What are the different triathlon distances?
The great thing about triathlons is that there is a distance for all abilities. But as the sport has evolved, the distances have taking on several names. Here's a quick summary of the name(s) and the distances. For races like a Half Ironman, this is often referred to as 70.3 as this is the total mileage of the race. Meanwhile, the Olympic distance is sometimes called 5150 because there is 1.5km swim, 40km ride & 10km run so to be fancy, they added up the kilometres and lost the decimal... ofcourse. Enjoy!
Name - Swim/Bike/Run in km and Swim/Bike/Run in miles
Sprint - 0.75/20/5km or 0.5/12.4/3.1miles
Olympic/5150 - 1.5/40/10km or 0.93/24.8/6.2miles
ITU Long - 3/80/20km or 1.86/49.6/12.4miles
Half Ironman/70.3 - 1.9/90/21.09km or 1.2/56/13.1miles
Full Ironman - 3.8/180/42.195km or 2.4/112/26.2miles
Name - Swim/Bike/Run in km and Swim/Bike/Run in miles
Sprint - 0.75/20/5km or 0.5/12.4/3.1miles
Olympic/5150 - 1.5/40/10km or 0.93/24.8/6.2miles
ITU Long - 3/80/20km or 1.86/49.6/12.4miles
Half Ironman/70.3 - 1.9/90/21.09km or 1.2/56/13.1miles
Full Ironman - 3.8/180/42.195km or 2.4/112/26.2miles
How do I know if I am Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?
- Beginner - You’ve never done a triathlon before or just looking to improve your general fitness and enjoy the training with a view of competing in a triathlon then this program is for you.
- Intermediate - You’ve done a few events, enjoy the training but want to be a bit more competitive without committing to the full on training regime then this is the program for you.
- Advanced - You want to get to that next level where you want to be competitive against your fellow athletes with a view of top 10 to podium finish then this program is for you.