6 Reasons Why Swimmers Make the Best Triathletes

By Kristy Kinzer, Swimming World College Intern.

What happens to swimmers who graduate and must leave the sport which has made up most of their identities, taken up most of their waking hours with training, and enabled their calorie-binging habits? Many find it difficult to adjust to a nine-to-five job, saving for a house or a family, and settling into the “real life” routine post-college and beyond.

But there is good news, people! The sport of triathlon is gaining much more popularity in the US, and it requires the same amount of drive, dedication, training time, and camaraderie experienced on a swim team. And there are virtually no age limits, so there’s a race for everyone out there. Whether you aspire to take up a new hobby or become the next “Iron Nun,” you can continue your competitive athletic pursuits in water and on foot.

Having many triathlon races under my belt, I can speak from personal experience that I think swimmers make some of the best triathletes. Why? Read on.

1. We’re used to getting up at the crack of dawn for a workout.

Photo Courtesy: Lifehack

Most people cringe at the thought of a 6 a.m. workout, but most swimmers have practiced at earlier times for years without issues. To fit a workout into a busy day with a full-time job takes intentionality and discipline, which are required qualities of swimmers already. Most races start around 7 a.m., which may require a 4 a.m. wake-up call to digest breakfast and get your equipment checked in. Starting the day with physical activity is a part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle, and many who take up the sport of triathlon report feeling much happier and more focused in all areas of their lives.

2. We can’t stay away from competition.

Photo Courtesy: CNN.com

Nothing quite compares to the rush of adrenaline and nerves that overtake your mind and body before a swim race. Seeing your teammates jumping, screaming, and waving their arms back and forth gives you the extra drive to do your best. Competition is in our blood, and it must be channeled somehow after our competitive swimming days are over. Triathlon gives you not just one but three sports to attempt mastery over, and it keeps you on your toes with learning techniques in several disciplines. Just as swimming is more of an individual sport within a larger team, triathlon is every man or woman for themselves but also wanting everyone else to do their best. Typically, triathletes are humble and friendly people with a high respect for each competitor.

3. Hard work is already a way of life.

2016-hosszu-oconnor-200im-exhaustion-postrace-rio

Photo Courtesy: USA TODAY Sports-USA TODAY Sports

We’re all familiar with that friend who coasts by in life, brown-nosing his way through nearly everything. But with sports such as swimming, biking or running, no one can coast and be successful. All success is attributed to the hours of disciplined training and relational support. Swimmers naturally do not look for hand-outs and are used to training for a few hours in a row. Don’t get me wrong-we all love a recovery day or “easy” practice, but even those “easy” days require intense concentration on technical skill and strengthening body connections.

4. Triathletes are quirky people, so swimmers fit right in!

Photo Courtesy: Hashtag Triathlon

I’ve heard swimmers be described as “odd ducks” too many times to count, and I wear that descriptor as a badge of honor. Triathletes and swimmers alike seem to be cut from the same cloth, as enduring long, grueling workouts requires creative mind-games and induces long periods of being “inside your own head.” In general, swimmers and triathletes are very in-tune with their own bodies and are quite comfortable openly discussing bodily functions during workouts. This openness usually translates to social situations outside of the sport, where conversation topics may be less socially acceptable.

5. You won’t be afraid of the swim.

Photo Courtesy: Swim Box

Nearly everyone knows how to ride a bike or run, regardless of enjoying the activities or not. But not everyone is comfortable in the water, and even fewer are comfortable in open-water situations. Even those with strong swimming backgrounds can panic when put in an open-water race, but the majority of swimmers have a leg-up on those without a strong swimming background. If you go to a race or meet triathletes out and about, ask them what their least favorite or weakest part of their race is, and most will tell you it’s the swim. Why not join a sport where you have a competitive advantage?

6. We love to bond over a cold one after the finish line.

Photo Courtesy: Mid Sussex Tri Club

Let’s face it-watching a swim meet is not the most spectator-friendly event. Parents usually pack up a cooler with some cold brews to enjoy a little fresh air and socialize in the parking lot. With triathlon races, it is very socially acceptable for athletes to join the fun with the rowdy spectators after crossing the finish line with a free drink as a reward or their hard work. After all, they earned it! *Age 21 and up, of course.

So if you’re bored and looking for a new hobby, just give a local triathlon a try and you might get hooked!

All commentaries are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Swimming World Magazine nor its staff.

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Matt Seadog

6 years ago

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is no swimming in a triathlon. Don’t you know that!

Dunk your head in a dirty lake, bike 500 miles, run a marathon.

It’s a sad day when SWIMMING WORLD has a triathlon article. Why don’t they just cover some diving while they are at it.

Katie Winters

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Um…. it’s actually correct, at least for long and middle distance freestylers. I’m a 33 year old woman who swam distance through college (D1), and last year when I was swimming masters the triathletes drug me out to the lake, and the rest is history. Swimmers have a big leg up in tri. If you don’t like the bike and run, you can be part of a relay team (How I started).
USA Swimming has open water events (which I much prefer), and likewise there are many tris in pools.
It’s good stuff. ?❤

Ebowthe

6 years ago

Reply to Katie Winters

Wetsuits are cheating. In anything above 73 degree water. When they give me a motorized bike or create courses where some of us get to run all downhill, I will be cool w the weak swimmers getting a pass in their flotation devices.

Kathryn Meinhardt

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Depends on the tri. In a 70.3 or longer the swim is relatively so short that to rock the swim (unless ur also gonna crush the bike) doesn’t give u much of an advantage.

Conner Andrews

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Gwen Jorgensen was more swimmer than anything to start and she’s best in the world…

Matt Seadog

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Swimmers should be fighting for longer swims. The sport is rigged.

