Hating on triathlons: Maybe the New York Times is just jealous?

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If you aren’t already wary about training for a triathlon, today’s New York Times will pretty much seal the deal on your plan for a lifetime of elliptical workouts. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve got a bias in favor of the activity: I think triathlons are rad. But even a non-enthusiast can acknowledge that Sean Hamill must be either petrified of water, bicycles and treadmills, or have lost several family members to the treacherously dangerous sport of triathlon.

In the article, astutely titled “Triathlete Injuries Rise as Newbies Join the Ranks” – because it’s not at all obvious that inexperienced athletes might be more injury-prone, or anything – Hamill reports on the inherent risks of training for three sports at one time. And, based on my own experience and close friendships with several triathletes, including a few elite competitors, he pretty much gets it wrong. First is the assessment of how transitioning from one sport (say, running) to three can actually be detrimental to one’s health, rather than offering a cross-training boost:

But in practice, people who take up triathlons tend to train harder, adding rigors to their workouts without necessarily subtracting anything…“So if we’re just running and doing 10 hours of workouts a week and we switch to triathlons, now we’ll try to work out 20 hours a week. It’s like a bottomless cup….

Untrue. Unless you’ve got absolutely no concept of training, and an empty calendar with hours to fill in the pool, on the bike and on the trail, you know that the entire point of triathlon training is to take those 10 hours and spread them out over three activities. There are plenty of free beginner’s guides to triathlon training online. And all of them emphasize the importance of not overdoing it, especially at the outset of training. In fact, I’ve yet to see a triathlon training plan that suggests doing 20 hours a week of workouts – even for a half-Ironman event.

The article goes on to cite a study out of Australia, which examined the injury rates of 131 triathletes over a year. The results? They had as many – if not more – injuries as those doing other sports. This all sounds very interesting, until we remember that the study examined a fraction of a fraction of triathlon participants, all of whom were new to the sport. Newbies are more prone to injury in any sport, because they’re more likely to overdo it or train without doing adequate research. All athletes learn the hard way – through injury and trial-and-error – and triathlons are no different.

Oh – but what about that old death argument, which we see all too often in marathon coverage? According to the Times:

Those numbers have continued to increase despite news coverage of at least 26 people dying during triathlons from 2004 to 2008, with 21 of those deaths occurring during the swimming segment of the races.

Twenty-six people died over a four-year span, out of around 1 million yearly participants. 1 million. Around the number of Americans who die from heart disease every year. Heart disease. Which physical activity is very good at preventing.

Finally, the article acquiesces to the very un-sensational reality: new athletes tend to suck, get stress fractures or tendinitis, and then learn from those mistakes:

Most of the dozen doctors, physical therapists, coaches and athletes interviewed for this article said they had seen fewer triathlon-related injuries than injuries related to other sports. But they also said that newer triathletes suffered more injuries than more experienced ones.

Don’t ask me why the New York Times just devoted 1,200 words to what could have been summed up in a single sentence. The take-home lesson? Do your research before you start training for any sport. And if you don’t want to die, avoiding triathlons won’t solve your problem. And at least hurtling over a finish line, covered in the sweat and glory of accomplishment, will help you appreciate the strength of your body before you inevitably kick the bucket.