Are you competitive? Do you love the runner’s high? Well tri a new kind of high, the triathlete’s high. Not too long ago, half-marathons and marathons used to be the “Wow” factor. You remember hearing “Wow, you actually ran one of those things?” But nowadays almost everyone is running or walking their way to a 13.1-mile finish line. Well, try the new “Wow” event.
A triathlon consists of 3 parts: swimming, biking, and running, generally in that order. No, you don’t need to be superman or woman to finish one of these things. Triathlons come in many different lengths and styles these days. There’s the traditional Ironman-length: 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike, 26.2-mile run. Divide that by 2, you have the Half-Ironman. The most common distance is the sprint triathlon: 0.5-mile swim, 12.4-mile bike, and 3.1-mile run. Some triathlons are all on-road races, while some are off-road. Some tris are all-indoor (pool, cycling room, treadmill), some have open-water swims. Each triathlon is different!
So now that you know the varying distances and styles, you still think I’m crazy for suggesting you run one of these. Well aren’t you tired of running the same old course everyday? With triathlons, you can go for a bike ride in the country-side or go for a swim workout in the pool. Now you’re cross-training and working out different muscles in different ways each week. You don’t even have to workout longer. Just replace a 30-minute run with a 15-minute swim, you’ll be exhausted the first few times you finish your swim.
So training may be more enjoyable, but nobody enjoys training for the race; they enjoy the finishing the race. Well imagine finishing a triathlon: you just swam, biked, and ran your way to the finish line. Sure, your swim isn’t your best event, but you can still make up for it with your bike and/or your run. Just because you struggle in one event, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try a triathlon anyways! You can compare your training every race on 3 separate factors. Did you swim time decrease? Are you faster on your bike? How about your run, is it faster? Put your training to the 3-way test!
Nervous about trying one? Just google indoor triathlon near your location. Find an indoor triathlon where you swim in the pool for 10-minutes, 5-minute transition, 25-minutes cycling, 5-minute transition, 15-minutes on the treadmill. These triathlons are most often referred to as one-hour triathlons because you can do the whole thing in an hour at YOUR PACE. You swim at your pace, you cycle at your pace, and you run at your pace. It’s a great first triathlon to get you introduced to these events!
C’mon what do you have to lose? You could love triathlons even more than just regular running events… just TRI it. Want some personal advice when considering if a triathlon is for you? Leave a comment or email Travis Bishop at BishopsEvents@yahoo.com.