Answers to common questions about the club:

Q. How long is a triathlon?
A. Triathlons are of various distances. The shortes is a sprint distance, which is usually 0.5 mile swim, 12 mile bike, and 3 mile run. Most of our club races will be sprint distance. Next is olympic distance: 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run. A full ironman is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. Half ironmans are, well, half of that.

Q. Do I have to know how to swim?
A. While we have a range of swimming abilities in the club, a abasic knowledge of free-style (front crawl) will let you get the most out of the workouts. PE classes during the semester are a great resource if you're new to swimming.

Q. When is the season?
A. Our racing season is during the Summer (June-September), and we start training in the Spring (February/March). This year we're trying limited practices in the Fall, which is our "off-season."

Q. Can I join as a graduate/undergraduate?
A. Most of us are graduate students, although undergraduates are more than welcome. As our season is during the summer, club members usually stick around when school's out.

Q. How often do you train together
A. This summer we swam twice a week and had track workouts once a week. Some of us went on joint bike rides a couple times, although biking together is hard in a small group with a wide range of abilities.

Q. How do I join?
A. Come to a practice with a completed waiver. Stick around if you like it. No fee for trying us out.

Q. Is there a membership fee?
We collect dues in the Spring for people that want a racing membership over the summer. These dues will help cover certain costs that are not reimbursable by the club sports council. The dues will be nominal, so that if you race with the club at least once, you will more than recover your membership fee. You can try us out in the Fall for free.

Q. What are the advanteges of membership?
Costs associated with club-sponsored races are fully or partially reimbursed. In 2005 we sponsored 5 races. We also hold a few clinics (free to club members) with Coach Abe Rogers over the summer, focusing on topics such as swimming and running technique. Finally you get a group of people to train with at least a couple times a week. That works wonders for your motivation.



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