Guest post by Shane Alton Eversfield

“Is Triathlon Recession Proof?” headlined a recent article in USA Triathlon Life Magazine. We are registering for races at full force, still training passionately, perhaps investing less in equipment. We continue to enjoy the lifestyle, grateful that swimming, running and biking are virtually free, regardless of frequency or duration. We may race closer to home, but we are continuing to race; it’s our way of celebrating together our pursuit of excellence and mastery, in sport and in life.

Multisport flourishing during economic instability? Why not? We live in a universe that values and thrives on abundance: That which is most abundant is most valuable. It’s part of our multisport lifestyle!

Yet, for countless generations, humanity has chosen to value and subscribe to scarcity: As things become more scarce, we put more value on them. This is the very foundation of our current global economy, our means of accounting for and distributing wealth. Supply diminishes; value increases. Corner the market; name your price. This is so ingrained in us, so natural for us, that we are just recognizing the devastating effects of valuing scarcity.

Economies weaken as participants lose confidence. Fueled by a compassionate desire for health and happiness, we are no longer confident in a scarcity-based economy. Our current global economic crisis is a crisis of valuation. Placing value on scarcity is no longer healthy or appropriate for planetary life or for our global human culture. Our loss of confidence is healthy and appropriate for growth and transformation as a functional and healthy planet. Just like the athlete who is returning to sport after healing an injury, we are ripe for the transformation of training, for the next level of excellence.

How does abundance-based economy function? What does it look like? Here are simple truths to guide us on our quest: First of all, remember we live in a universe that values abundance. It’s pretty simple: The physical resources that are most valuable to us are the most abundant. First and foremost is air. Without a constant air supply, the finish line is death. (Even with a constant supply, I’m still gasping on the hills and during interval training… not to mention those brutal sprint races.) The second most precious life-supporting resource is water. (No, it’s not Gatorade… or coffee.) The third is nutrition. (Iron Man cannot live on gel alone.)

Oxygen, hydration and nutrition. Subscribing to scarcity affects the quality and availability of these precious resources, even for those of us who possess, control and consume most of the world’s resources. Those who are hungry, those who are thirsty, those who are struggling for air are no longer distant and removed from us. In our global culture, they are our brothers and sisters.

Money is made of metal and paper and plastic. No one can eat money, drink money, or breathe money. It won’t save us, especially when it accounts for wealth and value based on scarcity. As our economy transforms to value abundance over scarcity, we will naturally transform our reliance from the diminishing finite resources, like petroleum, to abundant renewable resources. Someday all of our races (and our training) will be green.

Time has a very high value for us. In a system that values scarcity, time has to be scarce, because it is so valuable to us. You see? We can’t decree that time be both valuable and abundant. We use scarcity as a criteria for value. We can’t decide that’s it’s OK to raise the price on one resource because there is greater demand and diminishing supply and then expect to exempt something as valuable as time. In a system based on abundance? No worries, plenty of precious time for everything in life.

Let’s face it, we love to train and we love to be with family. We love time, just like we love oxygen, hydration and nutrition. (Well, so long as a fat Father Time doesn’t sit on my lean mean racing times.)

By sheer necessity, we du, tri, even quadathletes are masters of transition. Transitional skills make us adaptive and cooperative. We’re well trained for the economic “Team in Transition”. We measure multisport quality of life by more than finish line times. Each of us has a unique way of appreciating our “success” as we pursue excellence both in sport and life. Just in the way we live, we contribute to the global economic transformation. We are functional, versatile, adaptable, patient and disciplined. It comes with the training. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.

Happiness is a premium. As we transform our economy to value abundance over scarcity, like the people of Bhutan, we will choose to measure success not as Gross National Product, but as Gross National Happiness. See you at the races!

