Swim. Bike. Run.
We did them for fun as kids. And as we enter middle age, more of us are doing them to get into shape. But we're doing them in rapid succession: swimming 500 meters, hopping out of the pool for a 12-mile bike ride, then lacing up for a 3-mile run.
In 2009, 1.2 million Americans participated in at least one triathlon. According to USA Triathlon, which sanctions the majority of triathlons in the U.S., more than three-fourths of triathletes now eschew the longer Olympic and Ironman distances in favor of sprint triathlons - races that typically begin with six to 10 laps in the pool, followed by a 12- to 15-mile bike ride and a 3.1-mile run.
And it's not 20-something hard-bodies driving this trend: USA Triathlon, which has seen its membership grow sevenfold in the past decade, to 134,942 in 2010, has seen the greatest growth in the 35-44 age group.
To a growing number of health-conscious adults, doing a triathlon is a sensible way to get in shape. The three disciplines work a variety of muscle groups, offer aerobic benefits, and reduce the risk of injury from overworking the same muscles.
"People work; they have stuff to do in their lives," says Jason Biggs, one of the founders of Cary-based FS Series, which promotes and runs sprint triathlon races throughout the state. "For people who don't have time to ride 100 to 150 miles a week or swim 2,000 yards three days a week, they're great." In a survey of 15,000 members, USA Triathlon found 87 percent said they participate to stay in shape.
Kim Feth of Apex found herself in a physical funk shortly after turning 42 in late 2009. She was grieving the death of her mother, she'd gained weight, she couldn't motivate herself to move. Then came the gut punch:
"My son came up to me and said, 'All you ever do is lay on the couch and have a headache. When are you going to play with me?'
"It all crystallized for me," says Feth, who weighed 207 pounds at the time. "I decided then and there that I cannot keep this up."
She settled on a sprint triathlon as the way to go. "I knew I couldn't do a marathon, I couldn't run that far," she said.
When many of us think of triathlons, it's the highly publicized Ironmans, in which participants swim 2.7 miles, ride their bikes for 112 miles, then run a marathon - 26.2 miles.
"But (running) three miles seemed reasonable," Feth said. "I love being in the water, and I love riding a bike. And with three sports, I figured I wouldn't get bored."
Doing a sprint triathlon also seemed the sensible thing for Gerald Babao of Charlotte when he was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of head and neck cancer, in 2008.
"That was my launching point," says Babao, who was 33 at the time. "I felt I need to do as much activity as possible."
Not that Babao, who works for USA Canoe and Kayak, was a slug. He hiked, backpacked, paddled. "I wasn't overweight, but I wasn't in shape."
Babao spent the summer in Durham getting treatment at the Duke Cancer Center. When he was strong enough, he bought a bike and started cycling (that led to his sponsoring Team Wannabe Riders in the Livestrong Challenge ride in Philadelphia).
Then someone mentioned sprint triathlons, so he signed up for the TRYMCA class through the Ballantyne Village YMCA. The class met three times a week for eight weeks, swimming, running and cycling. Babao and his classmates supplemented that training with workouts on their own.
He did his first sprint tri in July, finishing about mid-pack.
"Realistically," he says, "I know there's only so much I can do about my cancer. But this allows me to believe I'm doing everything possible to keep the cancer from returning."
Feth's training was a little less orthodox.
"I started walking around my dining room," Feth says. ("I started training in December," she explains. "I don't like the cold.")
In March, she started riding her bike (outside), and in June, when the neighborhood pool opened, she added swimming to the mix. She also signed on to RealAge.com, which offers tips and tools for people looking to get into better shape.
Between training for her sprint tri and eating better, she dropped 34 pounds by the time her target race, the Dash for Divas, rolled around in September. She looked better, felt great - and realized at the starting line that her self-styled training left her totally unprepared for the race.
At one point on the bike, she sensed a car slowly rolling along behind her fat-tired beach cruiser bike. She kept trying to wave it around, then stopped to find she was being tailed by a sheriff's deputy, lights blazing.
"He was behind me because I was the last racer," Feth recalls with a laugh. "It was all I could do not to break into tears. I just wanted to toss my bike in the trunk and quit."
But she didn't. She finished, with the police escort still on her heels. And she signed up for her next sprint tri race, the Ramblin' Rose in Raleigh this May.
Her goal for that race: to have the scarlet letter removed from her leg. Actually, it's an "A" and it's in black grease pencil. It stands for "Athena," and it's given to female participants who weigh over 150 pounds.
"I know," she says, "it's pride. But it's a righteous pride because I'm trying to get healthy."
