Are Most Triathletes...?
 

Are most triathletes originally swimmers, bikers, or runners? I was just thinking about this and I would think it is either swimmers or bikers because they require much more skill than running. What do you think?

A good question. I guess I would say I was a runner. And that's because before that I was a baseball pitcher. Pitchers are always encouraged to run, so I just kept doing that after my ballplaying days were over. I enjoy running but I've never been particularly fast. I think my 5K p.r. is 19:30.

The funny thing is that I really got into cycling when starting focusing on my lousy bike split. I just discovered I really enjoyed riding a bike fast. I kinda wish I'd focused more on the bike in the first place.

Now, I run maybe 15 or 20 miles a week, swim hardly at all, but ride 100-150 miles a week.

I was a runner first (actually a good 100 / 200 track sprinter) in my teens and twenties. Got into endurance sports through cross-country skiing, then racing. I did my first tri as part of a team, and decided I really liked the bike leg, although biking was something I had only done casually up to a few months before that event.

This will be my third year doing tris, but the first time I've ever had swimming lessons. I was surprised at how technical it is, at least to someone whose only previous goals were to finish and not drown :D

My friend Terri is encouraging me to try a Tri (sprint length) next year sometime, as a way to give some structure to getting back in shape. Just to finish, not compete per se.

I've always liked cycling and swimming, but running has been a struggle for me. Seems to me, though, that some of the more natural endurance athletes, including triathletes, are runners. It's the make or break part, and will be my biggest challenge. So my answer is, I come at it from enjoying cycling and swimming. But I think alot of natural triathletes are good runners first.

I am one of the few who wasn't particularly good at anything before deciding to do a triathlon. I just thought it sounded challenging and cool. Now my favorite part of the triathlon and training is by far the bicycling. However, I can say that I've come to appreciate the running and swimming as well, and I really like the combination of the three. I like how I am not particularly good at any one discipline, but I'm actually just behind the middle of the back when doing all three.

Well I'm a runner, but I bike and swim in the beginning of cross country and track season for cross training. I have done two run legs of a team triathlon, but now I want to do the whole thing -- so I have yet to complete one yet.

I would say that most come from a run background. If you follow Ironman history, and know about "Team David" you already know the answer as to where many of the big guns who started it all came from.
As for me I come from a Marathon/running background - although every season I race in both Bike specific (TT events) and Swim specific races (open water). To become a better Triathlete it is helpful to understand each of the 3-events better. So far this year I have run 1-marathon (as well as 6 other run events), Biked in 9-Time Trial events, and 3-open water Swim races.
Just this weekend I raced in a 40k Bike-TT on Saturday and raced a 10-Mile Running race today on Sunday.

I don't know if I'm allowed to officially call myself a triathlete yet, but I'll respond anyway. I'm a swimmer. Started when I was 6, competed all the way through college (where I also played water polo.) I've always been a decent runner, too, but never had any formal training. I just started biking this spring. My first tri will be next month. Other triathletes I know come from a swimming background (but I knew them before they started triathlon.)

I would say running, triathlons greatly favor runners, cus if you are a fast runner, you will not be slow on the bike, you may only be average, but you will always catchup on the run.

I came form a swimming(competitive until i was 16), and x-country skiing competitivley(until i was 19). I would say the swimming helped me alot, I am one of the stronger swimmers in my age category, but i am really working on my run/bike splits

I was a cyclist first (time trials...) that ran a bit (did some long distance races...).. As a duathlete, I don't bother much with the pool... :)

I would guess runners. Nobody ever won a tri in the pool. It's always on the run. If you are a good runner you can stink in the pool and get by on the bike. I'm the opposite! I'm a great swimmer, an okay biker and I stink on the run. But then again I'm just out to finish!!

Too true. When I started training for my first tri, I was so worried about the swim that I spent hours in the pool. I was a student at Cal and the Spieker Pool was ruled by Matt Biondi and Mary T. Meagher. The lanes were marked with signs: SLOW, MEDIUM, FAST, FAST FAST, and FAST FAST FAST.