Shane Eversfield lives the abundant multisport life! Author of “Zendurance, A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes”. He also coaches for Total Immersion Swim and performs bike fits for Catskill Mountain Multisport, both in New Paltz, N.Y. Visit: www.zendurance.net Contact: ironzen@hotmail.com

In my last blog, I wrote about a difficult issue in our sport, fatalities. This topic is not as all severe but very important: sportsmanship. Earlier this summer I read an exchange between a member and our staff over a two minute penalty assessed at his last race. Instead of engaging in a respectful dialog to see what he did wrong, to see if the Official might have made a mistake and to explore potential remedies, this individual went on the attack. 

 

This individual, who happens to be General Counsel of a publicly traded corporation, condemned our Officials, condemned our rules, condemned USAT and provided a list of demands that must be met within a given timeframe or he would file a massive lawsuit against us. It was akin to a pitcher filing a lawsuit against Major League Baseball because an umpire called a balk which forced in the winning run.

 

Had he read our rulebook, had he followed race protocol, had he simply taken responsibility for his own actions, I would not be writing this. But this one incident is simply symptomatic of a growing trend in all sports. An increasing number of athletes are refusing to take responsibility for their actions and insistent that their mistakes are the fault of others.

 

In the many disciplines of multisport, the common thread is that they all are tests of individual endurance and as much as the athletes are competing against others, ultimately they are competing against themselves. And if we all were to take that ethic to heart in our individual training for races and then at the actual competitions, the multisport lifestyle will continue to be one of the safest, fairest and most rewarding tests of individual athletic competence.

 

–Skip

 

Returning from Beijing, I was filled with mixed emotions. Everything about the Games and the red carpet unfurled by the Chinese was simply outstanding. It could not have been better prepared or better run. While the Games were simply outstanding and our athletes in particular did well, it was simply disappointing to not medal.
 
While we will move forward with a redesigned high performance plan to put U.S. athletes in a better position to win, my return home was met by a topic nobody really wants to discuss; the increased number of fatalities this year in our sport.

Unlike many sports, the multisport athlete must often train and compete in full contact with the local community. In some cases the course is closed to vehicular traffic but not usually pedestrians. So for an outsider looking in, the assumptions made are that injuries and fatalities would most likely be the result of a cyclist or a runner striking a vehicle or a pedestrian.
 
While that does indeed happen, of the eight fatalities that have occurred in USAT-sanctioned races this year, seven have been during the swim. Those seven were male who were between 30-65 years of age. Preliminary indications show coronary or cardiac issues may have contributed to the severity of these incidents and in some of these fatalities, swim support personnel made contact and offered assistance but their assistance was refused.
 
While USA Triathlon is deeply saddened by the increased number of fatalities that have occurred during USAT-sanctioned events this season, we have taken steps to research the contributing factors of each incident so that we may keep our members better informed. At this point, there is no real definitive link between the six cases that we all can learn from.

What that tells me however is that the sport of triathlon is fun and exciting but also a supreme test of individual endurance. While USAT supports members and race directors in their fitness challenges and pursuits, medical precautions should be incorporated into pre-race training and preparation. I therefore ask each member to be mindful of medical health in addition to personal fitness and racing experience so that you are fully confident at the start line on race day.

I encourage you to read the feature article in the 2008 Fall Issue of USA Triathlon Life magazine (arriving in mid-October) to see how to recognize signs your body might be giving you that something is wrong. This article is a first in a series for 2009 looking at risk factors and aimed at keeping you healthy as you pursue your multisport lifestyle.

-Skip

Earlier this week, a Board Member sent me a link to an e-bay item for sale.  To my surprise it was a 2008 USAT membership decal.  The proposed opening bid was just under $3.00.

 

Now I did not bid nor did I check back to see if anyone else had placed an offer.  To me, the interesting point was the value someone placed on the decal.  The description was flattering and clearly there is a connection between this USAT Member and the organization.  That was neat to see.

 

However, it also goes to show you that it’s the little things in life that can indeed matter.  In everything that we do, we run a value proposition through its process.  In other words, is that new bike worth the investment?  Should I spend the money to compete in race “x”?  Should I train or just lay on the couch? Should I join USAT or just buy a one-day?

 

Everything is an internal negotiation.  Well, almost everything.  We can’t forget the things that we do with friends and family where their input is as important as or usually more so than ours.  Anyway, taking a decal, believing that it has global value and then selling it through the internet is one way to fuel the multisport lifestyle. 

