Posted: May 7, 08 3:14pm
Or is it swim, bike, run?
My friends want to participate in a triathlon, honestly the idea doesn't really intrigue me. The biking and running part, yes. The swim in a big lake where I can't see the bottom, no.
Have you done a triathlon before? Any great memories to share?
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Info....passed along to me:
So you want to be a triathlete? Well, you’re in good company.
Never before has the participation in the swim-bike-run sport attracted so many newcomers. According to Tim Yount, senior vice president of marketing for USA Triathlon, the sport’s governing body, USAT membership has grown 23 percent since 2005 to 101,000 members as of December 2007, noting that the actual number of multi-sport enthusiasts is much higher.
Of all novices, people in their 40s represent the fastest-growing segment in the sport with the sprint (0.5-mile swim, 12.4 mile bike ride and 3.1 mile run) being the fastest-growing race distance. First-time finishers often catch the “triathlon bug” and can’t wait to conquer the next challenge. But many triathletes also stay with the sprint and Olympic distance (0.93-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike ride and a 6.2-mile run) races before graduating to the more demanding long course: That is the Half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, 13.1-mile run) distance or Ironman (2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride, 26.2-mile run).
While it’s true that triathletes often migrate from one of the three sports to all three, the notion of burning calories with like-minded people also increasingly draws non-competitive athletes in pursuit of an overall healthier lifestyle.
