The Triathlete’s Trilemma: Which Sport to Invest In

Let’s say, for the sake of the argument presented in this piece in the Times by Gina Kolata, that it really is not possible to excel in running, swimming and biking, the three legs of most triathlons. Let’s say that most amateur athletes have to pick one sport to rock in, one to perform well in, and one to get by in. What would you do? Kolata gives us the wisdom of  Joe Friel, a coach and author of  10 books, including “The Triathlete’s Training Bible” (VeloPress, 2004), who warns that if you want to run faster you have to give up swimming and cycling. And then there’s Gary S. Krahenbuhl, an exercise physiologist and emeritus professor at Arizona State, who tells Kolata that the physical and biochemical changes in muscle cells
and in nerve-firing patterns required for improvement are very
sport-specific. Kolata reminds us that there are benefits to doing
more than one sport, and she quotes physiologists who advocate cross training for all recreational
athletes, and especially middle-age athletes who are more easily injured
and slower to recover than younger people. Know anyone like that?
Read more about the triathlete’s trilemma from Gina Kolata.