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  • running shoes for kids
  • running shoes for kids
  • running shoes for kids

Triathlon running shoes must service athletes who've already swum across a pond or lake and ridden a bicycle

You've got to admire anybody with the guts to need triathlon running shoes. In a full ironman triathlon, you must swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles and run a full marathon of 26.2 miles.

Of course, some are shorter and some are even longer. Most people consider running a marathon as an incredible endurance feat. To not even begin until after you have swum nearly two and a half miles and then pedalled a bicycle for one hundred twelve miles . . . is incredible.

My cousin ran a Sprint distance triathlon, which is a 750 meter swim, a 20 kilometer bicycle ride and a 5 kilometer run. I might be able to finish that. Unlike my cousin (whose weakest link is the swimming), I was a swimmer as a kid, so that's my strongest sport. I rode a bicycle recreationally, though have never worked out on one, but twenty kilometers is only twelve miles, so I suppose I could do that OK. And five kilometers is only three miles. I'm sure I could run that.

I wouldn't be one of the top finishers, however. I'm too out of shape. I run sprints every other day, which is helping me to recover some lost athletic ability, but I haven't swum laps in a pool for nearly a year.

And the totally different environments composing the three sections of the race means that participants have different needs than people who just swim, just ride a bike or just run.

Many wear the same wetsuit to swim across the lake or pond portion of the race and to ride the cycling portion, and then run the marathon in it. That makes my skin feel creepy as heck. I can feel that hot dampness in my crotch and armpits just thinking about it. Talk about creating a fertile environment for some fungus you may pick up while swimming across the lake . . .

The serious competitors look to gain an advantage of saving time whenever possible, which includes the changing of their clothes. For running shoes they prefer them with elastic laces to save time going from the bike to the running.

Myself, I'd be in the camp that prefers a little comfort over saving a few seconds here or there. I think my long term performance would justify putting on suitable clothes for each segment.

It's also a good idea to carry hydration packs, to make sure you have enough water, energy and electrolytes in your body to continue. Of course, everything you have to carry is extra weight that slows you do and makes more work for your muscles, and wears at your endurance.

The necessity to go from one sport to another in Transition Areas (T1 and T2) is recognized, but the time counts toward your total time, so every second counts while changing clothes and equipment just as much as any other portion of the race. So I have no doubt that the most dedicated triathletes practice their transitions with the same care I used to practice starts and turns while swimming, and with with runners in relay races practice passing the baton to and from each other. You can have great speed and conditioning, yet lose a race to a competitor who is better and faster at such technical details. Their bicycling shoes are mounted on the pedals of their bicycles before the race, so all they have to do is hop on bare foot, find the pedals, stick their feet inside their shoes and start pedaling.

So if you have the urge to train for three separate sports at once, get the best triathlon running shoes you can.