 Our intrepid guinea pig, er, beginner triathlete. Follow along with Nancy as she trains for her first triathlon by visiting her blog, triby35.typepad.com
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Why tri?
A local triathlete kicks off training -- and searches for motivation
March 9, 2004
By NANCY TOMARO
FOR NORTHBAY.COM
I feel like I'm drowning and start to panic. I'm in the middle of a pool choking on over-chlorinated water, unable to breathe and cursing the day I ever put on a swimsuit.
As I try to regain my stroke, calm myself and make my way to the edge of the pool I can't help but think, "Why am I doing this to myself?"
The "this" is training. The reason: to complete a triathlon.
At the time it sounded like a good idea. I turned 30 in June of 1999 and, feeling my youth slipping away, wanted a goal to show myself I was still young at heart. I latched on to triathlons and gave myself until age 35 to complete one.
Then, last December, I realized "35" was in six months and I was nowhere near being in shape. As a matter of fact, my "shape" would qualify somewhere between couch potato and comatose: I had gained 20 pounds over the last four years and hadn't had a good workout, run or bike ride in at least six months due to a handy list of well-worn excuses including too busy, too tired, too stressed and too worried about my safety to venture out alone.
It would have been easy to give up the goal, blow it off and grab another handful of Christmas cookies. But something made me take action.
I started to research: What kind of training's involved, what gear I would need, what event I'd attempt and cobbled together a plan.
I found an Olympic distance triathlon held on my birthday, June 6, signed up and started training in January. And so I've committed to train for an event where I'll swim almost a mile in open water, bike 25 miles and then, just for the heck of it, run a 10k.
The plan seemed perfectly reasonable. But as I make it to the end of the pool, stand up, pull off my goggles and catch my breath, I ask myself again: Why do people do this to themselves?
After all, this is a sport that requires competency in three different disciplines. This is a sport that requires the endurance to complete one event after the other after the other, with only minutes between them. This is a sport that requires a strong commitment to set a plan and to follow through.
Talk to different people and you'll get different motivations. One of my training partners, Patty Solberg of Santa Rosa told me, "I decided to do it because I'd been slacking in my exercise routine and it seemed like having a goal to work towards would make me more diligent about working out."
At Beginnertriathlete.com, a great online resource for advice, inspiration and training plans, the forums are full of stories about motivation.
Site owner Ron Shea, from Akron, Ohio, started the site after he completed his first triathlon.
"I was asked to participate in a corporate challenge four years ago. The swim was on Friday, bike Saturday, run on Sunday. I guess that is where I got the bug and then decided the following summer to train for an Olympic distance triathlon."
Many people do it for a very popular reason: They want to get in shape. Time crept up on them, along with the pounds. They made a commitment to lose 25, 50 even 100 pounds by training for a triathlon, and succeeded -- in both.
Michael Pate chronicled his first year of training for triathlons in his book, When Big Boys Tri. A self-confessed couch potato, Michael started at 370 pounds and short bike rides around the neighborhood. Now he has a Web site where he lists fitness goals that include new events and quicker race results.
"I realized that I had to get in shape so that my wife had a better chance of having a husband in a few years and my son would have a father," said Pate.
When asked why he still does them, Pate says, "I got hooked on the people that I was around and hooked on the training. For the first time in my life I was getting in better shape and was doing it in a healthy way."
And then there are those who do it to prove others wrong.
"I guess, to put it simply -- because someone said I couldn't," says Berkeley resident Dana Lundblad.
With that motivation, she completed a triathlon and found a new self- confidence: "I've done things I never thought I could, and I've tried things I never dared to try since then. And I'll never be pro, I'll never be the best, but I will definitely be happy. And I won't let doubt or fear or insecurity defeat me," she said.
I stand in the water, my pulse back within normal limits, and watch the swimmers around me. I'm ready to get out, hit the showers and go home, but I don't.
I'm doing this to quiet the voice in my head that says I can't. I'm doing this because I feel good when I reach a new milestone, when I train better than the day before. I'm doing this to set a good example for my seven-year-old son and make him proud of me.
Training has its good days and its bad days. Some days I feel I could exercise forever and I carry that high with me into every other aspect of my life. Others I feel like picking up my shoes, bike and swimsuit and holding a bonfire in my front yard.
So I look to my motivation to continue on and visualize myself crossing the finish line the day of my 35th birthday, my goal complete.
With that, the swim goggles go back on, I take a deep breath and continue with my laps.
Nancy Tomaro is a recreational athlete who's training for a triathlon by her 35th birthday. Check out her blog at triby35.typepad.com, which provides insight into her training regimen, info about gear and diet, and links to other relevant sites. Nancy would love to hear from you. If you've got advice, questions, inspirational quotes or other sites or resources to share feel free to email her at ntomaro@sbcglobal.net.