Triathlons, a sport that once belonged exclusively to elite athletes, are going from Ironman to everyman, threatening to replace fun runs as a popular citizen event.
“I have really fallen in love with the sport,” said Jen Szabo, a King Soopers baker and Metro State senior whose sturdy, muscular physique qualifies for the triathlon’s Athena category (150 pounds and up).
Szabo is among more than 1 million people who will compete in a triathlon somewhere in the U.S. this year, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association. Most of those will be “sprint triathlons” a fraction the size of the Ironman, as little as a quarter-mile swim, a 10-mile bike ride and a 5-kilometer run. Some triathletes find it even more manageable to sign up in teams of three, with each individual taking one leg of the event.
“Only a few years ago, you could sign up for our sprint triathlons the day before the event,” said Scott Fliegelman, a Boulder personal coach who specializes in training triathletes.
“But today, our June event, the 5430 triathlon, with 1,000 particiants, is basically filled by March. Triathlons are less intimidating to the average athlete than they used to be. Sprint triathlons in Colorado fill quite quickly, and they keep adding more and more of them to the calendar.”
Elite runner Ellen Hart-Peña is among the growing number of triathlon converts.
“I think most people, myself included, evolve into triathlons because the sport allows you to train six or seven days a week, with far less chance of injury than if you were just running,” Hart-Peña said.
“A sprint tri is doable for surprisingly many people, and that first one gives you such a feeling of accomplishment.”
Szabo concurs, though just four years ago she never would have predicted that she’d describe a triathlon as “doable.” In 2004, she weighed 250 pounds when her brother persuaded her to attend a Bolder Boulder training session.
Surrounded by slimmer runners, Szabo listened awhile and then gathered her asthma inhaler and other things.
“I get exhausted just running to the phone, much less a 10K,” she thought.
Tears in her eyes, she began heading for the door when Fliegelman, one of the workshop presenters, tossed his arm over her shoulder as if he already were her coach.
“You’re just the kind of athlete I want to work with!” he said heartily, converting Szabo on the spot.
“An athlete — he called me an athlete when I weighed 250 pounds,” she says today, still incredulous.
She started to walk every day, working her way up to 13.1 miles — a half-marathon distance — within two years, gradually switching from walking to running. The weight melted off. The third year, she decided to enter a triathlon. When she finished, Szabo was elated.
“And now, I feel like triathlons are my home, and that I belong,” she said, an old hand at triathlons with seven competitions under her belt. She also works part time for Fliegelman at FastForward Sports, a coaching program.
“Even though I carry an inhaler in case I need to take a puff. And sometimes I wear socks,” she added.
That’s a wry reference to the distinction Szabo draws between recreational triathletes like herself and hardcore competitors so focused on trimming seconds from their overall time that they bike and run sockless to avoid wasting 15 precious seconds pulling on a pair of socks.
Szabo and her training partner, Boulder Community Hospital employee and novice triathlete Jenn Downey, work out between 90 minutes and two hours a day, following a customized training program. A typical workout combines two of the three triathlon events.
“Every day is different,” Downey said.
“Training for a triathlon gives you more confidence in yourself. You have to set up goals, break down ways to accomplish them, and overcome obstacles. It’s influenced me at work: I’ll think about how my running goals can translate into a project that my team has to do. You get more confidence in yourself.”
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477