 

Now sure we all like to measure ourselves by the big things we do and the big things we accomplish.  But more often than not, it’s the little things we do that makes a statement to who we are and what we stand for.

 

If each of our members, if each Race Director, if each Official, if each Coach and every Volunteer could duplicate that small act by outwardly promoting our sport to those who have not embraced it, we would continue to make multisport the fastest growing segment of the sport community.

 

- Skip

Triathlon is an individual sport. However, now that the Olympic Qualification process with the ITU is over and Team USA has qualified three men’s and three women’s start slots for the Beijing Olympic Games, I want to take a minute to recognize the great teamwork that made it happen. 

 

First let’s go back to Des Moines, Iowa for the ITU World Cup event in June of 2007. There, all of the American women, led out of the water and through the bike by Sara McLarty, put two and a half minutes on the field and Laura Bennett emerged from the small bike group onto the run where she was fresh enough to survive the brutal heat and tough competitors and win the race and the biggest prize in our sport at the time while qualifying for the Pan Am Games. Following that race, Laura returned the favor to Sara by giving up her Pan Am Games spot so that Sara could strengthen the American team in Rio at the Games. Sara competed in Rio with a horrible cold, but again led her teammates Julie Swail Ertel and Sarah Haskins Kortuem out of the water and onto the bike where the trio again worked flawlessly together and established an insurmountable lead onto the run where Julie seized the Gold medal and Sarah took the silver, essentially sealing the 3 women’s start positions for the 2008 Olympic Games. 

 

Fast forward to Tuscaloosa, Alabama in April of 2008 where Matt Reed breaks away at the end of the bike portion and runs away from Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper to earn his spot on the Olympic Games team for Beijing…or so he thought. With the U.S. qualifying system allowing for 1 athlete to qualify at the test event in Beijing in 2007 (Jarrod Shoemaker) and a second athlete who is the most consistent over the Trials process to make the team, the third athlete on the team (should the U.S. have 3 slots) would be the winner of the Olympic Trials.  Unfortunately, with Matt’s illness in 2006 and Hunter Kemper’s injury over the last 12 months, the U.S. had fallen in the ITU qualification system that determines which 8 countries would get 3 slots. If Matt and Hunter didn’t start earning points fast, the third slot would be in jeopardy and Matt’s spot on the Olympic team would not be secure. This is where it gets good.

 

Matt was already scheduled to race the next weekend in Florida at the St. Anthony’s Triathlon where he would successfully defend his title from 2007. But the following weekend he made plans to travel around the world to Richards Bay, South Africa where he finished second in a sprint finish to 2007 World Champ Daniel Unger of Germany. At this race, Matt was supported by his American teammates Brian Fleischmann, who helped Matt with his signature breakaway effort at the end of the bike portion, and Matt Chrabot who skillfully slowed the pack down from behind, allowing Brian and Reed to gain a few more precious seconds over the chasers for the run. Reed earned the points he needed to put the USA back in the game for the 3^rd men’s slot, but a Russian athlete also scored well and temporarily moved the USA down to the 9^th ranked country of the eight who would earn three spots. 

 

A few weeks later, Matt Reed traveled to Madrid, Spain for another World Cup. A supporting cast of Americans also traveled to Madrid to aid Matt in his points quest including Doug Friman, Joe Umphenour, Matt Seymour, and Mark Fretta who were all there to work as a team to get Matt his best finish and put the other countries athletes at a disadvantage. Here the rain and wind came down in biblical proportions and it was Matt who weathered the storm on his own to take a 5^th place finish, thereby moving the U.S. men back into the top 8 countries and ahead of the Russians and Australians going into the World Championships in Vancouver. 

 

In Vancouver, the U.S. men’s team would battle the Swiss, the Canadians, the Russians, and the Australians in a fight to avoid becoming the 9^th ranked country and maintain the hold on the 3 slots. Additionally, it was a great chance to race some of the top contenders for Beijing and see how the American men stacked up.  Again, the weather was not favorable with 51 degree water temperatures and mid-50s air temperatures that took their toll on the athletes. 

