The competitors

Andrea "Ande" Lowden is 33 and Sunday's Danskin Women's event will be her first triathlon. She played soccer in high school and also competed in track and field events, shot put and discus.

"I have run, I would say, on and off since college," she said. "In October of 2004 I ran my first marathon."

Then her foot got in the way. Two bunion surgeries, one in late 2005 and the other in the spring of 2006, curtailed her running even though it removed the pain. ("My whole body would ache even just going out for a mile.")

"I decided I needed a shake up. I was kind of putting a lot of time in running, and I was looking to shed a few pounds and it wasn't happening." She dropped in on a spin class, became a regular, and heard all her classmates talking about what a wonderful experience last year's triathlon had been. "And so I just thought, 'Well, this is a perfect opportunity for me to test my limits and give myself a new challenge.' "

Aside from being her first triathlon, it will also be her first bike race and first swim race.

Jean Rowland is 51 and will be competing in her third Danskin. She has been participating in athletics since she was 5 when she was a competitive swimmer. She did gymnastics and diving but because she grew up on the East Coast, she said, there weren't many athletic opportunities for women. She tried to assemble a rowing team in college, but there wasn't any funding.

"That's when I started running more," she said. "I'm not fast. I don't have those long limbs. (She's 5-feet-6) I'm more of a grinder."

She runs four days a week, bikes when she doesn't run, plays competitive tennis several days each week, and fast-walks when her knee hurts too much for running. She had her second knee surgery a year ago and has recently returned to running but it's still painful for the first half mile.

"I would love to do a bigger triathlon, but with my knee … I think the run would just kill me."

What it is

The Chicagoland Danskin Womens Triathlon on Sunday is a sprint event consisting of a half-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride and 3-mile run. The event begins at 7 a.m. at the Lakeview Rec Plex, 9900 Terwall Terrace in Pleasant Prairie.

More information on the Chicagoland Danskin is available at: http://www.danskin.com/chicagolandmain.html

By contrast the Spirit of Racine race coming up on July 19 is a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile run. There are also sprint events, including a women-only sprint, offered as part of the Racine triathlon weekend. More information about the Racine triathlon events is available at: http://www.spiritofracinetri.com

Training

When she did her first Danskin Triathlon three years ago, Jean Rowland went with her best friend. "We didn't really know what we were doing. We would bike, we would swim, we would do everything separately. And we really didn't follow any manuals. Now I'm much smarter about it. And it's just the fear, the first time. You get over the fear. You look across the water, it looks really long."

What has made a big difference for her is the early morning boot camp training at Anchor Fitness in Racine. The run starts at 5 a.m., and she's not a morning person. Aside from the run there are a variety of activities which vary by the day. She's also learning about what she needs to work on to improve her triathlon performance. "The bike to the run (transition) - they call it the brick or the wall," she said. "It's really really difficult, and if you can get past the first half-mile, you're good."

"Well, I like my life and my personal life and the people in it so I vowed this will not consume me," Ande Lowden said. Although some people in her life would say it has.

"I think I have taken this more seriously than the marathon." She was 28 then. "My whole thing was I wanted to complete a marathon before I was 30."

She's at the gym at 5 a.m. Monday to Friday, and if she doesn't finish the workout she has scheudled, she'll go back later. She rides with a friend of her boyfriend, and his love of the sport has helped push her. Friday evenings, Saturday and Sunday she tries to get outside, perhaps to bike.

"Usually even on my day off I'll do some light walking," she said. "I give myself a day off when my body is screaming at me."

That isn't necessarily pain but fatigue. She had recently planned a walk with a friend followed by a jog, but when the walk was over she didn't feel energetic enough for the jog so she didn't do it. It can sometimes be hard, she said, to separate real fatigue from mental sloth.

In 1994 , the British Journal of Sports Medicine published a study of triathlon injuries. Overuse was the top cause, although depending on the study the precise site varied from, for example, foot and ankle to knee.

There's no question that overuse is still the main reason for injuries in triathletes. "Triathlons just by nature are very demanding sports," said Dr. David Geier. Unlike football or soccer players, triathletes don't suffer acute injuries.

In his experience, most of triathlete injuries are the result of running. "But bikers get a lot weird aches and pains too," Geier said. "The nice thing about cycling is it's not an impact activity." There can be muscle soreness and some knee pain, but practitioners don't have the long-term pain that runners do. The one facet of the triathlon which he doesn't see many injuries from is swimming.

