Triathlon training

[happycamper]

Can someone help me understand the long term damage to your body when training for the IronMan Triathlons. I wantto do them but not if I am going to damage my body beyond repair. Thanks

[Nigel]

Please type "body damage triathlon" and this will throw up a multitude of links around the long term effects.  or type in exercise damage for links to some good advice.

Cheers

[palmtrees999]

I did Tris for years and I am never going to be the same. My knees are damaged and and my ankles hurt whenever I do more than 5 miles. I would suggest that you slow down on the long distances and focus on the shoer stuff.

[diumoup09]

my first tri was an olympic distance 40k bike.  I too had a good swim background, could run 1/2 marathon and just spent a lot of time on the bike in training.  You certainly have the time to be prepared for the distance.  Try a tris are great, but I think they are more to introduce you to the concept of triathlon, getting all the gear down and doing a proper transition. 

You can learn all that stuff at a longer distance also, so I dont think it is necessary to do a try a tri.

Best of luck,

FishHog

[diumoup09]

Using your mountain bike is a good idea.  It is a big investment to buy a road/tri bike and you do want to make sure you will enjoy it and use it.  It might be worth buying a set of smooth tires for it if your current tires are big and knobby.

The usual distances for a Sprint is Swim 750m, Bike 20km, Run 5km and for an Olympic swim 1500M, Bike 40km, Run 10km.  Many races are not bang on those distances and have some varriation.  Those are pretty short when you look at Ironman and Half Ironman distances   .

Glad you are excitied.  I hope you have fun training and enjoy the race

[djprep]

just remember your legs/ knee joints is one of the most important parts of your body.  Once you deteriorate them, you wont be able to use them like you used to.  My cousin did triatholons for a straight 5 years and hes now feeling the pain.  Be careful

[FrisArvz]

just remember your legs/ knee joints is one of the most important parts of your body.  Once you deteriorate them, you wont be able to use them like you used to.  My cousin did triatholons for a straight 5 years and hes now feeling the pain.  Be careful

I do agree with that. Almost all the events in a Triathlon was based on leg strength.

[Vega]

Just thinking about triathlons makes my knees hurt. I've got bad knees and they start to hurt after long rides or swims. I think the health benefits of being able to do triathlons far outweighs the damages to your body and health. Although too much of anything is a bad thing and this goes for marathon runners and triathlons athletes. Over time, you do carry a higher risk of damaging your knees and joints but as long as you take care and not overdo training and be sure to rest when you are injured, you should be better off.

[nikilaa]

I did triathlon for about ten years. At that time I didn’t feel any pains because I was young and strong.

About 5 years ago I stopped triathlon. You won’t believe what I say I am now suffering with ankle problems and my leg hurts so much.

When I met my physician he said that these are after effects of triathlon.
So guys please be careful if you going to do triathlon.

Cheers