If you thought these races were only for the super-fit, think again. More and more people are signing up to do triathlons, says Antonia Court, and you don’t need to be a professional athlete either

The idea of doing a long-distance competitive swim is enough to put most people off, never mind a run and a bike ride straight afterwards. So, not surprisingly, when you mention the word triathlon, most people assume you are either a professional athlete or totally mad. Images spring to mind of buff bodies ploughing through shark-infested waters and top-of-the-range racing bikes speeding down mountains. Despite the perception of triathletes as superhumans, training for a triathlon is not actually as hard as you might think, and it offers one of the best cross-training workouts around. Once you know what’s involved, you’ll definitely view the sport differently. And if you’re really keen, you still have time to test your mettle and sign up for the London Triathlon on 26th August.

There are three official triathlon distances. The first, the sprint triathlon, involves a 0.75km (0.46 mile) swim, a 22km (13.75 mile) bike ride and a 5km (3.12 mile) run. The second, the Olympic triathlon, comprises a more lengthy 1.5km (0.93 mile) swim, a 40km (25 mile) bike ride and a 10km (6.25 mile) run. Last, but certainly not least, is the Ironman, which involves a 3.84 km (2.4 mile) swim, a 179.2 km (112 mile) cycle and a 41.6km (26 mile) run. Whilst the Ironman distance is out of reach for the average person, the sprint distance is well within most people’s grasp. And if you’re curious to try a mini-triathlon, many clubs organise shorter training races, usually consisting of a 0.5km (0.3 mile) swim, 15km (9.38 mile) bike ride and a 3km (1.88 mile) run, which allow you to get a sense of what the real races are like.

Training
Once you’ve got your head around the idea of actually doing a triathlon, you may wonder how on earth to go about training for one. John Mora, author of the book Triathlon 101 (Human Kinetics; £12.99) says, ‘the trick to training is being consistent in all three disciplines rather than being brilliant on the bike but useless in the water’.

Mora suggests that most people need around four months to properly train for a sprint or Olympic distance triathlon. For the first two months work on building up a basic level of skill and fitness in the three disciplines. Then, over the final two months, you should prioritise your training and concentrate on improving the weakest discipline – but without losing speed or skill in the other two.

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Training for a tri