by Michele Devlin and Mark Grey

Photo courtesy of the 2018 Iowa Winter Games Fat Bike Race; Cedar Falls Tourism and Visitor’s Bureau.

For many outdoor enthusiasts, winters in Iowa and the upper Midwest can be long. Snow is often welcomed before Christmas, but impatiently viewed as a burden after New Year’s while waiting for the warmth of spring. Blizzards, subzero weather, and mind-numbing negative wind chills can sometimes thwart even the most hardy of folks wanting to hunt or ice fish at times in midwinter.  Fortunately, winter triathlons and indoor triathlons are becoming increasingly popular in the region as a way to pass the cold months of winter and stay fit and engaged in outdoor activities all year long.

Summer triathlons are well known as outdoor competitions that typically include bicycling, swimming, and running for various distances as a way to recognize all-around fitness.  In the winter months, typically between November and March, numerous organizations now sponsor winter triathlons or even indoor triathlons as a way to modify these outdoor activities for colder temperatures. Winter triathlons usually include a variety of three sports, such as mountain biking, cross-country skiing, and trail-running outside on packed snow.  Winter duathlons may include two sports, such as snowshoeing and fat tire biking. Alternatively, indoor winter triathlons or duathlons often feature friendly competitions inside warm gyms through lap swimming in pools, running around indoor tracks, and riding on stationary bicycles for predetermined distances.  We are avid participants in winter sports. What we lack in skill, we more than make up for in enthusiasm. We are particularly fond of indoor “sprint” winter triathlons, as the distances required for each of the three sports are short, and a whole event can be finished in about one hour.

There are many benefits of participation in winter or indoor triathlons. They make excellent New Year’s resolutions, help kick off the year with fitness, break up winter boredom, can include the entire family as participants in different age groups, and provide thrilling opportunities to enjoy the outdoors in exciting ways. To find out more about winter or indoor triathlons, check out your local fitness facilities, the Iowa Winter Games (https://www.iowagames.org/event/winter-iowa-games/), the USA Triathlon Association (https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Triathlon/About/Multisport/Disciplines/Winter-Triathlon), and other online sources of information.