What is Triathlon
Triathlon is a mixed-sport discipline based on three sports: swimming, cycling and running. It’s definitely a perfect way to feel good within your body and your spirit, as it involves different ways to express your love for endurance activities and nature.
A Philosophy of Life
Triathlon, just like Martial Arts, is a philosophy of life aiming at building mental toughness as well as a sport that underlies the body as a way of transport. As a matter of fact, the principle of Triathlon is just simple as it it: you can travel unimaginable distances with just your bare legs and arms, along with being in contact with nature. For its versatility, Triathlon in Martial Arts is the best way to prepare your body because it blends three different activities to make your body ready to everything, just like a Martial Art style that cannot exclude any sub-aspects in order to be efficient.
Three Sports in One
Since Triathlon is a competition-based discipline, we can say that competition in Triathlon can be divided into four types, based on the distances being covered:
- Triathlon Sprint, swimming 750m, bike 20km and run 5km;
- Olympic Triathlon, swimming 1,5km, bike 40km and run 10km;
- Medium Triathlon, swimming 1,9, bike 90km and run 21km;
- Iron Man (the original one), swimming 3,8km, bike 180km and run 42km.
Triathlon Tips for Beginners
Here are few tips to start practicing this sport with no risk of getting hurt. First, choose to go to work using your bicycle, alternating it with running: forget any motorized vehicle.
Swimming
If you’ve never swam in your life, sign up for a swimming course and then gradually start adding a couple of workouts of the duration of one hour per week. If you live close to the sea or a lake, I recommend to give it a go because it is a lot of fun. In this case, it is better to swim with other people because it can be dangerous.
Type of Shoes for Triathlon
It is extremely important to wear shoes that are suitable for your running style: my personal suggestion is to go to a shop where they can recommend the best type of shoe for you.
Cycling
About the cycling part I think that is the best alternative to your car during the day (still according to your lifestyle), as it helps avoiding traffic and saving both money and time. If you agree with this thought of mine, well, then buy a comfortable bike, not a cheap one. Go to a store where they can advise you well, as this will be your long time investment.
Triathlon as a Life-changing Discipline
After changing your lifestyle, if you really want to improve, I suggest you to train with an athletic team, a swimming team and a cycling team. There you will be learning the right training method and you will constantly improve. It’s also very important to take care of your body, feeding it in a proper way, as your body will start to require not only a higher amount of food, but also good food. I suggest you turn to contact a nutritionist who will show you how to eat well in order to maximize your performances. Last but not least, remember to practice this sport every day (according to your free time), keeping in mind that a little bit everyday is way better than too much in few days.
A bit of History
Triathlon is a young sport: it was born in 1977 from a bet among a group of friends on a beach in Honolulu, Hawaii. This team started to talk about a way to organize the toughest race ever under an Endurance point of view:
- the Waikiki rough water swim:3.8 km swimming
- the 112 mile (180 km) bike race around Oahu
- the Honolulu Marathon: 42.195 km run.
Navy commander John Collins suggested combining the above three trials in one race: everybody started laughing, but nobody could imagine that that day a new discipline was born, and that very day the competitive part of it was born as well: the Iron man of Hawaii. In the first edition only 14 athletes took part (one of the competitors bought his bike just the day before the race!) and the first winner was Gordon Haller.
