Recently a well-respected local running coach and race director (and general all-round good dude who is a fixture on the local running scene) posted his race report from Ironman Langkawi. And it was a shocker.
He claimed he hadn't trained for the swim or bike since the Port Dickson Tri in August - a standard-distance tri - and had basically signed up because some friends were doing it, but he expected to DNF.
What was he doing? Noodling around for six months? I don't doubt that as a seasoned ultrarunner, he has a base level of fitness that allowed him to complete the thing. (Actually, if you REALLY want to be a good friend to your triathlete mates, be an IronSherpa and cheer squad!) But my bigger concern is that so many people liked the Facebook post and called it "inspirational".
I know that in some cultures and many athletic and academic pursuits, there is a fine tradition of casual sandbagging. Oh, I could barely swim when I signed up for this tri, but somehow I finished it. Oh, we're just going to be riding at a rolling average of less than 30 km/h, you should join us. Oh, I didn't study at all for this test, but I managed to get an A. Oh, this climb is only 5.9, why don't you try it? And I know that the people coolly saying all these self-deprecating things are frequently regarded by many idiots as amazing, inspirational heroes.
Yeah. Don't give me that shit.
And for crying out loud don't lap it all up, you're only stroking their egos. (In his defense he did post later: "Thanks everyone... but in no way this method of severe lack of training should be followed before going for such a challenge. Complacency is highly dangerous. Better to understand our body's signs & responses rather than follow what others do.")
If you've signed up for an Ironman, common sense says you jolly well ought to train for it. I would (and do) have more respect for the people who show up to training week after week, who smash themselves at the right time but know when to back off when they need it, whose training logs sometimes say "I had the perfect long ride today" and sometimes "I really struggled with that run and my self-confidence is faltering and this has been the lowest point of my training so far". I have more respect for the people who struggled with or stuck to their training plans, than someone who brags about being undertrained. So I have absolutely no clue what sort of mentality would lead people to say something like this is inspirational!
(I also realise that yeah, there is a running subculture of people who sign up for multiple, frequent long-distance races without any regard for time goals, mainly as a way of sightseeing and having fun with friends. I get that. Those folks are clear about what they want to achieve and generally go about it quite safely. And they're not pretending to be heroes for achieving all this, nor do most people regard them as more than, um, slightly eccentric.)
But I know a number of people who trained very hard for IM Langkawi and for their other iron-distance races this year. Calling an undertrained sandbagger 'inspirational' does a great disservice to the people who actually work their tails off to get to the start line. (Here is one, she is actually an inspiration when you read what she's been through.)
The toughest journey isn't the race itself. It's to the start line. People need to recognise that and stop worshipping faux heroes. Or else just shut up and run.
I encountered a fair amount of this type of of behavior in college. I think there are two different types: 1) People who legitimately slacked/didn't prepare who would then brag out managing a passable outcome (read: "I didn't even try & managed a C, which tells you how AMAZEBALLS I would be if I DID try"), and 2) "The ducks"--ie, people who worked super hard to make it look like they weren't trying, but who were actually paddling like hell underwater. (read: "Look how amazing I am without even trying, imagine if I ever DID try! Which btw I TOTALLY don't.) I found (and still do find) both incredibly juvenile--to me they smack either of flat-out laziness, or of people who are terrified of actually trying & finding out their best isn't as great as they'd hoped/imagined (or people realizing that, no, they really are doing the best they can, and that's all they've got). I cannot roll my eyes far enough when people glorify this kind of thing. At least the guy in your story admitted that doing something like an Ironman with no preparation is pretty dumb.
ReplyDeleteYES. EXACTLY. I saw quite a bit of both types of behaviour in my fairly competitive high school and in college. Juvenile bravado, is what it is.
DeleteAmen to that. What would possess you to even contemplate doing an IM without the training? And why can't people see that you're putting your body at risk by doing so? My guess is that they have absolutely no idea of what is involved in competing in such an event and they would like to think that they could do the same.
ReplyDeleteMaybe. I sincerely hope no one is 'inspired' enough to go out and try to do the same!
DeleteYep yep yep! There's nothing inspirational about turning up and churning out another race that you know you can do. Inspirational is working your butt off to achieve something and either achieving it or failing in the atttempt! THAT inspires me.
ReplyDeleteAnd the thought of doing an IM untrained? Shudder...
"Inspirational is working your butt off to achieve something and either achieving it or failing in the atttempt!" - YES to this! Also having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (whatever it is for YOU) and methodically working your way towards it via a series of smaller, ambitious-but-still-achievable goals.
DeleteOkay. So this phenom - I see it all the time and I do NOT understand the point! I would think so much more highly of someone who trained hard for an event than someone who didn't train. What are they trying to prove? That they are just naturally talented, without even practice or training? Why brag about that? It requires no effort! I just don't understand how this makes you look "good" to others, yet I see it all the time (including on blogs - when you most WANT to read about training and results). It's pathetic and childish, and it indicates that the athlete respects their results more than their training, which is silly.
ReplyDeleteAmen to this. I'm glad we're all on the same page. And yes, I see it all the time on blogs too! If someone hit their big goal I want to read about the training they put in to get there. If they didn't make it I want to read about what they tried and what they're going to try next round. Gah.
DeleteI'm behind, but who cares. I have no idea about this, either - also scratching my head. Except, it's not just this guy. It's like, half of Singapore.
ReplyDeleteWe're coming to up the prime under training season in Singapore...Stan Chart! Let's not even discuss the number of emails I get in October and November from folks who have no regularly running routine, but 'raced a 10K last month' - and want help prepping for the marathon. Singaporeans (excuse the generalization, but I have, literally, never seen this attitude so rampant anywhere else) seem intent on pushing their undertrained bodies to great lengths, with much pride. *face palm*
It's getting a bit better. There are all those big running groups that do help people figure out the appropriate amount of training. And Stanchar and some of the other longer races publish free training schedules to give people an indication of what their training should look like. I will never understand this either. It took me 3 years after I started running seriously to work up to my first full marathon.
DeleteI would say there are three types here: people who are legit slacking/ genuinely clueless. (Biggest group, goes some way towards explaining why race times are so slow.) People who are training but claiming they aren't (the 'ducks' who will then casually say 'look what I just pulled out of my arse, imagine if I really trained'). And people who are really working hard and being very quiet about it!