG last year is about 16 min slower than my training run, which I figure I will slow down more after the first two legs, but 16 min is a lot of time. The swim is really my weakness. Overall I’ve been training with a 70.3 in mind the last 2.5 months (before I got my bike a lot of time on the stationary)
Is 70.3 completely crazy as my first triathlon? I think the big pull for me is its my last year in the 18-24 age group and there is not much competition in that range, and the big one there is a Kona & Vegas qualifying spot.”
So, she’s 24 and wants to do a hot, hilly, hard half Ironman as her first triathlon. Now, if she were 45, or even 35, I’d give her a bunch of practical persuasion about the value of starting with a “practice” shorter triathlon. And about not being so overly optimistic about her chances given her swim and bike background. And to get the thought of Kona or Vegas qualification out of her mind.
But this is what I said:
“The cool thing about being under 25 is that you can get away with all sorts of crazy stuff in the name of having fun. I don’t think any of us old(er) folks should even consider trying to dissuade you from taking a leap – that’s what being young is for! We’ve learned over the decades to be practical, and look where it got us.
Just don’t permanently hurt yourself by biking to fast downhill or trying to go too hard, too fast, too soon.”
First of all, who knows if she isn’t one of those naturals, blessed with talent, who just might pull it off, or at least get close enough to make it worth the effort?
More important, dreaming big is what your 20s are all about. They’re supposed to reach for the stars; they’re supposed to ignore all the warnings and cautions of their elders. If they didn’t, we’d never get anywhere – no Facebook or Google, no Apple or Microsoft, probably no electric light bulbs or airplanes, for all I know. Heck, I bet the guy who discovered fire was a 20 y/o just crazy enough to run towards, not away from a forest fire.
Dreaming seems to be something we wake up from sometime between 27 and 35. What I love about triathlon is that it gives me a chance to re-engage as if I were young again, to take chances doing things that every kids gets an innate inner thrill from, swimming, biking, and running.
She’ll have plenty of time after this race to discover if she wants to get seriously involved in the minutiae of training for and doing well at racing. But she’ll never get that chance if she doesn’t take that first leap, and surprise herself into loving the sport.
Something I find as I get older is the value of newness. New sports, new friends, new activities, and new blood. It’s not that I want to be young again. But I find that watching someone who loves what s/he’s doing, jump into it wholeheartedly, and grow and develop the talent they have, is as satisfying as if I were doing it myself.
There are a few young bike racers coming up now who have that combination of dreams, talent, a willingness to learn, and an overpowering desire to just win: Peter Sagan, 22, (from Slovakia); Taylor Phinney, 21, son of two Olympic bike racers; Tejay Van Garderen, 23, from Tacoma, Montana, and Colorado. It’s all in front of them.