For older women it becomes more important for them to listen carefully to what their bodies are telling them and to make sure to take preventive steps. Women in their 40s and 50s, who are in or near menopause, need to take particular care because of the changes which hormone fluctuations bring about, he said.

If their caloric intake isn't high enough, they can suffer stress fractures in their bones so it's particularly important for these women to make sure their dietary needs are met, that they're getting sufficient quantities of calcium and vitamin D, and that they have annual bone density scans.

Younger women are not immune. Stress fractures and bone weakness are also common in high school athletes and young adult women.

"One of my friends is a triathlon-slash-kind-of-do-all these extreme sports, but she's on her third or fourth stress fracture of her foot, and she's 25," Geier said.

Protecting your body applies to the time just before an event, too. Three to seven days beforehand, Geier said, reduce training. That doesn't mean stop. It means substituting light jogs for a long run. A week of relative rest will not affect your performance, he said.

"I take care of a professional soccer team, and it's amazing to watch how quickly the 22- to 25-year-olds recover from a match that goes well into overtime compared to the guys that are 35. … We rest our older players … where the younger guys train every day."

If your body just isn't recovering, however, if that ache or pain is affecting your performance or you're compensating for the pain, it may be time to seek help. "You know there's very little downside in going to see an orthopedic surgeon or primary care doctor that specializes in sports medicine just to make sure it's not something bad," he said, "because there are things that you sit on for four, six months all of a sudden become a big problem."

Older women need to be careful about overtraining, said Dr. Scott Dresden. There are three typical symptoms.

If your pulse is elevated when you wake in the morning, if you have excessive fatigue, or if you develop pain which isn't better after rest, you're overtraining.

Younger women, those with no experience of endurance races, need to be careful about pushing their limits too quickly, Dresden said. They think they can run 3 miles the first week, 6 the second, whereas the more experienced athlete realizes that an increase of 10 percent per week is more realistic.

Other people should also consult a physician before they train, he said.

These are people with diabetes who will need to watch their blood sugar carefully and whose medication may need adjusting because of the rigorous exercise, people with high blood pressure, women who are pregnant, and anyone with a chronic illness whose medication will be effected by sweating or dehydration. All such people are among those who could benefit the most from participation in a triathlon and its training, he said, and they can participate safely if they learn to be careful.

What to eat

Ande Lowden doesn't stick to a specific diet - high carbohydrate or high protein or anything like that while training. She said she tries to eat a balanced diet and takes a multivitamin. Dinner is typically a salad with fish, chicken or lean beef. "I consume massive amounts of water."

She'll eat high-calorie foods but in moderation, and she won't give up caffeine.

She doesn't use any of the speical sports foods on the market except on the day of a race. When she was running marathons she tried cutting energy bars into chunks, but she couldn't get used to eating while exercising.

She uses water instead of commercial sports drinks, but if she feels the need for an extra boost she'll dissolve a Lipton drink packet in her water bottle. "Usually it's just water - or diet Coke."

Jean Rowland said she mainly drinks water to keep her fluids up. "I don't like those energy sweet drinks." Instead, she buys drink packets which contain vitamin C.

Breakfast is typically a shake which she makes with soy milk, protein powder and a banana. Even though she doesn't eat before her morning training, she can't see not eating on the day of the race so she'll have a shake that morning, too, and in her water bottle she'll put some energy drink.

She admitted that her knowledge of nutrition is lacking, but she also isn't sure that she wants to know. In her first Danskin triathlon she was in the top quarter of her age group, and her goal is to do better there.

There's a great deal of information available about nutrition, but it's not getting to the right place. When Dr. Anne Z. Hoch, did a study with colleagues, they found that more than 50 percent of women in a Milwaukee triathlon club were not getting enough to eat. On average each woman was eating about 500 fewer calories than she should have, and that deficit affects athletic performance as well as menstruation, Hoch said. About 30 percent of the women had some history of menstural irregularities. Calorie deficits may also lead to reduced bone density, but the women studied were fine, she said, probably because of the exercise.

Also notable was the group's expected knowledge. "The average education level of this group was a master's degree, and most of them were in the health profession," Hoch said.

Caloric deficit can be difficult to diagnose because there is no weight loss; your body resets its metabolism. Fatigue is typical, she said, but it can be hard to assign a cause because it may be the result of thyroid problems or a lack of sleep.

What athletes eat and drink is also as important as how much. Immediately after training, one should eat, Hoch said, and the meal should have a 3-to-1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein so your body can recover quickly and you can train well the next day.

