Category Archives: Fitness

Sprint Triathlons

Posted on by

As some of you may be aware, I am currently training for a Sprint Triathlon. A Sprint Triathlon, in general, is half the distance of Triathlon which in turn is half the distance of a Sprint/Half Iron Man which is also half the distance of an Iron Man. Let that boggle your mind a bit: Iron Men are CRAZY! At least crazy in shape. An Iron Man event is a 2.4 mile swim followed by an 112 mile bike ride followed by a full marathon of 26.2 miles. These are rounder numbers in KM, but who really has any idea how long a KM is? — I mean in THIS country.

Anyway, I digress. An iron man is too Olympian for me. The meer mortals like myself will stick with the Triathlons, sprint or otherwise. My first forray into this event will be a short .25 mile swim followed by a 9 mile bike ride and a 2 mile run. While these are much smaller distances, I will be competing against veteran Triathaletes that will be setting a speedy pace. My goal is to complete the race in under 1 hour. This is both a nice round number and should give me a respectable finish “with the pack”. Below are the times from last year’s Sprint.

285 people out of 289 finished the race

285th place was 1:35:24
280th place was 1:18:59
270th place was 1:12:35
250th place was 1:07:30
200th place was 1:01:41
150th place was 57:34
100th place was 54:40
50th place was 50:57

1st place male was 42:04
1st place female was 48:21

Big Fat Killer

Posted on by

A recent report shares some startling news. America’s weight problem is about to become it’s #1 killer (in preventable deaths at least). As soon as 2005 obesity is going to pass cigarette smoking as the favored way for Americans to kill themselves. Which begs the question: is smoking/eating/drinking your way to death simply a slow form of suicide? Does thinking about it in that manner change the basic predisposition for Americans to let other Americans do as they please?

The study showed that America is curtailing smoking (as it becomes more socially unacceptable and frankly harder to find a place where you can smoke) while growing fatter by the minute. This amazes me amid the current low-carb craze that is sweeping the nation.

DEATH TOLL
Causes of preventable deaths in the US in 2000
Source: USA Today; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tobacco Use 435,000
Diet/Physical Inactivity 400,000
Alcohol Consumption 85,000
Motor Vehicle Crashes 43,000
Firearms 29,000
Sexual Behaviors 20,000
Illicit Drugs 17,000