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GeneticsPeople keep a lot of things posted on their refrigerators; to-do lists, pictures, magnets, etc. I have a few pictures of my nieces and nephews, but mostly I keep a lot of triathlon related items taped up that serve as daily motivators for me. The fridge looks like a "tri-shrine" of sorts. One of my favorite items is actually an advertisement of all things. It's an advertisement for Watson Lifesport coaching services. The reason I keep an advertisement taped to my refrigerator is because the advertisement contains one of my favorite Iron distance triathletes of all times; Lisa Bentley. It's not hard to jump on the bandwagon of a champion and a champion she is. How would you like to post the following accomplishments in the sport of Ironman;
A 'nine-timer' (at the time of this writing) and she's still competing. OK, back to the advertisement. It is a picture of Lisa Bentley on her way to crossing the finish line at Ironman Australia in a 9:03:27. It's a great picture of Lisa showing a big smile, shredded legs, etc. but the advertisement states the following;
I'm a math and finance guy by trade so the first time I saw this advertisement I started running some numbers to help me put things in perspective. The first line reads '365 days.' Ok, nothing new there. That's the same for me and you and everybody else reading this. No more and no less than the rest of us. The second line reads '650 miles swam.' How much is that I ask? I don't really know exactly how many weeks a year she trains since she needs recovery after races (and she has done three Ironmans a year for the last few years including IM Hawaii every October). But let's say for arguments sake, she trains 50 weeks each year. So to swim 650 miles over 50 weeks is an average of 13 miles each week. There are 1,760 yards in a mile, so to do 13 miles a week is the equivalent of 22,880 yards in a week. I'm not sure about you, but the last time I tried to swim 20,000 yards in a week my left arm fell off. The third line reads, '11,878 miles ridden.' Well I ran some quick math on this one. There are twelve months in a year and if one were to ride 1,000 miles a month that would be 12,000 miles in a year. She's right there at a thousand miles a month. There are four weeks per month (basically) so she's nailing about 250 miles per week on the bike. The fourth line reads, '3,652 miles run.' Holy schnikees I'm thinking! Line one already told us 365 days in a year so to run 3,652 miles in a year would mean 10 miles a day, everyday! But that's not feasible because of recovery after races and traveling. She needs to hit OVER 10 miles a day to reach those numbers. There are seven days in a week so she has to hit at least 70 miles of running per week to get to her 3,652 total for the year. Here is a quick summary for those getting tired trying to comprehend the work volume; Each week she must swim 22,880 yards, bike 250 miles and run over 70 miles to hit those numbers posted in the advertisement. That is every week, week in and week out of consistent training. I shared my love of this advertisement with another triathlete that was over my house along with my knowledge of all of Lisa Bentley's Ironman wins. Their response was, "Yeah but she's a genetic freak." This athlete obviously believed that winning Ironmans, posting 9:00 hour finishing times, and accomplishment was the result of good genetics. I was completely stunned by their perspective. Here it was, in print, right in front of their eyes; swimming 22,880 yards, biking 250 miles and running over 70 miles per week; this week, every week, this year, every year. The only genetic idea I might be able to agree with is a genetic disposition to incredible amounts of hard work. Let's face it, some people were born lazy. If you looked up the word "work" in the dictionary, you would find a picture of Lisa Bentley next to the definition. I wondered what Lisa Bentley would think if she heard that her success was due to 'good genetics?' I bet if I even asked the question, I would get punched in the mouth. So knowing that I like eating corn on the cob in the summertime and I like my teeth where they are, I did a little research on Ms. Bentley and found an interview with her on her official website. Within the interview, she was talking about the topic of dreams and here's what Lisa said, "I dream about having a normal job with a steady paycheque (she's a Canadian so there's a reason for that spelling) and not having to push myself so hard for my livelihood." Why would she have to push herself so hard if she was a genetic freak? How many times have we heard triathletes comment about other successful and accomplished triathletes about genetics? Comparing genetics between an average Iron distance athlete and a Lisa Bentley is not even close to an apples to apples comparison. It's more like apples to watermelons. How could you compare genetics between an 11:00 or 12:00 hour Ironman athlete who trains 15 hours per week and a 9:00 hour Ironman athlete like Lisa Bentley? You can't (but most people want to try anyway.) It's only until a person swims 22,000 yards, bikes 250 miles and runs 70 miles a week, every week for years that you could make an apples to apples comparison of genetics. Some people might respond with, "But my body couldn't train that much without injury." That is probably true. It takes years of progress to be able to handle that kind of workload. But that's the point of this. You have to do the work this week, every week for years to make the comparison. At the end of that time period, each of us might have discovered that we still couldn't do a 9:00 hour Ironman. Maybe we could only do a 9:25 or a 10:00 Ironman. But I bet that you would still get a slot to Kona with times like that. Further, it's only at that point that an athlete would really be able to say honestly, "I've reached my potential. I don't think I could have done any better." But until then, skip the talk about genetics and get in the pool, get on the bike and get on the running trails. Do the work, pay the price and get the job done. |
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