A survey was published in a popular UK triathlon magazine which stated that 88% of triathletes thought that the swim section of a race was a necessary evil which they disliked and they did as little swim training as possible in order to finish it.

As a general rule, in elite draft-legal races, if you aren't out of the wet stuff in the lead group then you don't stand a chance of winning the race, regardless of how fast you can cycle and run as you will rarely be able to catch a group of drafting cyclists.

The answer: Everything about the swim being first is wrong. The swim specialist triathlete needs to be challenged so let's get him or her tired before they start the swim, and the triathlete that falls into the 88% described above needs to work for their dinner and train for the swim as if triathlon actual had 3 separate disciplines.  If we tire these athletes out first by running, then they will have to train hard to complete the swim stage at the required pace / distance. 

The facts: The Bike
Once that necessary evil is over, triathletes can recover and begin their longest stage of the day.   Its the discipline that most people put the most training time into.  I don't blame them considering how long they have to stay in the saddle compared with swimming and running. 

Without doubt, it is the 'easiest' of the 3 sports.  We use this term loosely, and mean to cause no offence to the cycling specialists or those that struggle in this area.  Maybe the most 'comfortable' would be more appropriate.  But let's face it, we are sat down.  Certainly in Ironman races, its all now about the bike.  The race is 'mainly' won or lost in the bike stage.

The Germans prove this point.  Even though they are much weaker runners than their piers, they manage to put enough distance between them and their competitors during the bike stage to make sure that they can never be caught (ignoring a blow-out of course!)

The answer: We need to make the bike specialist fatigued before they start this stage, so let's put it after the run, and not before it.

The facts: The Run:
Most of us love running, its the cheapest, most convenient and less time consuming of the 3 sports.  It is still very much the case, that most long distance triathletes were originally runners.  

The run specialists rarely gets the opportunity to excel as it is the last of the 3 disciplines.  Once he has finished the swim (which he has done very little training for), and the bike (which has gone on for far too long), he realises his once muscular runner's legs have turned to jelly.

At all of the ultra triathlons that Enduroman has organised, the majority of competitors end up walking a large amount of the run stage.  Is this really testing one's ultra-run ability?

For once, triathlon has got it right.  The time spent running during the various distance events is spot on however,  the run specialist is the only one out of the 3 that doesn't get the chance to prove his worth.


The Enduroman Solution:

How can we challenge the swimmer, the cyclist and the runner?  Here's how.....

We run first.  This gives the run specialist his chance to excel but he can't push it too hard.  He still has a long swim and bike ahead of him.  This will also require the athletes to run this stage, instead of walking.  This will bring all the athletes to a more level plane.

We swim next.  The swim specialist will be challenged, as he will be fatigued from the run.  The 88% above are going to have to do some swim training also!  

We bike last,  The bike specialist will be challenged, having already completed the long run and swim.  Even though we are sitting down, everybody will get on their bike feeling tired. 

Most people think that the Enduroman Arch to arc is all about swimming the channel.  Those that think this will fail.  The race is all about arriving in Dover, after having run 87 miles, in a suitable physical condition and state of mind to then swim the English Channel.  

You can see from the picture of what Tom Beaver looked like after he finished his channel swim, that the thought of then cycling 187 miles proves that to finish the bike stage requires all the fitness elements of triathlon.

So what about a Double Iron distance triathlon?  One that joins two famous landmarks..... a 52 mile off-road run.... an open water 4.8 mile swim in a lake large enough to suffer effects of the wind... then a 224 mile bike ride?  Surely this would test the run, swim and bike specialist?  Or maybe this would be a race, like the Enduroman Arch to Arc, that would require strength and character in all 3 sports for a successful attempt?

So Enduroman make a new proposition to all athletes:

Run.... swim... bike....    Its the new swim, bike, run you know....