I never even got out of the MEDIUM lane in training, but when race day came, I was the first person out of the water. I ran into T1 thinking I'm going to win this thing!

Then I got about 500 meters down the road on my old Schwinn World Sport and guys started flying by me like they were on motorcycles. I came in 3d in my age group and it's still the best placing I've ever had. I probably should have quit right then.

....

Lance Armstrong started off as a swimmer, became a pro triathlete at the age of 16

It's actually more common to see the elite triathletes emerge from a swimming background. This isn't dilly-dally swimming but more like average 12,000 yards a day swimming. This does wonders with your anaerobic base, threshold, and endurace.

Although I have a strong running background (in genetics), I can say that without my swimming background I would be nothing in tri's.

The reason why swimming is so important to have as a background, is because it's highly technical and takes decades to master, much longer than biking and running. To put this into perspective, most of my swim team have been swimming since the age of 3 or 4, have gone to the most elite swim camps, and still have not swam to maximum efficiency, or even close to it. Keeping balance in the core, maintaining a flat back, extending, rotating without causing any splash, constant kick, head down, hips up, maintaing a line throughout your body, did I mention that you have to go fast also?

Running is also highly important, you have to have a strong running base also, for reasons you guys have mentioned. The run can make or break you, and you want to be known as a terror who picks off all the heroes-of-the-bike.

Biking comes as the easiest to learn and adapt in comparison to the other 3 sports.

In most tri's, you spend the most time on the bike, the least time in the swim. Among amatures, I think that most have a running or cycling background. However, more elites probably come from swimming since it is the most difficult to master.

To put it bluntly, there are more runners who can't swim very well than there are swimmers who can't run.

This is an interesting question for a poll.
I was a runner, but very fast I got a skilled rider. Swimming, well, I hate water, but I had to manage. Those very powerfull heavy swimmers always manage to get out of the water in the first ten but easely were over-taken by riders and runners.

I come from a swimming background, I swim for my college. But I've always enjoyed running, just never did it competively. As for cycling, got my first rode bike right about one year ago. So I guess I've did swimming, running, then cycling.

N2A

I'm a runner. "Learned" to swim laps as a college junior (1995) to do a silly indoor tri (exercise bike etc.) Periodically returned to swimming over the years to augment running. Then when I got fat and lazy I'd sometimes try swimming laps to get an exercise program going that wouldn't hurt my knees.

Bought a bike in '03. Slowly built up to big mileage totals. Back to running in '04. First real triathlon two days ago.

Very few are cyclists first (high cost entry level, minimal organized competition for youths).
Bear with me as I know more about the women's field.

The most sucessful short course triathletes seem to have swimming backgrounds, esp in ITU where it is essential to get out of the water with the lead pack to be in the first pack on the bike.
Examples of top US female triathletes:
Jesse Stensland: college swimmer
Julie Swail: silver medaling captain of 2000 olympic waterpolo team
Barb Linquist: stanford swimmer, olympic trialist swimmer
Sheila Taromino: olympic gold medalist swimmer
I'm not sure about the recent bronze medalist: Susan Williams.

In long course the swim is less than 1hr so they tend to be fantastic runners: Natasha Badman, Lori Bowden, Heather Fuhr...

Learning how to swim is pretty miserable if you didn't do it as a kid, but swimmers tend to struggle with running injuries.

From what I've heard from triathletes and trainers and such is that the best triathletes come from a swimming background, take Lance Armstrong for example. He started out as a swimmer, then he did triathlons and set many records, then he did pro-cycling.

I come from the cycling world. Swimming? O.K. more like Shamu meets a lap pool! Running . . . fish out of water! I've kept at it in my 2nd season and have posted a 3rd Place and 4th Place in my AG. I thought swimming would be the hardest, but truly, it is the running. I don't race against others, I race against myself for personal bests! Posted a 1:06.13 for a sprint tri (500m swim, 12K bike, 3K run.) Best time so far . . . and a lot better improvement from my first 2:46 tri. Regardless, just get out there and have fun!