Hey Jude: Long Distance Triathlon Competition in The Age of Coronavirus
St. Jude - the patron saint of Lost Causes. While I am still holding out hope for a late summer HIM, and an early Fall IM, as we all know, "Hope Is Not A Strategy."
Looking forward to what seems to be the inevitable cancellation of all endurance events larger than 250 participants, or at the very least, the distortion of them beyond all recognition due to social distancing requirements, I suggest Endurance Nation athletes come together and create our own events. Specifically a late August/early Sept middle distance triathlon of 2k swim/80K bike and 20k run (1.3/50/12.4 mi) and a long distance event in early October of 3K/120K/30K.
Within a month, I believe, all of us will be grieving our lost 2020 season(s), and floundering around wondering how to channel our inner competitor. A few of us will turn to sloth, some will take on massive epic challenges, others will injure themselves bouncing from one training plan to another as their planned events fall like dominos, and some of us will even sign up for and participate in one of the various "virtual" events which are popping up, seeking money for nothing.
Here's the germ of the idea: These would be IRL, outdoors. Follow the EN training plan, set up forum threads & groupmes. Engage in trash talk. Small local EN cells could compete together (Pac NW, SoCal, NorCal, Michigan, Texas, Mountain West, NC/VA/GA, NYC area, Boston/New England, etc.) Times shared, awards given, with maybe some competition between geographic groups. A reason to be a part of, stay a part of EN.
I could design the whole thing right here, right now, but I'd rather start a conversation to first, confirm interest and generate buzz, and second, to make sure the best ideas for this are found and assimilated.
Comments
I love it @Al Truscott , great idea.
I'm signed up for Traverse City 70.3 at the end of August and while it is not cancelled yet, I'm expecting it to be. Timing would be spot-on for me, count me in.
@Al Truscott Yes. Any form of this is great idea that I would be interested in. The more that we could actually come together in small groups would make it even better. That of course would inject more uncertainty as we navigate the next wext few weeks, but would make the entire experience more motivating and competitive. Best possible case is that some races end up happening and this idea takes a back seat but in the mean time we have a target to give our traing some structure.
I am in for team Michigan and hope to also get @Kori Martini @Rich Stanbaugh @Larry Peters @Ken Mclaughlin
OMG! first forum post in a long time and I realize my signature is so old.
i'm in! It will give me something to look forward to since I'm 0 for 3 on races so far this year.
Love the idea!
@Al Truscott I love it. I would say "great minds think a like, but I don't want to insult you. For a few weeks now I've had some thoughts here on paper that I've been trying to put together.
At the end of the day I keep coming back to the same thing from a business perspective, not just as your coach, which is that we need to "grow the pie." In other words, we have to create something where everyone can win. The more people that win, the more winners there are. The more winners there are, the more survivors there are of this situation. The more survivors there are of this situation, the more of us there are to keep our sport alive in the future. 🎉
Win - Win - Win is the name of the (new) game.
This is precisely why I think all of these challenges are not helpful. They are dividing things up and forcing people to choose where they will allocate their time and energy. This is not how our seasons normally work. Arguably there is certainly a market-based influence toward specific events based on reputation and investment, etc., but why re-create that now? This is an opportunity for us to re-imagine the event landscape and create something more meaningful and relevant to us. Micro-events anyone?
Here are some thoughts, don't let the formatting fool you...
Structural Thoughts
Event Ideas:
Half Distance [August 15 to September 1 Window]
Long Course [October 1 to Oct 15 Window]
Fall Marathon (Marathon Relay?) [Nov to Dec Window]
End of Season Fun Event?
Please add / edit / play along...
Love these ideas! I'm definitely interested - I'm signed up for Traverse City, also, plus IMWI. So the time frames above would be perfect.
Sounds like fun. I'm in.
AC HIM is only real race on my schedule 9/15/20 and I don't know what it could possibly look like if it does happen so these are great options.
Small local EN cells could compete together (Pac NW, SoCal, NorCal, Michigan, Texas, Mountain West, NC/VA/GA, NYC area, Boston/New England, etc.) Times shared, awards given, with maybe some competition between geographic groups.
I like the idea but have a question on how to be as inclusive as possible. Are you thinking the geographic groups would be a virtual group of folks? In other words; one would sign up to a region, such as NorCal.
Fantastic! In, in whatever shape & form this takes.
Do it.
Will plan on it.
thanks
I think this is a great idea! For myself, I am a big "maybe" for participation. I'm mostly certain that I'll just end up focusing on shorter distance events this year and getting faster/stronger, and supporting my local race director in the process. But who knows...I may catch the bug.
That said, if I don't participate as an athlete, I'd be happy to help crew/SAG something in the southeast area (assuming my work schedule and other commitments don't conflict. I would be willing to travel from the ATL to places in GA/TN/NC/SC/AL.
Thanks @Brian Hagan , @Al Truscott and others! I am IN for team Michigan! It would be an honor to race with you rock stars!
I like it all. I also like the competition between regions idea. With small numbers of participants, I wonder how we could normalize across age groups? And with variations in course selection, comparing across regions may be tough. Maybe something based on how close people finish to their pre-posted goal time (like the turkey trot challenge)? People could be encouraged to pick a goal time that pushes them to race well. That seems pretty inclusive....
Count me in! I love this idea! Thanks so much!
I like it. Virtual racing has been a disaster for me! I do not have a treadmill and HATE running inside! running outside is killer if not done early in the AM as it is 90 degrees and 90% at the present. The Dongle is not reliable, and I miss the swim :( I assume we will be doing this all outside?
