Archive for August, 2011
How to Begin Training For Your First Triathlon
Triathlon is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and every weekend millions of adults drag themselves out of bed to swim, bike, and run for a couple of hours. For anyone who has never tried triathlon before, it can seem like a tall order to even contemplate entering a triathlon. If you are a beginner, you will need to know how to begin training for your first triathlon so you can be confident of actually making it to the finish line in one piece!
How fit do I need to be to do a triathlon?
Tags: sport, TriathlonRelated posts
Triathlon Wetsuits – An Excellent Advantage For the Modern Endurance Athlete
Swim, bike, run – Triathlon is the truest test of endurance for the modern athlete. Other singular endurance events exist such as cross-country skiing or even motorsport endurance races, but the essence of Triathlon is to seek a truly level playing field through the combination of three different types of racing. The leveling affect of Triathlon itself does not mean that the individual competitors won’t squeeze every advantage are seek every edge in order to achieve maximum bodily performance. Triathlon wetsuits are one of the areas in which many serious competitors have found an edge, not to mention the advantages to competitors who may be new to the sport.
Wetsuits are one of the few allowable pieces of equipment for the swim portion of a triathlon race, and their use has been a constant source of debate among those within the sport. In the early years when wetsuits were first used by triathletes, they were primarily used for cold water events and the suits used were intended for scuba diving or other diving activities. Being that those types of suits were not generally designed for speed swimming, triathlon wetsuits were later invented by those within the community, tailored specifically for open water swimming. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: TriathlonRelated posts
The Pros and Cons of the 4 Triathlon Distances
Although there are creative variations on the traditional triathlon distances (such as some races that make the swim longer to appease the fish among us, or the races that make the bike longer to make us feel like we’re getting deserved mileage from our multi-thousand dollar time trial bike, or the races that make the run longer to simply be masochistic and cruel), there are generally 4 triathlon distances: Sprint, Olympic, Half-Ironman and Ironman. So to help you with your triathlon race season preparation, here’s a quick peek at the pros and cons of each triathlon distance.
Sprint:
Pros – Imagine an overweight, sedentary individual sitting on the couch and licking Cheetos residue off their fingers. Technically, it would be possible for that person to be standing on the starting line of a Sprint triathlon just 12-16 weeks later. This is because since sprint triathlon distances are short, they have a low barrier to entry and don’t require extensive physical preparation. You only need to be able to swim 400-600 meters (8-12 laps in a pool), ride a bicycle 10-15 miles, and run or walk 2-4 miles, and this requires continuously exercising for about 50 minutes to 2 hours. This may be tough for some, but it is do-able for most. Furthermore, if you’re fit or experienced in triathlon, and you want to go faster in a Sprint triathlon, it will take less training time than the longer distances, so it’s pretty rare for Sprint triathlon distance to be a family-wrecker. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: sport, Triathlon