TRY A TRIATHLON
Swimming, biking and running have never been so much fun.
by Erika Bentson
With the summer sun burning down and her stomach churning itself into knots, Allison Kapsner, Minneapolis Minn., junior, wondered what the hell she had gotten herself into. She
stood in a line,
single file with her
fellow triathletes
and waited for
her turn, hoping
she wouldn't get
kicked too much
swimming across
the lake.
What if I get lost?
What if I can't find my bike when I'm done swimming?
Should I eat a Powerbar? Maybe I should drink some water. But will I just puke it back up?
TRAIN WITH THIS WORKOUT
- Swim 20 laps in 25-meter pool, or 10 in a 50-meter pool, any stroke, taking 45 seconds of rest in between.
It wasn't until an hour later — when she was finishing the 15-mile bike
- Bike 30 minutes.
- Run a minute, walk a minute.
Repeat five times.
bike a few times, she recognized it and rode off in a mist of lake water flinging from other riders' wheels.
- Gradually work up within 12 weeks to swim 500 meters, bike for 11 to 15 miles and run 3.1 miles
When it was finally her turn, she raced to the edge of the lake. As she dashed into the murky lake water, Kapsner knew she was going to be fine. All she had to do was keep going.
The half-mile swim across the lake wasn't painful, and she finished in 13 minutes. To her surprise she smacked limbs with her fellow swimmers only a few times. Half coughing, half adrenaline-induced giggling, she jogged out of the lake and searched for her bike. Some bikes had ribbons or balloons tied to them so they could be picked out easily from the group. Unfortunately, Kapsner didn't know about this trick. After she passed her
Source: Gale Bernhardt, 2004 Olympic triathlon coach
ride — that Kapsner began to feel the burn from competing in a triathlon.
She ditched her bike and started the sweaty, 3.2-mile run. By then, it was noon, with no clouds in the sky. Kapsner was no longer excited about the run she had to finish. As her noodly arms and legs swung about, she started talking to the people on the sidelines to
keep her mind off how tired she was.
"Mom! I want a cheeseburger," Kapsner yelled as she passed her family.
Every minute or so, she would pass people handing her water or Powerbars, but a fear of vomiting made her swish the water around her mouth and spit it out. Two hours after her run into the lake, she stretched past the finish line and collapsed onto the grass. By then she had sworn off competing in future triathlons or any other strenuous physical activity in her near future.
But the next day, when her achy muscles had loosened up, she felt proud of the triathlon she had
completed and liked the feeling of accomplishment.
Each year participants run, bike and swim in dozens of triathlons in Kansas alone between February and October. Competitors are men and women, young and old. Last July, Dustin Elliot finished one at Lonestar Lake, 11 miles southwest of Lawrence. The Olathe senior started competing in triathlons in the spring of 2005 because he wanted a personal challenge. Since then, triathlons have become a hobby for him. Everyone has something that gets them going, for some it's art or music, he says. But for him, it's competing. With winter is approaching, start training to compete in a triathlon now, and get fit for a race in the spring.
The little sprint
Last summer, Kapsner trained for and competed in a sprint triathlon in Minneapolis, Minn. Don't let the name fool you; you don't have to sprint through the race. A sprint triathlon is the shortest of the four basic types of triathlons. Although distances differ depending on local geography, sprint races include a swim of about 500 yards, which is about 20 laps in a pool. After the swim, participants bike between 11 and 16 miles and finish with a five-kilometer run, which is a little more than three miles.
Even these shorter triathlons are endurance events and take anywhere from one to two hours to complete, says Mike Mullane, triathlete and Web
site forum administrator of www. beginnertriathlete.com. "That's one to two hours of hard racing, which is tough," he says."Completing a triathlon builds mental toughness. I've finished six-hour races in 95-degree heat, and when I'm having a tough day at work I can think back to that and use it as inspiration."
Of Olympic proportions
The step up from sprint is the Olympic or international distance — the event raced in the Olympics. The international race includes a 0.9-mile swim (80 laps in a pool), a 24.8 miles on a bike and a 6.2-mile run. These distances are measured differently than other triathlons because they are standard internationally and use the metric system as measurement, says Gale Bernhardt, 2004 United States Olympic triathon coach.
Once you start doing triathlons, it's easy to work up, says Danny Hoyt, Omaha junior. He has competed in international distance triathlons the past two summers. He prefers the longer distance because it allows him to get into each leg of the race. After a certain point, Hoyt's body loosens up and he feels stronger pacing himself, he says.
Half iron, but definitely not half ass
A step up from that race, which takes Olympians no less than two hours to finish, is the half iron distance. A 1.2-mile swim (100 laps) is followed by a 56-mile bike and a 13.1-mile run. This race is a personal favorite
of Bernhardt, she says, but not for all triathletes. Former college swimmer, Ashley Andreas, St. Louis senior, did a half-iron last year. Her experience was awful because it was so long, she says.
Tough up the iron man
The longest triathlon is the iron man. The race gets its name from the trademarked race production company called "Ironman." During this grueling race, athletes swim for 2.4 miles, bike for 112 miles and finish with a marathon, which is 26.2 miles. People train months just to run a marathon, but these athletes tack on a two-mile swim in rocky ocean waves, and then bike three times the distance from Lawrence to Kansas City and then they finish with a marathon.
This race, which you have to qualify for, must be completed in less than 17 hours, Bernhardt says. Usually they begin at 7 a.m., and competitors have until midnight to finish. There are also cutoff times within the race — participants have to swim swimming in less than two hours and 20 minutes and finish biking in five-and-a-half hours, then they have until midnight to run to the finish line.
Let's get physical
Like any physical activity, training and competing in triathlons helps maintain overall body fitness and cardiovascular health, Bernhardt says. When you're just running, or biking, you don't always get a good
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Dustin Elliot, Olathe senior, exits the water, grabs his helmet and begins biking. Elliot has competed in triathlons since 2005.
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