'I felt a real sense of achievement'
The former Downing Street aide Alastair Campbell does it. The hotelier Sir Rocco Forte excels at it. The former Betfair boss Stephen Hill races in about 10 events every year. Triathlon, which combines cycling, swimming and running, certainly seems to attract a particularly driven kind of person.
At its highest levels, the sport demands Olympian fitness, Biblical endurance and an almost Nietzschean will to succeed. While sceptical observers may consider it a sport for demented masochists, the reality is that they don't know what they're missing.
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"Running the marathon was harder but after I did my first triathlon I felt a real sense of achievement," says Campbell, who first competed in 2003. "When I left Number 10 someone suggested I do a triathlon for Leukaemia Research. When I started I would have said swimming was my weakest discipline, cycling second - I hadn't ridden a bike since leaving school - and running my strongest. Now I feel happiest on the bike, I make the most progress on the swimming and my running is going backwards. Tony Blair is always asking me about it."
The prime minister is not the only one intrigued by Britain's fastest-growing sport. About 100,000 people in the UK are thought to be active competitors. There are currently hundreds of triathlon races across the UK, and some of the larger annual events, such as the Michelob Ultra London triathlon, Windsor and the Salford BG race, have been oversubscribed in recent years. Entrants can choose between the beginner's "sprint" distance - 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run - or the Olympic distance of 1.5km swim, 40km ride and 10km run, and a variety of more bracing distances over challenging terrains.
At its core triathlon is as much a mental challenge as a physical one and this may be one reason for its growing popularity at boardroom level. Another is that triathletes tend to be people with a decent disposable income.
Open-water swimming in this country requires a tri-specific wetsuit, which provides buoyancy and flexibility as well as warmth, and prices start at about ￡150. A decent road bike - the lightweight, dropped-handlebar variety used by Tour de France riders - doesn't come much cheaper than ￡600. Tuition for triathlon's "transition" - the phases between swim and bike, and bike and run - and for open water-specific skills such as sighting (there are no lanes in the lakes and docks where races are usually held) can save valuable seconds in a race but may also be expensive. London-based Swim4Tri operates pool-based lessons for ￡200 for six sessions and the Triathloncoach.com offers one-on-one coaching sessions for ￡200 a day.
Add to this outlay a commitment of at least five or six hours a week for training in the pool, on the bike or running and triathlon begins to look like a way of life rather than just a sport.
In this instance, however, large investments appear to bring large rewards. Many novice triathletes say that completing the challenge not only gives them a huge sense of achievement but they are also amazed by how quickly their fitness and technique can improve with intensive training.
And because endurance is as important as technique, advancing years can be an advantage to triathletes. At 61, Sir Rocco Forte has emerged as a champion for the sport as well as a competitor to be reckoned with. He finished 11th in his age group at the triathlon World Championships in Cancun in 2001 just a year after his first race, and last year completed the Ironman Austria competition in Klagenfurt.
"The run at the end of Ironman really is something," Forte says. "I suffered a lot on that. You just have to grit your teeth and keep going." Most competitors half his age would not be able to sustain the training regime Forte took on in preparation for Klagenfurt: 24 hours a week for 10 weeks. "The training is hard," he admits. "You have to do a lot of distance work and it is very time-consuming. You're very tired all the time."
Like many, Forte moved into triathlon by way of marathon running - an Achilles tendon injury led him to buy a bike and he was bitten by the bug. As with most new competitors, he identified his weak discipline as swimming but he improved his technique and endurance with early morning lake sessions.
For him, it's no surprise that high-achieving business leaders should excel in triathlon. "If you train seriously and try hard, you expect to be near the top. I'm pleased that I've been able to do that. It's hard, challenging and quite a demanding sport and that is its attraction. The determination required has a similarity with the drive you need to run a business."
Forte's experience is similar to that of Stephen Hill, former chief executive of the FT, who took up triathlon in 2000. "If you're going to run a business, you'll do it as well as you can. The same applies to triathlon - but if you're going to do it, you'll bloody well do it as well as you can. Plus it's a sport you can do when you're older. You can't be competitive in cycling beyond 30, for example."
