Newsletter ep. 112: what’s the right way?

If we were riding IRL right now, well, we’d be layering up for the cold and counting down the days. Who still has races left in the year? It feels so late and dark, and like the end of the season has already passed (but it hasn’t). It feels more like it’s time for adventure riding than for TT practice.

I actually like racing slightly later, because then you can take December as your off-season instead of trying to get in big base miles over Christmas. But whew. I could use some riding buddies to get out the door these days.

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Is there a right way?

What do these three women have in common? Besides the fact that they all ran the New York Marathon this weekend.

From left to right: 

Sinead Diver is a 42-year-old runner who took fifth this weekend. And she doesn’t want to be known as a Masters runner, because she doesn’t think her age has anything to do with it.

Sara Hall got a ton of attention leading into New York because her training and racing schedule is intense af. She ran a 2:22 at Berlin, then defended her 10-mile national title, then lined up for New York. But she says doing it an unconventional way works for her. (It didn’t this weekend because she had a stomach problem, but still.)

Kellyn Taylor, well, Kellyn Taylor is nuts. She’s a firefighter and a pro runner and fostering a kid I think and was seventh on Sunday. 

Here’s the point: All of these athletes had stories written about them because they go about being a pro runner in an unconventional way. We love the unconventional story: Sarah Sellers got second at Boston and still keeps her anesthesiologists‘ schedule; Girma Bekele Gebre ran his way into third this weekend after starting in the open/non-pro men’s field. We love these stories. She’s doing it different. He’s not what you expect.

But I was thinking about all of these people.  And the reason they are stories is because they are stories. They are not the norm. 

What I mean is this: the most consistent, most logical way to get faster for most people is still the most normal way. That’s why it’s the way. In general, the reason most pro runners aren’t also firefighters isn’t because it never occurred to them, it’s because in general the best way to be a pro runner is just to be a pro runner.

And that’s OK too. Those normal pro athlete stories are worthwhile too. In fact, you might learn more from the “normal” stories than from all the people trying to do this in some abnormal way. Just because it works for them doesn’t mean it works for everyone. 

The caveat, of course, is do what you want to do. Maybe you are a special butterfly, who needs a special plan. Maybe you’re not, but you should still do whatever it is you want to do, because if you don’t want to do it then it’s (probably) never going to work anyway. 

The Pro-Am

Challenge Daytona has been advertising something fun: a pro-am relay race for charity. And the pros are getting into it. Daytona was actually one of my favorite pro experiences last year, getting to do loops around the raceway all on our own. And I was really glad they kept our ad hoc voted-in course. I also think teaming up pros and amateurs is a good idea. It’s been done before, but not as well. If done right, it’s a good way to get people to meet professionals and get to know them and get into it.

If you could team up with any pro, who would it be?

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• Russ Cox has the demographic breakdown from Kona, which is always interesting if you’re interested in that kind of thing. And the one upside of our continued insistence on a blind belief in proportionality is that Kona demographics also give a mini-snapshot into the sport. Bottom line: it’s getting older and more international, but still staying super male. (Coach Cox)
   
• Apparently, Ironman Florida was a very exciting race. I didn’t pay much attention to it because I have zero desire to ever race an Ironman in Florida and because it was a men’s only pro race, but course records were set and some of the fastest times ever recorded were recorded. (Triathlete) 
   
• Plus, to bring back an oldie: It’s time for ‘explaining insider triathlon twitter.’ Namely, Adam Hansen (a current World Tour pro rider) raced IM Florida as an off-season activity and tweeted out this photo of his jerry-rigged, self-made aerobars. Is it real? Yes, it appears so. Why? I have zero idea. Evidently, he’s into making his own shit and the whole thing was a bit of a lark, but I don’t know why he couldn’t just go with the standard store-bought version. Was it faster? Eh, no? (Twitter/Cycling News)
   
• Ashleigh Gentle won a record number of Noosa Tri titles this past weekend, which is a massively huge deal in Australia. And this upcoming weekend, she’ll make her 70.3 debut. (Instagram)
   
• I’ve never totally gotten the Lionel appeal, but this video did make me laugh and then watch the rest of the video. Oh, the men, so much drama. (Instagram)
   
• I know I’m not the only one who thinks this, but I think Des Linden and I would be friends. (Twitter)
   
• There were a ton of great stories from the New York Marathon. My favorite was Kikkan Randall’s 2:55 post-breast cancer. But if you just want a good cry or whatever, Runner’s World has a sum-up of all the “inspirational” tales. (NBC Olympic Talk/Runner’s World)
   
• I’ve been seeing a lot of social media anxiety lately over “trans athletes destroying women’s sports.” (I’m not going to link to the truly terrible stories, because I don’t feel like giving them clicks.) A lot of the questions, though, even the well-meaning ones, seem to come from a series of misunderstandings. I am certainly no expert and Rachel McKinnon will be at the Outspoken Summit next weekend, so I’m sure she can speak more to some of the common misunderstandings. On a base-level, though, there seems to be a belief that a man could just announce tomorrow he is going to compete as a woman. But that’s not really how any of this works. Any of it. (Medium/CBS)
   
• You know what actually does sound terrifying? Getting run over by a jet ski during the swim leg of a triathlon. (KXXV)
   
• OK, yes, I had my questions about whether California’s Fair Pay, Fair Play law impacted the decision to put the Tour of California on hold, but there’s a decent case that it was at least somewhat unrelated and that the Tour had plenty of behind-the-scenes issues anyway. (Cycling News, Bicycling)
   
• In fact, bike racing overall has issues. What happened? And what needs to happen? (Medium)
   
• Yeah, OK, yeah, also I think ultimately it is a good thing the NCAA is at least making an effort to take a step to eventually maybe let athletes get paid. But I understand why it’s not like it’ll happen tomorrow. (Power Plays)
   
• More and more research suggests kids shouldn’t specialize too young and the newest guidelines say they should *really* limit their training too. (New York Times)
   
• It could happen to any one of us. (Outside)
   
• Plus, looks like we’re going to get more news from WADA on the Salazar investigation. (Twitter)
   
• And meet the NFL team run by women. (Wall Street Journal)
   
• Something I spend a lot of time thinking about and that I have actually noticed: There are more women heading up outdoors and sports publications than ever before, and it’s changing what stories are told and how. (Forbes)
   
• The most controversial question in training: Should you drink a beer after your workout? (Again, do whatever you want to do, because if you don’t want to do it then what’s the point.) (Triathlete)

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Thoughts & comments

– Karmen pointed out CBD is fairly regulated in Canada even since legalization. So it might not have the same problems as in the U.S., but you still have the lack of third-party SafeSport verification issue.

– Plus, my mom is back with a voicemail and we all have to wonder if Sara is making up all the words trying to trick us.

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‘If We Were Riding’ is a weekly triathlon-ish newsletter written by Kelly O’Mara and produced by Live Feisty Media. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every Wednesday morning. You can also read past issues. This episode is from Nov. 7, 2019.