The Bee's Binaries: Hardworking vs Resilient

aka Triathlon vs Ultrarunning

The debate of hardworking vs resilient came up twice recently, from two very different people and even more different thoughts. TV started it after our recent Chubb run and meeting the triathlete doing hill repeats, and SM (Evolve) mentioned it last Thursday at our coaching meeting.

Hardworking is defined as: tending to work with energy and commitment; diligent.
Resilient is defined as: able to recoil or spring back into shape after bending, stretching, or being compressed. Able to withstand or recovery quickly from difficult conditions.

Paraphrasing here, TV said triathletes are hardworking, and ultrarunners are resilient. Triathletes diligently follow schedules and training plans, carefully track numbers and data, and have an advantage in knowing what's going to happen (I think he meant they can know the course). On the other hand, ultrarunners don't know what's going to happen on the course, they need to be able to fix problems on the trail without the multiple-support aspect of triathlons, and need to be able to bounce back from nutrition, blisters, injuries, etc. He also seemed to say that triathletes are more competitive, while the runners are happy to finish.

I agreed in part, but pointed out that it's not quite that different. And pointed out that in recent years triathlon has exploded with new athletes who are just out to finish. I think TV has the impression that triathletes are these uber-serious, super-competitive, nose-to-the grindstone types.

So I agree with this in part. It's interesting to wonder, which one am I? Both? Do I switch with the sport I'm focused on?

Then SM (without knowing of this conversation I had with TV) said that triathlon is harder because you're not just running. The triathlete needs to know how to swim, and bike, and run, then they have to learn to stack these three sports together into one event. What you do in the swim will affect the bike, mistakes made in the bike will affect the run, and the run is dependent on everything you've done that day so far. She implied that ultra runners just have to run.

Again, I agreed in part. In a 100 miler, the first 10 miles can affect the mid-race miles, and mistakes made in the mid-race miles will affect the later race miles, and as with triathlon how you manage all the miles will make or break the day.

So there are notable differences between the sports, each requiring different training and focus. But they are also quite similar, and that's probably why I can blend between the two. I'm still thinking on this topic, will probably come back and edit this Binary as I do.