Name: David Harris

　　Age: 30

　　Occupation:

　　Legal translator

　　Nationality: United States

　　Location: Beijing

　　How long have you been doing triathlons?

　　I've been doing each of the three sports for a long time and had wanted to get into triathlons ever since I was a kid, but I only did my first triathlon about six months ago.

　　How did you get involved?

　　I had founded a swim team here in Beijing called the Endorfins. Through that I met a few triathletes. They encouraged me to give it a try, so I took part in the Macao and Hainan triathlons last fall.

　　Has it been easy being a triathlete here?

　　Since I started in China it's hard to compare to other places, but I've felt that there's generally a lack of organizations here and relatively few races. We often have to go abroad for races: My next one is the New Zealand Ironman.

　　What are the greatest obstacles you've faced during your training?

　　I'd say traffic is the biggest one, at least in Beijing. It makes it difficult to get to the swimming pool and makes running a hassle. It can also make riding your bike really dangerous. One Sunday morning in December I was riding my bike down Chang'an Jie in Beijing and a driver cut me off, leaving me no place to go. I slid underneath the car and ended up tearing two ligaments in my knee.

　　Have you found any differences in mindset to be a barrier?

　　I'd say one thing is a lack of understanding of what it means to be an athlete. If I say I'm going to ride 60 miles, people will say, "That's crazy, don't do that much, you're going to hurt yourself."

　　How has the situation for foreign athletes changed since you first came?

　　When I first came to China in 1995, I was studying at Tsinghua University, and they wouldn't allow foreigners in their pools. I eventually found a pool that I could swim in, but they were rare at the time. Now I think just about every pool in Beijing allows foreigners. Another important thing is that there are more and more organizations springing up. The nice thing is that now you can find answers to the questions you have about workouts - before, you were really on your own. - Jason Subler