Correspondent BL

This column responds to questions posed by correspondent BL, part-time blog correspondent, full-time 8th grader, and hopeful niece to a future ironwoman.

BL: What do you like more: dualthons, triathlons? What distance do you prefer: half ironwoman or ironwoman races?

Liz: I definitely prefer the triathlon to the duathlon. The duathlon seems like it is cheating--everyone can ride a bike and run, but not everyone can swim, bike and run. I tried the duathlon in my first year of racing. It is advantageous for my land skills but the triathlon is more to my liking because the swim is such a mental challenge for me.

As for distance, I favor a long course. As you know, there are no sprinters in our bloodline and the sprint distance races (800m swim, 12-15 mile bike, 5km run) favor the young and speedy athletes like you, BL). I'll race that distance once a year but it is a bit anticlimatic--it just seems like you are getting warmed up and suddenly you are done.

I like the long distance races best. The Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 50km bike, 10k run) gives me lots of land time to catch those fast swimmers. They may beat me out of the water but I'll make them work the pedals and push their pace on the run. The half-Ironwoman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run) is a challenge. I love trying to figure out how much energy I can expend in each discipline and how to keep myself hydrated and nourished over 70.3 miles. Now that I know my body can endure almost 7 hours of exercise I'm curious about my limitations, thus, the appeal of a full-Ironwoman. The Ironwoman distance (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run) is a huge step up. We all want to accomplish something extraordinary in our lives. This will be my extraordinary goal....at least for the time being.