Triathlon and Fitness

The triathlon is a physically gruelling challenge. Can you work out which athlete burnt the most calories?
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Triathlon and Fitness printable worksheet

 

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Triathlon and Fitness
The triathlon is a sport which consists of three consecutive races, a swim, a bike race and finally a long run.

Adam, Ben and Charles all want to qualify for the Olympic triathlon.

Here are their results from a trial race:

 

Swimming 1500m

Cycling 40km

Running 10km

TOTAL

Adam

19:12

1:04:33

32:13

1:55:58

Ben

21:19

1:05:28

31:54

1:58:41

Charles

22:31

1:03:22

30:12

1:56:05

Which athlete do you think burned the most calories?

Adam, Ben and Charles weigh approximately 70kg each

It is estimated that athletes of this weight burn energy at the following rates:

  • Swimming at 4.5km/h burns 600 kcal per hour
  • Cycling at 30km/h burns 900 kcal per hour
  • Running at 15km/h burns 1100 kcal per hour

Assuming that the rate at which calories are burned is directly proportional to the athletes' speed, estimate how many calories each of the three athletes burned during his race.

Are you surprised?

How can you explain your results?

Do you think the modelling assumptions are valid?

 

 

Notes and Background

Though several versions of the triathlon exist, in the Olympic Games, the athletes swim for 1500 meters, then cycle for 40 km and finally run for a further 10 km. As you can imagine, the athletes who compete for the triathlon must have high endurance in order to be able to complete all three races.