 

Here Brian Fleischman and Doug Friman were again tasked with supporting Matt and challenging the other countries along with Tim O’Donnell who was fresh off another National Military Championships win the week prior. The first Olympic qualifier Jarrod Shoemaker was also there to put himself in front of the athletes challenging for precious Olympic points and test his preparations for Beijing. The swim left Matt in the lead pack with Brian and Tim who helped Matt stay in position, safe at the front, and assisted him in chasing down dangerous breakaway attempts from other countries. Onto the run, Matt showed his Olympic spirit and ran to the line with 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Simon Whitfield of Canada, where he would not lose the sprint this time, sending Simon to the carpet at the finish line in defeat.

 

Matt’s 5^th place finish was the best finish by an American male in the Olympic format at World Championships and not only secured the 3^rd slot and his place on the Olympic team, but moved the USA in front of the Canadians and Swiss as well as the Russians and Australians. The U.S. will have three men on the start line due to the teamwork of those athletes assisting Matt, Matt’s performances to help Team USA earn the three spots, and the support of a dedicated staff who traveled the world with him along the way. 

 

The women again showed great teamwork in Vancouver as well. After the swim froze out some of the top contenders, Sara McLarty and Sarah Haskins Kortuem again teamed up to gain distance on the field during the bike. On lap two of eight, Haskins Kortuem broke from the small lead group with a British athlete, while Sara McLarty dropped back to the main chase group and continually slowed the chase pack down by sitting on the front of the group and using her skills to keep the frozen bunch moving slower than her teammate up the road who built over a two minute lead going into the run. A strong run earned Haskins Kortuem a silver medal, a fine reward for Team USA.  The teamwork the American women have shown over the past two years up to and including Vancouver also resulted in the USA earning the number 1 country ranking through the qualifying period!

 

I must also again mention the staff who supported the teams in Vancouver as we dealt with the horrible cold and wet conditions to help the athletes achieve their success: Katie Baker, Sharon Donnelly, Nathan Kortuem, Justin Trolle, Diana Palmer, Dr. Alex Keith, Andy Schmitz, Tim Yount, Jeff Dyrek, Jason Mucher, Dr. Andy Gerken and Dr. Andrew Hunt and myself all stood in the rain and cold and performed countless hours of service to the athletes and the team in Vancouver and during the months leading up to Worlds. The athletes’ personal coaches, family, friends, therapists, doctors, and mechanics also put in great efforts to support their athletes along the way.  Of course, I should also recognize the USOC for their support and the team of sponsors, sports scientists, facility staff, and other assistance that comes from the Olympic Committee. Finally, all of our 100,000 USAT members who make up one huge USA Triathlon / Team USA- we couldn’t do it without you. 

 

When you see three men and three women wearing “USA” on the start line in Beijing this August, please know that they didn’t get there on their own. Team USA succeeds on the strength of our team. Hopefully we’ll bring back a few medals from Beijing to show the fruits of everyone’s labor, but regardless, we’ve already won by coming together as a team.    

 

Thanks for reading, and GO USA!

 

-Scott Schnitzspahn, USAT Sports Performance Director

One of the biggest customer-service issues that we face annually is the USAT Rankings. We get more calls on this subject alone than with any other single issue. Some members feel they were ranked too high, some feel that they are too low, some are upset that they are not ranked at all, and some just can’t figure out or don’t like our formula. Our customer service team says that these calls can take a few seconds to clarify or more than an hour.   

The point here is that the rankings are a big deal. So USAT went out on a limb this year by making a bold announcement. We decided that the rankings would, like everything else these days, be primarily found on our website. That’s perfectly fine for most people.   

We also stated that the rankings would no longer be available in print through Triathlon Life. Instead, USAT will celebrate the best of our members’ achievements by printing only the All-America Teams in the magazine.   