Maybe the triathletes should learn to swim. I’ve lifeguarded triathlons where people drown and need to be rescued or they floated down the Hudson River literally taking pictures in their nice flotation device wetsuits in the NYC tri. If people think they are an “ironman”, make every time on each activity the same. How far can a world class swimmer go in 4 hours, how far can a world class biker go in 4 hours, and how far can a world class runner go in 4 hours? There are your race distances. And it shouldn’t be in swimming world.
Know it all Triathletes destroyed masters, swimming so I left. Not all but many were “know it alls” who could barely stay afloat but thought they knew more than me about swimming. They would listen to their “coach” who did x ironmans, but wouldn’t listen to me. The worst offenders really put me off, because there were so many great people there too. The triathletes who didn’t want to flip turn, swim breast or back, would get in the way and be rude. I actually had people disregard the workouts completely and swim free for kicking, Breastroke, etc without even asking me. It wasn’t my program or I would have kicked them out for being so rude and obnoxious. Many are also ” not coachable” because they were never on a team. The demo is high powered business people who aren’t used to being told what to do and it was clearly evident that they had never been on a sports team in their life.

*****They literally got in the way of me teaching the majority of people whom I loved working with.
*********
Also, it is a participation trophy sport which annoys me too. The first thing I would do when I did a triathlon was throw the “finisher medal” in the garbage right at the finish. Also, the wetsuits in 80 degree water are super lame. When they make every time on each activity the same, I will have a lot more respect for it. We will see who can swim four hours In the water and without a wetsuit (FINA suits), but they won’t do it.

As someone who studied and did my clinical rotation in cardiac rehab, I also believe that ironmans and ultra marathon may cause many people permanent heart damage and minor myocardial infarctions. 50% of the people doing these are probably hurting their bodies.

Tricia Watt Griffioen

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Matt, I’ve had the same super lame experience ‘sharing’ a lane with triathletes for all the reasons you listed and then some. Its always the mediocre triathlete swimmers that think so dang highly of themselves giving me lane rage.

Chuck Yu

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

Yea Matt the current group of triathletes are a bunch of DB. I remember the old days back in the 80s and early 90s when we had real athletes doing triathlons. Now it is more of a fitness activity rather then a real sport. There are so many more people doing tris but the times are getting slower and slower. I have this lake near my house. In the summer it gets over 100 deg. water temp sometimes gets around 85. Triathletes show up everyday and almost all of them have wetsuits on. They show up pumping their chests out strutting around and talking real loud about this race or that race that they have done. I just want to laugh at them. Anyone that needs a wetsuit when the water is that hot is not any good. They have no reason to go around acting like some kind of elite athlete. They just look stupid!

Matt Seadog

6 years ago

Reply to Matt Seadog

I really hate to generalize, but a few bad apples who were rude and disrespectful to me as a coach really ruined my experience with an otherwise great group of people. When you have 1 or 2 people in a workout who simply do whatever they want because they are a know it all, they ruin the experience for everyone else.

Chase Vanucchi

6 years ago

Kathie Egloff Kathy Aucter-Morse

Kelsey McNulty-Kowal

6 years ago

Grace Alexander

6 years ago

Reply to Kelsey McNulty-Kowal

It’s tru

Lisa Cary Zubar

6 years ago

Kira Zubar

Heba Mohamed

6 years ago

Gamila Ahmed

Chuck

6 years ago

Not quite right. The best triathletes are the best runners that have a swimming background.

Shawn Nowak

6 years ago

Agree 100% with this I’ve heard so many triathletes tell me scared of the swim portion they are. For average swimmers on a longer distance I can get a 15-25 min lead on them which takes a while to close in on.

Neil Morgan

6 years ago

Swims in triathlon always seem to be proportionally short. Often, it’s over in 10-20 mins, then they go off to cycle and run for much much longer. The best triathletes seem to be the best runners, who don’t lose too much ground on the swim. Swim specialists can end up too top heavy.

Chuck Yu

6 years ago

Not quite right. The best triathletes are the best runners that have a swimming background.

Virginia Lee

6 years ago

Swimming is the hardest part of leg race for non swimmers ?

Aisling Carroll

6 years ago

Róisín Ni ??

Róisín Ni Íceadha

6 years ago

Reply to Aisling Carroll

If only I could paddle my way through the run ?

Tania HG

6 years ago

Pato G.Cano Ana Belén Lander !

Amber Rivera

6 years ago

Joseph Lavenberg

6 years ago

Reply to Amber Rivera

Lol while I can get a solid jump on the pack with my swim and bike it’s all gone by the run. Fins don’t run too well

Gerry Sisson

6 years ago

Kaylee Sisson

Kristin Burlew

6 years ago

Amelia Larkin??

Luanne McCloskey

6 years ago

Maddy McCloskey

Daniel Li Yi

6 years ago

Voon Kian Yap let’s do it ..

Jacque Silcock Butler

6 years ago

Aimee Rockhold Watson Andy Watson

Gonzalo Bunag

6 years ago

Written by an intern and it shows.

Karen Chequer-Pfeiffer

6 years ago

Why is the Swim only 10 percent of the race? Not a fair test of the three sports! I don’t buy the argument that it’s more difficult to learn to swim! I had to learn to bike and run and majority of triathlons are wetsuit legal, helper the less efficient swimmer who has otherwise poor body position. Triathlon is definitely not equal time spent in each discipline, and it certainly should be!

Raquel Casswell

6 years ago

Maddy Casswell

Adam Boden

6 years ago

Tony Boden

Kathy Cox Cohoon

6 years ago

Meghan Cohoon

Mike

6 years ago

They can’t run worth crap ? with their floppy turned in feet! I would take a runner over a swimmer any time and turn them into triathletes!!

Hope this stirs up crap!

By the way, the originally Ironman in Hawaii, didn’t the runner win?