HOUSTON (TIP): Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams set yet another record as she completed a triathlon in space by running, biking and ‘swimming’ along with athletes during the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California over the weekend.”A big shout out to our astronaut strength and conditioning folks, who were really interested in this and who got this whole workout together, “Williams said, thanking those who trained her before her launch.

Williams, who is the US commander of the Expedition 33 crew aboard the space station, used exercise equipment that included a stationary bike, treadmill and strength-training machine specially formulated for weightlessness to simulate triathlon experience in space.

After ‘swimming’ 0.8km, biking28.9km, and running 6.4km, Williams finished with a time of one hour, 48minutes and 33 seconds, she reported. To simulate the swimming portion of the race, Williams used the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in micro-gravity.

Exercise is mandatory for all astronauts, because without it space flyers’ muscles and bones would deteriorate in weightlessness.