At the same time, we decided that USAT would offer a special commemorative Yearbook offering a compendium of the best of multisport from 2007. In that issue, we would also include the rankings. The catch, however, was that we would have to charge for this issue and it would cost just under $11, including shipping charges. 

While I have not been besieged by complaints about this decision to launch a yearbook, I have had a few critical e-mails questioning why they now have to buy the magazine that contains their 2007 Rank. Granted that rank can be found on-line, but the change in our printing status has raised a few eyebrows.

Let me explain as I did with the few folks that did write their displeasure to me. The issue came down to best managing our significant growth over the past three years. In 2007, USAT had 40,000 athletes ranked. That added over $50,000 to our publishing budget to print the final rankings. Given that less then 50 percent of our membership is ranked, it simply did not make sense to continue that program.   

Yes, a significant benefit of membership is the national rankings. Given today’s electronic environment, having access to the rankings online is an appropriate forum. Perhaps USAT could develop an online highlight feature that would allow a member to drop their ranking onto a page creative that they can then print and save or frame. 

Look at it from another perspective. For the $39 annual fee, a USAT member receives a significant value for their investment. In order for this organization to continue to deliver uniform benefits to all of our members, we have to make tough decisions each year. This was one and quite frankly, if the yearbook idea does not work, then we will simply continue to offer the full rankings as an online program only. 

In the end, organizations often make change decisions that impact its constituency. This is one and hopefully the end result will be a plus for all sides and we can re-energize our efforts in other areas to best support our growing membership.

-Skip

I had the pleasure this week of sitting in a meeting with a number of pro triathletes and a few prominent race directors. Well, given that I called the meeting is beside the point. However, the focus of our gathering was to begin the process of examining our entire pro structure and see what USAT can do to improve it.

 

Susan Williams, Sam McGlone, Joe Umphenour, and Dave Messenheimer joined us from the pro ranks. Mike Greer and Barry Siff represented the voice of race directors. Tim Yount, Kathy Matejka, Scott Schnitzspahn and Cliff English were our staff present.

 

I believe the structure is simply broken. It needs better definition, better support, better organization, and interestingly enough, I have many of the same complaints that Mike Greer has voiced since 1993. Well the time has come for USAT to step up and do something about it.

 

The meeting was terrific and we looked at a host of great ideas. From here, we will create a recap of all issues discussed. We then will expand our meeting to include many other interested parties and continue the discussions going until we can launch the platform for 2009. Aggressive plans? Yes, but if enough really bright, passionate people can put their minds to this, we can get it done.  

 

I won’t delve into all of the issues we discussed but I will touch on one topic that created much dialog.

 

Should age-group athletes be able to earn prize money?

 

If you ask the pros, I’m sure they will say “no”. Ask the age-group athletes, they will say “why not”? Ask the race directors and they will go both ways. So the question really is a philosophical one. Should USAT govern one way or the other or should the race directors be left to decide for their own particular race?

 

It’s a very interesting debate but one that absolutely must be decided upon before we can truly impact the pro structure.

 

- Skip

There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding the recent purchase by Falconhead Capital of Triathlete, Inside Triathlon and Competitor magazines.

In essence, a corporate holding company is entering our market and acquiring all of the major print media assets that serve our sport. With the print vehicles will also include their electronic platforms including all digital elements, radio and television properties. In short, everything outside of properties like Slowtwitch and USAT is now under one umbrella and within one big happy family.

At least that is what we hope. Having spent many years working in New York for some of the biggest publishing conglomerates under the sun (New York Times, TimesMirror, Ziff-Davis) I’ve seen a fair share of these buy-outs.

The good news is that this type of transaction is good for the properties. It enables the holding company (Falconhead) the opportunity to maximize efficiencies of backroom functionality by reducing duplication of efforts. It allows them to improve their expense sheet by driving stronger contracts for products or services purchased. It allows them to entice bigger corporate support thanks to the aggregate of their circulations and/or events.

All-in-all, it’s really a win-win for the portfolio of brands. What is a potential negative is the impact of this deal on personnel. I’ve seen some cases where the new group comes in and literally cleans house to bring in their people. I’ve seen some where the current staff is maintained and business as usual is the mantra. What will happen here hopefully will be the latter over the former.

