Is an indoor Tri, really a tri ?!?!?!

Seems to me that I can do 500 yrd swimming in 10 minutes, 8 + miles on the bike and 2 miles running in that time.  Sure an exercise bike or treadmill isn't ideal, but I don't see it as being much diferent from doing a super sprint.  Your doing an hour worth of continuous cardio in three disciplines close to SBR.

As far as calling yourself a triathlete, that is up to you.   Heck some people don't consider it a real tri until it's an Ironman, and some don't believe your an Ironman unless you finish Kona.

You can call yourself whatever you want, but would you really believe that you were a triathlete after doing that?

You could do it for a nice workout, but it's not a triathlon. 

Personally, I wouldn't trust the accuracy of that competition. I mean there's def a margin of error with treadmills, but exercise bikes are notoriously inaccurate. I would never trust that my exercise bike was calibrated close to the one the guy next to me is using.

It actually is a race, because they total your distance on the machines travelled in the given time and rank you according to that.   You sound like you are working towards a "real" triathlon and if this is a good stepping stone for you, then that is great.  I don't think the experience would rival that of an outdoor Tri, but it might be fun every once in a while. 

I disagree, and would say that that is a triathlon.  There is strategy involved and you're pitted against other athletes, there are 3 sports involved, etc.  I wouldn't use it as a benchmark for antyhing, but I feel that it's certainly a triathlon. 

(and to save you all time, yes, I have completed an indoor triathlon and it was definitely a race and you can read my report)

If we're getting into the nitty gritty of sanctioning, etc., you open a can of worms.  I participated in an outdoor traditional triathlon this weekend.  But it wasn't USAT sanctioned and they allowed snorkels, flotation devices, MP3 players, etc.    It's not getting me any closer to Kona, but it's certainly a triathlon!  I chose to race it like a regular race without those added advantages, but I didn't have to.

This is a pretty standard setup for indoor tri's. 

Lessee...In this event:  Do you swim? (yes)  Do you bike? (yes) Do you run? (yes)  Are you being ranked relative to other participants based on how well you SBR?  (yes)  I'd say it has all the makings of a real triathlon. 

Whether you call yourself a triathlete is more philosophical.  Are you a triathlete when you start training (SBR) for a specific race?  How about when you line up at the start?  Only when you finish a triathlon?  How about if you only completed one tri and it was 5 years ago? 

If you do this race and want to call yourself a triathlete, go ahead, I don't have a problem that it wasn't outdoors, or that it isn't Kona. 

Years ago, R&E cycles put on an indoor tri, where it was 10 minutes each on a rowing machine, a stationary bike, and a treadmill set at 5% slope. Winner was the person who covered the most combined distance.

TriFreak did an indoor tri both last year and this year. Last year it was 20 minutes for each swim, bike (your bike on a stationary trainer), and run on an indoor track, and longest distance won. This year it was done by time over set distances. I think that worked better (the set distances), because there couldn't be any "cheating the swim" like last year (there were people who quit the swim early and got on the bike before it was time).

I feel like an astronaut, and also a rock star.

I feel like you are.

If you have to ask, its not a "real" triathlon to you.

As for being a triathlete, its not like being an Ironman, where you pass your test by completing one under the time limit. Although we treat it that way sometimes.

Its more like if someone ask me if I am a basketball player. Sure I play basketball once in a while, but I have no plans to compete, so I'm not a basketball player. Now if I had just signed up for the church league it changes the answer, but you would still explain that its a church league, not the NCAA.