Another tri death on the front page of CNN

Sorry to hear it and my condolences go out to family and friends.

Be safe out there people.

Yikes....very Sad...!!!

So Sorry to his family....

Here in Mich. where we're surrounded by bodies of water large and small, we have many recreational drownings every year.  In the summer, it's an almost weekly local news headline.  I don't think the risk of open water is specific to tris.  Doing any water sports or even just casual boating and swimming are risky for people who have pre-existing conditions of which they are aware or unaware.  Not to say this article is biased, but it bothers me when these heartbreaking incidents cast negativity onto the sport of triathlon.

Granted, I'm still 6 days away from my first event; however I'm not surprised this doesn't happen more often.

Last summer, I drove my 3 year-old daughter to her swim lesson.  To kill time, I decided I'd get in a nice workout swimming some laps while she took her lessons.  It had been about 25 years (and 100 pounds) since the last time I'd attempted to swim laps.

At the 25M mark, I thought to myself, that was tough.  Halfway through my second length of the pool, I about needed to signal a lifeguard for help.  It was pretty eye-opening and a bit scarey. 

I can see how someone might blow off the swim portion as it makes up such a small percentage of the overall day.  But as others have mentioned above, you can't slow down or walk in the middle of the lake should you suddenly find yourself in trouble.

I wonder how long before USAT requires a water safety/certification course prior to participating in one of their events?

well put and I agree totally....

In most drowning cases it has to do with a pre-existing condition that is either not known by the participant or simply ignored. Or at least in the sport of Triathlon because jumping in that open water for the first time can be shocking and scary with everyone else around you.

It seems in the instance the guy just wasn't ready, he was holding a boat, then a life vest before going under. It appears he was just tired but that can also be caused by panic or being exhausted to where he was just too tired to hold on. Obviously this is all just speculation and we won't find out till an autopsy is performed weather he had an underlying condition.

In any case it is a very sad event and an awful way to die. My condolences to his family but hopefully this will also count as a warning to those unprepared or new athletes to train better and/or get your heart checked out!

Shanks

jessm - 2009-07-13 2:21 PM

rach_1623 - 2009-07-13 12:11 PM People really need to make sure they can handle something as strenuous as a tri (especially the swim portion) before they jump in and do it.  Too many people in this sport neglect to see a doctor before doing their first tri and maintaining yearly physicals while participating. 

My yearly physical consists of the nurse taking my blood pressure and some blood for a cholesterol check and some sort of test to check for the start of diabetes.  Then the doctor comes in for exactly three minutes, reads the nurses notes and then promptly heads out to the front office to submit the billing slip to her support staff so that they are aware that I am to be billed about $600. 

If there is some health hazzard ticking away inside me, there isn't much chance she is going to catch it before there is a crisis. 

I think that with the state of healthcare today, until someone has a serious health episode, there is no real guidance or relationship with a health provider.  Unfortunately sometimes that first serious health episode happens at a particularly dangerous time...like in the middle of a lake, or driving down the highway. 

You definitely need to be your own advocate when it comes to your healthcare.  We, as patients, can't just expect physicians to ask the questions, we need to do our own poking and proding with them to determine the best course of action when it comes to our healthcare. Its the same whether you are healthy and going in for a check-up or sick and going in with symptoms.  If you don't like how your doctor responds to your questions, definitely find a new one.  Its a sad state of affairs, but it is, what it is.