Marathons less dangerous than Tris?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/08/08/national/a114025D44.DTL&tsp=1



Most interesting was this comment:


a 2009 study by the Minneapolis Heart Institute that found athletes participating in triathlons have twice the risk of sudden death as those running in marathons. He also pointed out a recent study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association that found 14 people died while participating in triathlons, 13 of them while swimming, from 2006 to 2008

We will stay with running then.

Hey, I remember years and years ago triathletes were sickened by bugs in the water in the swim portion of a race. Don't remember if anyone died, but I remember that finding the cause of the sickness was very difficult.

It hasn't stopped me from swimming in lakes.

Of course, its much harder to drown in a marathon, though I came close during yesterday's long run in the rain!

I think it is the panic that arises during the swim that would not bother a marathoner. I've been a competitive swimmer most of my life, but swimming in packs of 100s over and around each other is a bit crazy if you ask me. I've done a few smaller tris and in fact, I'm doing one this weekend, but the longer the swim, the more chance there is for error.

We do have a problem with algae here in western NY state due to the very hot weather we had this summer which propagates weed growth. Many of the lake beaches are closed. I understand that back home, the lake water is so warm (90F+), that triathletes are being told not to swim for too long a period of time in open water for fear of dehydration and heat exhaustion.