Seven years ago, Jamie Harnish was getting a little soft.

As the accountant edged into his thirties, the years he’d spent building his career in Boston, the time away from his bicycle and a sweet tooth conspired to push his weight over the 200-pound mark.

So, when he moved back to his hometown of Essex, Vt., in 2004, Harnish started riding his bike again. When a neighbor mentioned a triathlon coming up in Shelburne, he looked at the distances and signed up.

“I was like, ‘Five hundred yards. Yeah, I can swim that,’” Harnish recalls. ... Read more