Richard Allen, the Bath-based triathlon elite coach who has held British titles at all levels of the sport, stresses the importance of psychological training. He believes commitment, focus, confidence and the importance of setting realistic goals are key to success in multisports such as triathlon, where success hinges on capability across a range of disciplines. "Many coaches don't address the mental aspect enough," Allen adds. "But the stronger you are mentally, the quicker you will progress physically."
Allen is currently working with Lequin Executive Coaching on a triathlon-for-business programme designed to put novices through a triathlon in the space of two-and-a-half days. "Most people will say, 'I can't do a triathlon', it sounds ridiculous to them. But over the weekend we go through the process of training, showing techniques and mental preparation - it's really about working on confidence. They'll walk away with a real sense of achievement of having completed a triathlon."
This year I began training for my debut sprint distance race. Initially, my feelings were precisely those Allen describes - the idea seemed totally ridiculous. But following a combination of arduous outdoor swim sessions, fast "interval" runs and longer, slower sessions, and roughly 800 miles of cycling through south London and north Wales, I completed the race in a reasonable time. I am unlikely to give Rocco Forte a run for his money but the beauty of triathlon is that you can astonish yourself with what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. I am no Ironman but I am certainly bitten.
英国高管为何钟情铁人三项？
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精神挑战
对争强好胜的人来说，将骑自行车、游泳和长跑结合起来的“铁人三项”(Triathlon)运动似乎特别具有吸引力。曾在唐宁街(Downing Street)担任首相助理的阿拉斯泰尔?坎贝尔(Alastair Campbell)就参与这种运动。酒店经营者洛克?福特爵士(Rocco Forte)在这项运动中表现出色。必发公司(Betfair)前老板斯蒂芬?希尔(Stephen Hill)每年要参与大约10次比赛。
在最高水平的铁人三项运动中，参赛者需要奥运选手般的体魄，《圣经》中的隐忍精神，以及近乎于尼采(Nietzschean)式的意志力。心存疑问的观察人士也许会认为这是一种精神错乱受虐狂的运动，而实际上，这些怀疑论者却并不知道自己正在错过什么。
“跑马拉松曾经很困难，不过，初次参加铁人三项之后，我就有了一种真正的成就感，”2003年才首次参赛的坎贝尔表示，“我离开首相府时，有人建议我为白血病研究慈善机构Leukaemia Research参加一个铁人三项赛。开始的时候，游泳是我最弱的一项，其次是骑车，跑步是我的最强项。现在，我骑车的时候最开心，游泳方面进步最大，跑步反而在退步。托尼?布莱尔(Tony Blair)总是向我打听这项运动。”
