Triathlons have shot up in popularity over the past few years, but how do you train without busting the bank? After all, you're doing three sports in one, swimming, biking, and running. That means three different sports you have to buy equipment for.

NYT gets the discussion rolling with a few basic suggestions for tricurious New Yorkers:

• Ride on accessible local public trails for free
• One triathlete said he he got ready for races on a 10-year-old bike he bought for $500 (It apparently was a very fancy technical bike).
• You can swim at outdoor city pools for free, and passes to indoor pools run by the city are only $150 for adults

I don't do triathlons but I do play soccer. The rubber cleat on my turf shoes was coming off recently and rather than buy new shoes, as I would have in the past, I tried to save money on my sport by taking them to a local guy who does shoe repair. He was able to use sneaker glue to re-adhere them and it only cost about twenty bucks for the deuce.

Three Times the Effort, but Not the Cost [NYT via NYT Bucks Blog]