What is also interesting is the message this sends to those who embrace the multisport lifestyle. That message I believe is that this sport has grown so fast and by so much that the corporate community is really starting to take notice. There is a feeling that an investment in multisport is a very smart move as the potential for growth outweighs the likelihood for decline. The demographics and psychographics of the multisport enthusiast is one that big advertising craves and that can only mean more interest and more investment.

While some may wince at all of this attention for a sport that really only started in the 1980’s, the upside potential is absolutely significant. Yes this is a sport built for individuals but if all of this attention can get more people off the couch and away from the computer to develop healthier lifestyle habits, is that not worth the cost of advertiser intrusion? I believe it is, as long as we continue to keep our eye on what’s important. Our constituents.

-Skip

I’m feeling like a true disciplinarian today. I’m supposed to be on Jury Duty. While I normally would look forward to serving, the work-lords of USAT have too many hours of issues for me to sift through to lose a day.  The good news however is that I’m on the alternate list so I don’t need to go to Court. I just need to call back later this morning.

The whole idea of being put in a position of deciding if someone is innocent or guilty is indeed an interesting concept.  Sitting here in my office, I’m now thinking more about USAT Officials and the laws of our sport over a potential case in Colorado Springs City Court.

We seem to be an anomaly in the world of sport. Some races have USAT Officials, some like Ironman self-officiate and others choose not to officiate at all. For those races with officials, the stewards of the rules can’t be at all places at once so the reports of rampant drafting infest almost every chat room within multisport.

Can you imagine going to an NBA game where some teams decide to have officials and others don’t? Granted we are talking pros vs. amateur athletes but take any other competition that must enforce a rulebook. Look at youth sports like soccer or baseball. Can you imagine having a sanctioned game without any referees or umpires controlling the play?

Early on in my tenure here, I had this discussion with someone who reminded me that history reveals that triathlons developed as a test of an individual’s athletic capabilities. It was stated that multisport athletes really can police themselves and so races don’t really need officials.

I said this then and I’ll say it again. Baloney. This is a sport driven by type-A personalities. Most athletes are driven, goal-oriented and extremely competitive. Sure they all intend to follow the rules but most of us also intend to follow posted speed limits.

Playing sport without caring for the rules is nothing more than a game of backyard football. Playing sport with rules and willing to accept the penalties when those rules are broken is true competition. As a growing sport, we need to decide which direction we really should go and attack it.

Of course if life mirrored some of what I’ve seen in multisport, I certainly wouldn’t ever have to worry about sitting on Jury Duty. Unless of course I lived in a community that actually policed its laws.

– Skip

I had a lengthy conversation yesterday with one of our top youth development coaches. To say he is less than enthusiastic about USAT’s support of our junior elite program is a definitive understatement.

While I adamantly disagree with many of his points, I fully agree with many of the concepts that he believes we need to embrace. But the point here is not on the details of that conversation but the parallel that discussion has with a significant issue confronting everyone in a supervisory role, from line managers to CEO’s.

That is how do you effectively manage the divide between perception and reality? How do you best handle the issue of someone’s reality truly being perception to someone’s perception actually being reality? And how do you navigate the distance between perception and reality when dealing with more than one individual?

I’ve seen that in all sizes of organizations, including the 30+ staffers here at USAT. Unfortunately, the problem is harder to confront today than even five years ago. Why? Because surveys tells us that a college graduate today will have 18 employers before he/she retires.

That means an employee is more likely to jump ship to greener pastures than stay and work through issues. What does that mean? That employers are more likely to let people go because they’re going to leave anyway than invest in their development. What does that mean? The level of trust within organizations is fast eroding. And that means that people are more likely to think negative and act on those assumptions instead of working to find reality.

Bringing this back to triathlon, the ability for those of us at the national office to get in front of significant issues is tougher today than ever because our society is spending less capital on building trust. It’s one of the most challenging and complicated hurdles that any and all organizations face yet one that is a top priority with USAT.

- Skip