I like the local option too as we in Texas all have similar heat and wind issues although I don't know any other old ladies around here to compete against... but the idea of all of us Texans being on a team has serious merit! I think we should add all of our ages up to make the age category!🤪
@Al Truscott what is IRL?
Great ideas! I would definitely participate...count me in!
Thank you!!
Hmm, I like the idea! Wonder if I can get @Mike Roberts @Derrek Sanks @Carl Alleyne @maurice matthews @Jay Tolin and the rest of the Mid-Atlantic sleeper cell to rise up in October!
You know I'm in, Dani. I know you can't stand the thought of going an entire calendar year without a 140.6, but we'll attract more people if we allow more options (70.3, half mary, etc.). I'm not convinced I will put in the pool time and long rides to be ready for full. And a one-day IM would be logistically challenging unless you find a big park with a lake and perhaps 10-mile loops around the lake to minimize traffic, the number of intersections, stops and "aid stations." There are probably some beach roads/paths that could support such an event. Could also hold several "events" over two days to make it more of a mini-festival camping opportunity.
@Al Truscott Thanks (again) for the leadership here on this project. I have a few thoughts on this to frame next steps and we can put our heads together on what makes sense. I am putting this out here publicly to make sure we are all pointed in the right direction (ish).
First, I think it's really important that we have a defined event on our calendars that we control. I know how frustrated so many of us have been watching the season unravel. Should your personal event be saved, you can always default back to it. But at the very least you'll always know that you have this event on your calendar to capture your fitness for the season. Also allow you to take the next step towards whatever is next. So yes to a distance(s) and date(s).
Second, this needs to be some kind of DIY event. There's no way to predict where we will be as a country or were each of us will be as residence of different states by the time our events come to pass. We should structure it so the athletes are empowered to find and create courses in their area that safely allow them to participate and complete the distance. Maybe even guidance for online versions as well.
Put another way, there is no way that Endurance Nation can be construed to be urging athletes from different parts of the country to travel, congregate and socialize. Should you decide that a small gathering works because you live near some of your teammates, and you are all comfortable with that risk, that is your choice.
Third, I like the idea of regions to create the opportunity for some fun competition. At the end of the day we are all competing against ourselves in these events, but we can certainly make it fun by staying social as a team, and engage in lots of fun smack talk. And how easily people on this team come up with ridiculous ideas, I'm sure we can come up with some fun elements to each event to keep folks engaged and challenged.
I can't wait to see what we come up with!
~ Patrick
This is a great idea! I'd be interested @Danielle Santucci. I might be signing up for Ironman North Carolina 70.3 that is set of 10/17. It would be nice if we could get a group together for an IRL event.
@Danielle Santucci
Depending on the pool situation, I'd def be willing to do the bike and run with you.
I'll be ready for some IRL event by October. We might be able to recreate Eagleman, minus the heat, if swimming in Chop Lake is allowed.
@Danielle Santucci @Mike Roberts @Carl Alleyne @Jay Tolin
Love the idea. I signed up for 70.3 Wilmington next October so I'm in for any event before. I think there are few of us in Georgia (@Sabra Gonzalez, @Bill Eckert) and Tennessee and we could compete against the strong NC team. Add the Florida folks and you have a nice Southeast event. Should be fun.
Im up for this, "Team UK" may be a bit small but hopfully I can pursuade my better half @ABBEY BONNER.
We have no idea where we (the UK) will be next week let alone a couple of months so a somthing to aim for would be great as all of our events have been cancelled this year (They moved IM Estonia but no flights...... really helpfull, plus we're not sure we'd want to travel anyway).
Totally IN! Here are my thoughts:
I heart brainstorming :)
I like the idea of one single day that we circle on our calendars, wax up our chains, do to our favourite (personal) course, and do one event.
One day, one event, team mojo, focus and build together as a team, own backyard. Scattering across a month and different distances = different experiences = not shared experiences = why don't I just look at your Strava and say "cool."
Needs to be long or big enough that it's a thing. The ITU distance is perfect because it's hard enough for everyone - half and full athletes - to do well. Swim optional.
Thanks to EVERYONE for supporting the 2020 Endurance Nation triathlon events!
What's our mission? Provide a date (or two) towards which EN members KNOW they can engage in a long-distance triathlon competition.
Part of the benefit of EN is training with a group of athletes for the same event, providing mutual support and learning, as well as friendly rivalry amongst ourselves.
There seems to be little objection to an EN Tri scheduled for the week of August 24-31, distance of 2000 meters (2200 yards) swimming, 80 km biking (49.7 mi), 20 km run, and a second race the week of October 4-11, distance 3000 m/120 km (74.5 m)/30km
I like the "shorter" long-distance in October, which allows 140.6 fanatics the chance to train long, but might attract those who've yet to do more than a 70.3 an opportunity to step towards IM without having to double their distance on race day. And, you may have heard, I'M RETIRED FROM IM.
The training plans might be: HIM starting June 1. If the second race is a go, folks could discuss the value of using an HIM plan with 4 hour bikes and 2 hour runs (my choice), vs going full IM. In either case, we'd pop into the final 6 weeks or so of the plan Sept 1.
We just need a go from @Coach Patrick that EN resources such as forum threads and group me chats will be directed towards these.
Once the ball is rolling, ideas about how to structure competition, form teams, vet courses, et al could be firmed up before the end of May. no need to wait for those details to get things going.
I'm in! This sounds cool!...and I agree with @Dave Tallo - keep it simple; a set date and set event. Starting with ITU/HIM followed by ITU/IM distance at a later date for those that want the extra challenge