Want to be an Olympic triathlete? All you have to do is follow four-time Olympian Hunter Kemper's daily routine. Warning: Just reading it may require a performance-enhancer. Or some quality time on the couch afterward.

"A typical training day for me is swim practice from 7 to 9," he said. "I swim 5,000 meters or about three miles of swimming."

Swim three miles before breakfast? That can't be easy, but at least his training is over early, right?

"I'll take a little break, eat a big breakfast and go for a run around noon, and run about nine or 10 miles, about an hour of running."

Wait, there's more.

"I'll finish off with a bike ride in the 3-5 o'clock time frame, and that's about 40 miles or two hours of cycling."

Tired yet?

"I'm looking at about a 32-hour work week," Kemper said. "That's 28 hours of pure training, four hours of rehab and core stuff, so a 32-hour work week with about 25,000-30,000 meters of swimming, about 250 miles of cycling and about 60 miles of running a week. And it's usually all three disciplines a day. It's not like I do one sport a day and another sport the next -- it's usually all three, every day. And in that week, I'll do three hard run sessions, three difficult bike sessions and three difficult swim sessions, all staggered on different days."

Freeman qualified for his fourth Olympics by finishing as the top American in the World Triathlon Championships in San Diego on Saturday. He has improved his finish in each Olympics, finishing 17th in 2000, ninth in 2004 and seventh in 2008, when he was dealing with a sports hernia.

Sarah Groff earns spot on triathlon podium

September, 11, 2011
9/11/11
4:50
PM ET
Sarah Groff secured third place in the ITU World Championship Series after finishing the final triathlon of the series in 10th place.

Groff's third place ranking is the best showing by an American in the three-year history of the series.

"It's nice to know that consistency pays off," Groff said, according to USA Triathlon. "I'm absolutely honored to be on the podium with two such phenomenal athletes."

Groff finished in the top 13 in all seven WCS events.

Fellow American Laura Bennett took fifth place with a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 2 seconds on Sunday for her top showing of the series and fourth top-10 finish of the season.

Helen Jenkins of Britain won the triathlon world title for a second time after a second-place finish in the final event of the season in Beijing.

Jenkins, who only needed to make the podium to clinch the title, finished behind Andrea Hewitt of New Zealand.

Hewitt had her best result of the year and moved into second in the world rankings.

Switzerland's Melanie Annaheim beat Sweden's Lisa Norden by two seconds in the home stretch to secure the bronze, capturing her first series medal.
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  1. Kemper's training routine not for the timid

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