Eating before races is necessary. "That's important for anyone who's just going out for 30 to 60 minutes of exercise." Food should be consumed about three hours before an event, and it should be complex carbohydrates such as whole wheat pasta (high-glycemic foods, 1 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight) which your body can gradually turn into the sugars it needs to power your cells.

Hydration is important, too. Two to three hours before the race, a triathlete should drink 16 to 20 ounces of water, followed by another 6 to 8 ounces 30 minutes before the start. If you're exercising or racing for more than 60 minutes, you need to drink something with carbohydrates to provide fuel for your cells.

"We encourage athletes to avoid straight water during the competition," said Dr. Andy Peterson. Water is absorbed more efficiently when it is accompanied by the proper proportions of salts and sugars. Too much plain water can dilute your body's own fluids which could can result in seizures and cramping or even coma and death.

Some commercial sports drinks now come with less sugar, and some are endurance formulas with added salt. If you find the commercial drinks still too sweet, it's acceptable to dilute them a bit so they're more palatable, although the effect isn't as great as in an undiluted drink, doctors said.

It is important to use in the race what you use in training, said Dr. Scott Dresden. "When you're pushing the body, there's no set way of knowing how someone's going to react to a certain sugar load or a certain flavor." Many events will supply certain products, so you should train with those in order to learn how your body reacts, he said, or carry your own supplies.

One can use food-planning Internet sites or books if you're the type of person who easily learns that information and can adapt it, Hoch said. But one hour with a specialist sports dietician (someone with particular training in sports nutrition and exercise physiology) may be more efficient and worthwhile, she said.

The equipment question

Because this is her first triathlon, Ande Lowden isn't investing a great deal in special eqipment.

Her bicycle will be her regular bicycle, a mountain bike but with slick tires substituted for the standard knobby type meant for rugged trails. If she likes triathlons, she said, then she'll consider investing in a quality road bike.

For someone like Lowden, who is just becoming acquainted with the sport, that's OK, doctors said, yet there are areas where one shouldn't skimp.

"The foremost among those is a good pair of running shoes," said Dr. Andy Peterson. People run differently. Some strike more on their heels, others may roll onto the inside or outside of a foot.

The way to avoid this danger is to visit a specialty running store, particularly one staffed by experienced runners or certified workers.

They can analyze your gait and then suggest shoes that fit. The worst option, he said, is to order a pair of shoes online with no opportunity to try them on, because as a rule if you feel comfortable in a pair of shoes, even without special analysis, chances are they fit your particular biomechanics well.

There's nothing wrong with using a mountain bike in a triathlon although it will probably demand more of your energy to move it than a specialty road bike costing $6,000 or more. Second in importance behind good shoes is a bicycle which fits you well, Peterson said, because many injuries from cycling come from poor positioning. This isn't as critical for someone who rides a mountain bike only a few times each year; it's more important for endurance athletes who spend hours in the saddle.

"All good bike shops, when they sell you a bicycle, will fit you well on that bicycle," Peterson said. For the ultimate adjustment, which again applies mainly to people who are riding hundreds of miles each year in training or races, it may be worth visiting a custom bike-fitter. In Madison they charge about $300 for a session, he said.

Equipment isn't very important in swimming. A wet suit is good for warding off cold water, and it provides some buoyancy, but it's not necessary, Peterson said.

"Swimming is a more technique-intensive sport," Peterson said."Most people don't get a lot better just by swimming more."

The final word

Andrea Lowden has dropped those pounds, 20 so far with 10 more to her goal. Exercise is a way of life, she said, and it has helped her to feel better and has provided more energy for the other parts of her life. She is not doing the Danskin for any reason other than self-satisfaction.

"It's fun. I would encourage any woman to do the Danskin," Rowland said. Yet no one should take it lightly. "If you're a couch potato and then you want to do the Danskin, man you better be training."

In a sense, Dr. Scott Dresden said, our society is on two levels. One very high-performing group of athletes has access to all the current science and techniques, and then there's everyone else. "We've got the most fit people we've every had, and we've got the least fit people we've ever had."

Going to a sports medicine specialist can help as can educating yourself through reading, he said.

In the end, said Dr. Andy Peterson, there's one point: "The most important thing when entering a triathlon is to remember to have fun. People have a tendency go get hung up on the gear or their own personal results, but really it's important to remember that we do these things for fun."

The experts

Dr. Andy Peterson, pediatric and sports medicine fellow at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.

Dr. Scott M. Dresden, regional director of occupational health for the south region of Aurora Health Care.

Dr. Anne Z. Hoch, director of the womens sports medicine program and associate professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. David Geier, director of the sports medicine program at the Medical University of South Carolina.