How far are they?
There are really four common distance categories for triathlons:
1. Sprints: Relatively short races where the winner will take between 45-90 minutes. The races I did at Tiburon and Pacific Grove were both sprints. There is no common distance for a Sprint event as they typically vary greatly in the distances of each portion.
2. Olympic/International: This is essentially the de facto standard for a triathlon: 1500m swim, 40km bike ride, and 10km run. This is the most common class of triathlon and generally the distances will be the standard ones. There are some variations in this class of event though that vary the event distances but generally keep the total race time about equal. Some people refer to this as a marathon length event meaning it would take approximately as long to complete as a marathon (26.2 mile run).
3. Half-Ironman: This is the step between the Olympic distance event and an Ironman. It's exactly half the distance of an Ironman and can typicaly take about 5-8 hours to complete.
4. Ironman: This is for the diehards only: 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run. The best triathletes typically finish these in around 8 hours. The cutoff time is around 17 hours so if you aren't finished by then, they'll pull you off of the course. There are relatively few of these events around the world (about 1-2 dozen) because of the extreme nature of the event and the logistical difficulty in organizing one. THE event for triathletes is the Hawaii Ironman. Held once a year in Kona, this event showcases the best triathletes in the world. The only way to enter this event is to qualify at another Ironman event.
Who does these things?
There are professionals who compete in triathlons (of different distances) for
a living. Typically the prize money isn't that great so they rely mostly on
sponsors. And then there are lots of crazy amateurs, such as myself, that
compete for lots of different reasons. Some do it just to get/stay in shape.
Some to test their limits. Triathlons have been growing dramatically in
popularity over the last few years. It's gotten to the point where some
events get sold out 9 months early and only weeks after applications become
available. To get a spot in some Ironman events, you often have to sign up on
the spot at the event the day after it's held the previous year. Because of
it's multisport nature, it's often easier on an athelete's body to train for
a triathlon than for just a marathon or bike ride.
How do I become one of those crazy triathletes?
Check out the web first and look for some races.
Active.com lists many events and allows online registration. There are
tons of other sites on the web that should help answer any other questions.
Feel free to shoot me an e-mail if you
have any questions for me. And you could always join Team-In-Training to help
you train. A typical team contains at least 50% first-time triathletes. It's
a good forum to get people started in the sport and help develop some training
habits.
Is it a lot of work to do one of these?
Well, of course, otherwise it wouldn't be so fun. Training takes a good deal
of time because it involves training for three different things, none of which
are really less important or easier. Swimming is often the biggest hurdle
for many because most people can force their way through biking and running, but
swimming requires a good amount of technique. My current training schedule
only includes one day a week of rest (though I typically make it two) and each
workout it at least an hour and often 2-3 hours on weekends.
The actual event is, of course, exhausting. It's pretty amazing to oneself how
much you can push your body to do. Regardless of how tired you are, you can
almost always find a little more to keep going. But finished is the greatest
reward when you get to look back at the past hours and realize what you just
accomplished. And then you get a few days off while you recover from the event
before you have to start up again to get ready for the next one.