Why do a Triathlon. No, Really. Why?

What’s your motivation?

Photo credit: John Howe at triathlonjunkie.com

Are you a triathlon ‘virgin’, never having done a swim-bike-run of any distance (but want to)?

Or a seasoned triathlete with a few Ironmans under your belt?

Why do you want to do a triathlon?

If you have done one or more, why do you continue doing triathlons?

(Also, is there anyone out there who has stopped at just one? Is it possible?)

And a Triathlon is What? A History Lesson-ette

The first ever ‘modern’ triathlon was held California in 1974 by two dudes who put both their ‘strange race event’ proposals together to come up with the Mission Bay Triathlon:

·         Held after work on Friday evening. Convenient!

·         Fees: $1. (Yes folks, thats ONE DOLLAR)

·         RUN 6 miles (9.7 km), BIKE 5 miles (8 km) and SWIM 500 yards (460 m).

I think it was genius putting the swim leg last. After running and cycling nearly 20 km, it would have been very refreshing for the participants to plunge into the sea and splash around in deep open water with Jaws. 

Risks Triathletes Take 

Also, I’m sure it was also quite exciting, because it was night and dark during the swim leg! Read more at History of Triathlon

These days, triathlons are done with the swim first. Where’s the fun in that? :)

Shark Victim says "Yeah, where's the fun in that?"

Triathlon Distances. What’s your fancy?

I’ve summarized the commonly encountered race distances in the table below, plus cut off times.  For those just starting out there’s the Sprint (read about a Perfect Sprint HERE), but there are also shorter distances like ‘Super Sprint’ and ‘Hoohathlon’ (Malaysia only), and Ironkids (Kids only J). If you’re going from ‘Couch to Sprint’, give yourself at least 2 months to get yourself where you can sustain a slow huff-n-puff for 2 hours. If you’re doing Olympic, to finish, figure on being able to maintain a slow workout of 4 hours. Of course if you’re looking to stand on a podium and receive a nifty prize, that’s a whole other training approach!

You Gotta:	Sprint Distance		Olympic Distance		Long Course*		Ultra Distance**
	Miles	km	miles	km	miles	km	miles	Km
Swim	0.5	0.75	0.93	1.5	1.2	1.9	2.4	3.8
Bike	13	20	24.8	40	56	90	112	180
Run	3.2	5	6.2	10	13.1	21.1	26.2	42.2
Cut off times:     2 hr			4.25 hr		8.5 hr		17 hr
*e.g. the Half Ironman. To sound cool and in-the-know, just refer to this as '70.3'.
** the most famous branded Ultra Distance is the Ironman. Also called '140.6'.

Top 5 reasons Human Beans Do Triathlons

1.       Prove something to others. “I’m better than you!”  It’s true! Honest! That’s how the first Ironman started – to settle a feud between a bunch of swimmers, runners and cyclists as to who was the better athlete.  

2.       Prove something to themselves. “I wanna be a better me!”  Different people have different ideas on what that ‘better me’ means. Healthier, fitter, less stressed, more confident etc etc.

3.       Want or need to mix it up. “Doing just one sport is boring and I have a short attention span”. Many triathletes are also ex-runners who when sidelined by injury diversified into triathlon to continue being active in a joint-sparing manner.

4.       Adulation of others. “I don’t excel at any of the three sports, but when I tell people I’m into triathlons, they’re like ‘PWHOARRR, you’re a triathlete?'”  SWEET!

5.       Looking good in spandex.

Maybe not.

Let's try again.

Erm...

Strike Two.

Hot Chick in Spandex. Wait... That's a DUDE.

Ok ok I ran out of ideas. (Help?!)

A few other nobler reasons could be: ‘Set a good example for my kids’, ‘Raise awareness for my charity or cause’.

What’s your reason?

In my next post, I’ll give you mine. Stay tuned! (UPDATE: Here's my super-inspirational post on 'Why I Love Triathlon'. 12 Sep 2011)

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your motivations for doing triathlon!

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xo Gracie

Photo credits: Triathletes swimming (triathlonjunkie), Steven Spielberg with Jaws, 1st dude in Spandex (Charlie's Blog), 3rd dude in Spandex (Chris 'Macca' McCormack Ironman 2007 and 2010!).