iMULTISPORT

A recent study brought to light in an AP news story extols the dangers of doing a triathlon and the heart risks involved.  The study cites that participating in a triathlon (15 heart related deaths per million participants per year) is deadlier than running a marathon (4-8 heart related deaths per million participants per year). 

The AP  article fails to mention what distance those triathlon deaths occured.  Were they all Iron Mans?  If so, isn’t it a bit misleading to compare statistics when a marathon is one third of the distance traversed in an Iron Man?  Were those 4 to 8 marathon related deaths resulting from stand alone events or did they draw them from full Iron Man distance triathlons too?

Even if they were Half Iron (or Long Course as referred to on the West Coast) you’re still not comparing apples to apples.  If they were Sprint distance, then we may need to talk more about this.

This is by no means meant to trivialize any deaths occuring from a sporting event: marathon, triathlon or other.  However, the study appears faulty in at least the way it was reported and a bit asinine to those who compete in such events.  By all means do get routine physicals and advise your physician if you intend to train and compete in an endurance event.

We conducted a quick and very unscientific poll in the iMULTISPORT hallways this morning and unanimously concluded that sitting on the couch day after day, eating potato chips and watching Law & Order reruns is far more hazardous to your health than training for and participating in a triathlon of any distance.  What do you think about that?