A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the disciplines included. Triathletes train to achieve endurance, strength and speed. The sport requires focused persistent and periodised training for each of the three disciplines, as well as combination workouts and general strength conditioning.
The ultimate triathlon is called the Ironman and it is raced over a 2.4mile (3.8km) swim, 112 mile (180km) bike and 26.2mile (42.2km) run.
Yet, it is the Tour De France, a bicycle race, that is considered one of the most grueling of endurance races. Staged for three weeks each July—usually in some 20 daylong stages—the Tour typically comprises 20 professional teams of 9 riders each and covers some 3,600 km (2,235 miles), mainly in France, with occasional and brief visits to such countries as Belgium, Italy, Germany, and Spain.
Lance Edward Armstrong is an American former professional road racing cyclist. Regarded as a sports icon for winning the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005 after recovering from testicular cancer, he was later stripped of all his titles when an investigation found that he had used performance-enhancing drugs over his career. It is one of the most famous fall from grace stories in all of sports. Lance Armstrong will go down in history alongside Pete Rose as one of the great athletic villains of all time, even though their crimes were completely different. Cheating is cheating. Sports is supposed to be the last bastion of honesty and what is fair. So much of sport is about what is true. That is why we have technology and referees. They ensure we are getting it right, correct. When the rest of the world cheats and lies, at least sport is where “the best man wins and interference is called out (both literally and figuratively. Yes, I used those terms properly – not like a millennial.)
Sport is about pushing ourselves harder and further. It is about fine tuning skill and thought. It is about being able to think strategically, and quickly. It is about muscle memory and drawing on the best in us at a specific moment. Studies show that when training for a marathon (26.2 mile run) one does not run more than 20 miles at a time. The thinking is if you can run 20 miles you can run 26.2 miles and that at that level you are merely (here I use the term lightly) training your brain. You are getting yourself to believe you can run that far.
Endurance is, therefore, about pushing your body and your mind. Endurance is about extending what you can do and it is about extending what you think you can do. And we are amazed by the ability of human beings. This is not about the strange acts of superhuman strength recorded about mothers who have lifted cars off of their child. This is about creating moments of peak human performance on demand. It is about finding comfort in the extreme. Running a five minute mile is amazing. Running a five minute mile 26 times in a row boggles the mind and it is truly incredible to watch and even aspire to.
It is so inspirational that people will do things to their bodies in order to get them to be able to do it. Lance Armstrong added “supplements.” Some of those “supplements” give an unfair advantage while some are considered perfectly acceptable. That is why there are anti-doping commissions in every sport and why athletes regularly submit to testing to make sure there is a level playing field. It wouldn’t be fair if the conditions for one athlete were different for another athlete in the same sport.
You might recall the controversy surrounding Usain Bolt’s’ record setting 100 meter run in which people complained he had a slight tail wind that day. Bolt did not arrange for the breeze that day, however, it is obvious that the conditions detracted from his achievement. That’s why there are indoor and outdoor track. It is why there is indoor and outdoor tennis and tennis on clay, grass, hardcourt and hard true court for that matter. The conditions make a difference (except when they don’t, like in football and soccer where no matter the weather the game is played).
Today the new rage is cupping. Even though “Cupping therapy, also known as myofascial decompression, can be traced back to ancient Egyptian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern cultures,” said John E. Ebinger, PT, a board-certified sports medicine specialist at Banner Physical Therapy in Phoenix, AZ. “ According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH), cupping involves placing cups (made of glass, plastic, bamboo or ceramic) on the skin to create suction. Cups can be placed on the back, shoulders, stomach, legs or any muscle group where it’s easy to attach the cups.
“This suction creates a negative pressure environment allowing for myofascial decompression as the skin is drawn into the cups,” Ebinger said. “While massage therapy uses direct pressure to release tension, cupping uses negative pressure to lift the muscle fibers and draw blood to the area.”
Does this give an advantage? Certainly, athletes who do it, think so. And we know which athletes do it. (Just look at them.) Not that I’m skeptical but chapter x will deal with superstitions and good luck charms. There is a fine line between believing in yourself and believing in something that helps. Either way, sports and sports commissions draw a clear line and the fan is only interested in making sure athletes are playing by the same rules.
Athletes do things fans watch in wonder. Some of us think we could do the same thing and some of us have a better understanding of reality. The fan enjoys watching athletes do things better than others and we are amazed.
What happens on the field and on the court is what draws us to watch. What happens to prepare athletes for those moments is a combination of work and natural ability. While some believe that with enough time and effort anyone can achieve anything and that is just patently false. Watching people run faster, jump higher, twist and contort their bodies, make contact with a ball traveling at 100 mph is exciting and is at the core of sport. Endurance is an ability to tolerate sustained pressure and it is the essential element to performance.
At the time of writing this Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge set a world record for men in the marathon distance of 26.2 miles of 2:01:09 on September 25, 2022, at the 2022 Berlin Marathon. This run improved on his own previous world record by 30 seconds. In 2018, he broke the then world record by 1 minute and 18 seconds, the greatest improvement over a previous record since 1967.
Hicham El Guerrouj is the current men’s record holder for the Imperial mile with his time of 3:43.13
There are obstacles to great performances, injuries, weather, other athletes even the athletes own psyche (some call them the yips). But on the perfect day, with the perfect execution of skill it almost appears as though the athlete is doing something superhuman and that is a wonder to behold. It drives other athletes to do one better and it brings the fan back to watch as John Keats once wrote, “A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:” and I would add for everyone until the next athlete does one better. Like the human condition in general, the line keeps moving. The accomplishments keeps getting more profound, the maneuver more complex and one we like to say we saw it ourselves.