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Love For "The Red Line"...

Saturday, 08 October 2016 23:10

By Brad Mitchell (obsessivetripulsive.weebly.com - 7/28/16)

Super-coach Kris Swarthout   (https://finalk.com) wrote this great article in a recent Midwest Events issue. He kindly allowed me to post it here. It reinforces how I feel about short course and some of the reasons that I love the sprint and olympic distances.....

​Sprint for success
I can't tell you how many times I have heard triathletes say “oh, it’s just a sprint”.  The background of this statement is the assumption that the race is so short that it  A. Does not need to be trained for, B. Doesn’t really count, or C. Is somehow less of an accomplishment than another event.
 
I would like to start by getting one thing straight, just because you complete an event that is longer, does not mean you are a better triathlete than someone who completes a shorter event.  For...

example, I have completed six Ironman triathlons.  In comparison, Gwen Jorgenson has never completed a race longer than an Standard distance triathlon.  Would we ever say I am a better triathlete than Gwen simply because I have completed a longer event?  No way, so for choosing to do a sprint you should never imply that it is some how less of an accomplishment or achievement than any other race.  It is just as, if not more challenging to go faster for a shorter period of time than it is to go longer and not as fast.
 
For triathletes who have been there and done that, I challenge you to take a season and devote it completely to sprint distance events.  The benefits include; no more long training rides, no more long training runs, more time for family and friends, decreased entry fees, faster recovery times after races and a fresh new perspective on a sport the may not have challenged you for a while.  In addition this can add additional training importance to all those 5k’s you do or have been wanting to do.  Since the run distance in a sprint event is 5k, you can be specifically training for these.  READ MORE