Going the distance: An explanation of triathlon race distances

In reading over my first few blog posts, I realized I have used some terms that may cause a little confusion, or at least cause someone to wonder, namely: Sprint, Olympic, and Half.  Though these words are very familiar to everyone, how they relate to the world of triathlon may not be as familiar.

A triathlon is composed of 3 different sports. You start out by swimming, typically in a lake or ocean (some form of open water, though I have done some in pools).  You then immediately transition to the bike, after which you strap on your running shoes for a nice, relaxing jog (or a fast run, depending on how competitive you want to be).  There are 4 different race distances when it coms to triathlon: Sprint, Olympic, Half Ironman, and Ironman.  Instead of letting you wallow in your own confusion/misunderstanding, or making you go somewhere else to figure out what these mean for a triathlete, I will define each of those for you right here, right now!

1. Sprint Distance:
     --1/2 mile (750m) Swim
     --12 mile Bike
     --5K (3.1 mile) Run

2. Olympic Distance:
     --1 mile (1500m) Swim
     --25 mile (40K) Bike
     -- 10K (6.2 mile) Run
          (You will also sometimes see this race distance called a 5150, as you cover 51.5 kilometers over the course of the race.)

3. Half Ironman (also sometimes called 70.3):
     --1.2 mile swim
     --56 mile Bike
     --13.1 mile Run (this is the same as a half marathon)
         (Add these numbers up, and you have covered 70.3 miles in the race, hence the name Ironman 70.3.)

4.  Ironman
     --2.4 mile swim
     --112 mile Bike
     --26.2 mile Run (you guessed it... that is a full marathon)

In the 3 years I have been racing, I have come across some variations in each of these, and have even done some shorter ones that the race organizers called "Splash" distances.  But these are the 4 generally accepted distances.