英国首相并不是惟一一个被这项在英国发展最迅速的运动激起兴趣的人。据悉，英国约有10万积极参赛者。目前，整个英国有成百上千的铁人三项赛，其中有些还是规模较大的年度赛事，如Michelob Ultra伦敦铁人三项赛、温莎铁人三项赛(Windsor)和Salford国际铁联世界杯赛(Salford BG)，近年来报名者都会超员。参赛者可以选择初学者“短距离”（750米游泳、20公里自行车和5公里长跑），或1.5公里游泳、40公里骑车和10公里长跑的奥运竞赛距离，或是在富有挑战的地形上的各种更加令人振奋的距离。
昂贵的费用
就其本质而言，铁人三项不仅是身体上的挑战，也是精神上的挑战，这也许是它在高层人士中日益流行的原因之一。另一个原因是，铁人三项运动员往往是拥有大笔可支配收入的人。
在英国，户外游泳需要配备一种三功能泳衣，不仅能保暖，还要具有浮力和弹性，起价约为150英镑。一辆象样的公路自行车――环法大赛(Tour de France)的车手使用的各种重量很轻、把手向下弯的自行车――价格不会低于600英镑。在铁人三项“过渡”（游泳和骑车、骑车和长跑中间的轮换阶段）和户外游泳特殊技能方面（如察看情况――通常举行比赛的湖泊和码头可没有泳道），交纳学费可以在比赛中节省宝贵的时间，但可能非常昂贵。伦敦的Swim4Tri在游泳池开设课程，6次课要200英镑，而Triathloncoach.com网站提供一对一的教练课，每天200英镑。
除了这些费用之外，还要保证每周至少在泳池里、自行车上或跑步方面训练五、六个小时。铁人三项开始像一种生活方式，而不仅仅是一项运动了。
然而，在这种情况下，巨额投资似乎可以带来巨额回报。许多初学铁人三项的人表示，完成这项挑战不仅给他们带来了巨大的成就赶，也让他们为自己的体魄和技术在密集训练下的突飞猛进大吃一惊。
耐力和成就感
而且，由于耐力和技术同样重要，岁月累积对铁人三项运动员而言也是一种优势。洛克?福特爵士在61岁时不仅成了一位不容小觑的竞争对手，还成为了这项运动的优胜者。他在2001年参加坎昆(Cancun)铁人三项世界锦标赛(World Championships)，在自己年龄组中取得第11名，而此时距离他首次参赛仅仅过了一年。去年，他又参加了在克拉根福举行的澳大利亚铁人三项赛(Ironman Austria)，并跑完全程。
“铁人三项赛最后的长跑确实挺难，”福特说道，“我觉得很难受。你只能咬紧牙关、坚持到底。”大多数年龄只有他一半大的参赛者，都吃不消福特为准备克拉根福比赛而进行的训练计划：每周24小时，共10周。“训练是艰苦的，”他承认，“你必须得做大量远距离训练，非常耗费时间。你总是非常疲劳。”
正如许多人一样，福特原先是参加马拉松长跑，后来才转而参加铁人三项赛的――由于跟腱损伤，他买了一辆自行车，并从此热衷于铁人三项。像多数新参赛者那样，他认为自己的弱项是游泳，但他通过清晨湖中游泳课，提高了自己的技术和耐力。
对他而言，功成名就的公司领导者在铁人三项赛中表现出色，这并不奇怪。“如果你认真训练、艰苦努力，你就有希望接近最佳水平。我很高兴自己一直都能那么做。这很艰苦，有挑战性，而且是一项要求相当高的运动，这就是它的引人之处。它所要求的坚定意志，跟你掌管公司所需要的干劲有某种相似之处。”
福特的经历与英国《金融时报》前任首席执行官斯蒂芬?希尔颇为类似，后者于2000年开始参加铁人三项赛。“如果你打算运营一家公司，就会尽可能做好。参加铁人三项也是一样――如果你打算参加，你会尽可能做好。而且，它还是一种你年纪更大时仍然能进行的运动。比如说，过了30岁，你在骑车方面就没有竞争力了。”
在巴斯从事铁人三项训练工作的知名教练理查德?艾伦(Richard Allen)强调心理训练的重要性。他拥有英国各级别铁人三项比赛的优胜头衔。他认为，投入、专注、信心和设定现实目标，对取得铁人三项等多项目运动的胜利至关重要，在这类运动中，成功取决于你在一系列训练课目上的表现。“许多教练对精神方面的问题解决得不够，”艾伦补充道，“但是，你精神上越强，身体的进步也就越快。”
艾伦目前与Lequin Executive Coaching合作，进行一个“针对商业人士的铁人三项训练”项目，计划在两天半的时间里让初学者通过铁人三项赛。“大多数人都会说：‘我可参加不了铁人三项，’这在他们听起来很荒唐。但是，就用整个周末，我们就能完成从训练、技巧演示到心理准备的程序――这确实有助于提高自信。他们离开的时候，可以因为完成了一次铁人三项而有一种真正的成就感。”
今年，我开始进行训练，准备首次参加短距离比赛。最初，我的感觉就跟艾伦形容的一模一样――这个想法似乎荒唐透顶。但是，在一系列艰苦的户外游泳课程、快速“间歇”跑和更长更慢的跑步课程，以及骑车大约800英里穿越伦敦南部和威尔士北部之后，我在差强人意的时间内完成了比赛。我还没有达到向洛克?福特叫板的水平，但是，铁人三项的美好之处在于，你可以让自己大吃一惊：你决定做了，就能完成。我不是铁人，但我肯定喜欢上这项运动了。
