San Diego Sports Doctor in Madrid for ITU Triathlon World Championship Series

San Diego sports medicine doctor John Martinez, MD is in Madrid, Spain this week as part of the medical staff with the USA Triathlon elite men and women teams racing in the second of eight World Championships Series triathlon races. 

Follow along with his daily updates on TriathlonDoctor.com and some behind-the-scenes looks at the USA Triathlon team as U.S. Olympians Jarrod Shoemaker and Sarah Haskins lead the men and women's team with Mark Frett, Joe Umphenour, Sarah Groff and Mary Beth Ellis proudly representing the Stars and Stripes in what should prove to be an exciting race this Sunday, May 31st.

Follow the triathlon with live coverage at www.triathlon.org or on your local Universal Sports TV in the United States.

Steve Larsen-Professional Triathlete, Road Cyclist, Champion Mountain Biker and Father of Five - Dead at 39

From the TriathlonDoctor.com podcast...

Steve Larsen, professional mountain biker, road biker, triathlete, and more importantly, husband and father - died Tuesday evening after collapsing during a running workout in Bend, Oregon. Larsen was 39 and he and his wife Carrie have five children.

While initial reports suggested a heart attack as the cause of death, the prelimary medical examiner report did not demonstrate an obvious cardai cause and reportedly, further testing is being performed.

Larsen began racing as a road cyclist during the 1980s and was a member of the Motorola road cycling team in the early 1990s, including an appearance in the Giro d'Italia and a member of the 1993 US National team that helped Lance Armstrong to his World Championship title
Larsen then crossed into mountain biking, winning the NORBA National Cross-Country title twice in 1997 and 2000.

In 2001, he switched to triathlon, winning Ironman Lake Placid with a course record bike split and overall time. He went on to Kona that year and managed to shake up the leader board of the men’s race with a powerful bike split that saw him come from 10 minutes down after the swim to leading the race up until mile 9 of the run and finishing a respectable 9th place overall.

Steve Larsens unfortunate and untimely death serves as a painful and sad reminder that even those of us in apparent excellent health or physical condition are still at risk for significant medical problems. It's important that just because we led a more active lifestyle that we don't allow that to lull us into a false sense of security.

Remember that if you are concerned about a potential medical condition to be sure to discuss it with your sports medicine doctor - it could save your life.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Steve's wife Carrie and their 5 children. Its my understanding that a memorial fund has been established - you can find out more info about the memorial fund and where to send donations by going to either Larsen's online triathlon store at http://www.worldtri.com/ or to the website http://www.rememberstevelarsen.com/

US triathletes take top 6 spots at ITU Pan Am Championships

The US men's Triathlon team swept into the top 6 spots on Saturday at the ITU TU Pan American Triathlon Confederation Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Saturday.

The US Mens Triathlon team swept into the top 6 sports on Saturdat at the ITU Pan American Triathlon Championships in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Saturday.

First place finisher in the mens triathlon, Matty Reed was able to fend off a surge by fellow US triathlete Hunter Kemper to take top spot in the the elite men's triathlon race.

Reed was in the lead group throughout much of the race, emerging from the swim in a lead group of three which later included Hunter Kemper and Americans Matt Chrabot, Tim O'Donnell, Ben Collins and Canadian Andrew McCartney.

Reed quickly pulled ahead on the final leg of the triathlon during the 10 k run. Hunter Kemper made a strong push on the final portion of the run, almost running down Matty Reed at the finish, to take second place over Tim O'Donnell.

Former Under 23 US National Champion Ethan Brown rounded out the top American finishes with a 6th place finish. Brown looks to be in great early season form with his 6th place finish coming after his 2nd place finish last month at the ITU triathlon in Mazaltan, Mexico

ITU Pan American Triathlon Championships Results - Men's Elite Triathlon - Oklahoma City

  1      1 Matty Reed            USA            1:52:23
  2     21 Hunter Kemper         USA            1:52:24
  3     30 Timothy O'Donnell     USA            1:52:37
  4      2 Matt Chrabot          USA            1:53:32
  5     24 Benjamin Collins      USA            1:54:49
  6      9 Ethan Brown           USA            1:56:09

New Iron-distance triathlon in Denmark for 2010

Team Challenge has announced a full-distance triathlon (2.4m swim/ 112 mile bike/ 26.2 m run) for 2010 in Copenhagen, Denmark currently scheduled for August 15th, 2010. While their website doesn't give much information about the triathlon, the rumor is that pro triathletes Torbjorn Sindballe and Belinda Granger have committed to the race.

TEAM Challenge currently has 6 races in its Challenge Series and the Denmark location will be the organization's 4th full Iron distance triathlon

Check out their website http://challengecopenhagen.com for upcoming news releases and future race registration

Who makes the best triathlete?

Want to join the continuing discussion on who is the better triathlete - swimmers, cyclists or runners? Then head on over to the Triathlete Coffee Shops latest podcast at http://www.triathletescoffeeshop.com/

Triathlon Strength Training Boot Camps in San Diego

San Diego triathletes!

You now have access to a top triathlon strength training programtaught by the San Diego personal training staff at Coastal Sports and Wellness.

The boot camp workouts run on Tuesday and Thursday evening and focus upon functional strength training exercises specific to triathletes and runners.

Find out the top five upper and lower body exercises that every triathlete and marathon runner should be doing on a regular basis to help increase speed and improve recovery from hard workouts.

Andy Potts takes Wildflower Long Course Triathlon Title

US triathlete Andy Potts turned in the third best ever time with a winning time of 3:59:41 at the Wildflower Long Course Triathlon last week beating second place Eneko Llanos by over 3 minutes.

Reinaldo Colucci, Jordan Rapp and Joe Gambles rounded out the top 5 for the men's triathlon.

A few big names had the misfortune to turn in DNFs at the 2009 Wildflower triathlon including Rutget Beke, Torbjorn Sindballe and Bjorn Andersson.