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Triathlon and weight loss goal

Toban

Veteran

I debated whether to share this off topic post but you’ve all been so supportive. At the begining of the year I planned exercise/event goals to change the focus from solely weight loss. My reaching my goal weight loss of 75 lbs coincided nicely with my first of these event goals. A women’s only mini-sprint triathlon. 400 yd pool swim, 8 mile bike and 2 mile run two weeks ago. Of course I needed new clothes for it and runcarla very wonderfully provided suggestions. Here’s pics of me in my kit to be semi on topic. Hot pink!

The race went amazingly (well, the swim would be classified only as tolerable). It was a small event catering to beginners, but I was 6th overall and WON my age group!!!! I found out yesterday that this qualifies me to go to the US National age group championship in the Olympic Distance (3-4 times longer) in August !!! Unreal! I’ve been training those distances and my husband, family, friends, personal trainer, and swim coach all say GO FOR IT. I’ve struggled all day to come up with a reason to not do it, but not a single reason came up. So pending continued good health and no injuries it looks like I am going to go. My plan is to enjoy the event and enjoy racing among fast women as a one of a kind experience. And celebrate being strong, which is the more important to me than my weight. Our bodies can do amazing things.

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30 replies

Latest reply was from columbine(erin)

Anonymous

Woohoo! Congratulations on your accomplishments. You just got moved to “my hero “ list.

Joyce B

Veteran

Great job Toban! Enjoy the next event, wow, you are doing excellent. Now you are motivating me to start jogging again.

rachylou

Veteran

Sweet!

Jane

Veteran

Yay! What a great result, well done, amazing! Good to celebrate being strong!

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Awesome! Congrats!

I considered doing this a few years ago when I was running more. These days I could handle the swim (I think) and the bike, but my running really sucks. I go about a mile and then walk break, then alternate running and walking for 2-4 miles depending. I'd have to train myself to break past my one-mile barrier again.

Toban

Veteran

Thank you, efbgen, joyce, rachylou, jane and janet! I appreciate your support!

Janet, I started running in mid-January using a run/walk plan. After a 5 min walk warm up, I started with 30s run/90 s walk intervals until I hit the 20-25 minute mark. I added 30s to the run portion every 1-2 sessions (depending on how the previous one went) and reduced walk interval to 60 s. By the time I was doing 4 min run intervals I was ready to try 20 minute continuous. Perhaps breaking up your run like this rather than having a long run stretch might help you reintroduce it?

Anonymous

You are awesome! Yes, go for it, and the only reason not to would be injuries.

Anonymous

Wow - I am in awe of you and what you've done over this past year! Triathlons petrify me- specifically the mass of bodies thrashing around on top of each other at the beginning of the swim part . Your racing form looks great!

Toban

Veteran

Thank you, smittie and lisa. The swim terrifies me, too. It’s my weakest link. I do fine on my own in a pool but in a race I have a lot of swim demons to conquer.

Chris987

Veteran

So inspirational, really wonderful. Keep it up and let us know how it goes!

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Congratulations, Toban! This is exciting news! So impressed with your dedication and focus, not to mention your sense of fun.

Runcarla

Veteran

FYI, if you make the national team in your age group (top 10) you qualify for the ITU Age Group World Championships for the next year. The September 2019 grand finale will be held in Lausanne, Switzerland!

FWIW, when I qualified at our national event in 2016 I weighed 145lbs. I trained super hard for the grand finale in 2017 and competed at 135lbs. 8 months later I'm still at the lower weight, even though I'm not working out as hard.

It took me 3 attempts at Nationals before I qualified. Twice I was 11th, 3rd time was the charm. I qualified for the Canadian team and I participated in the Sprint distance. I imagine that competition is pretty fierce in the US.

Toban, congratulations on your accomplishments!

Toban

Veteran

Thanks, Chris, Suz and Carla! I have the world’s best training buddy and cheerleader in my husband that helps keep it lots of fun. He doesn’t do triathlons yet he does almost all the same training alongside me.

Carla, thanks for sharing your story! The top 18 per age group qualify to represent Team USA for Lausanne. I have no expectation of meeting that ranking. I expect based on last year’s results and my pacing to be right in the middle of the pack overall. But what an opportunity to be there! I am working mostly on my head game in the swim and to swim my swim. I hope to get some open water practice in June and July that help with that!

Barbara Diane

Veteran

Wow! Congratulations. All your hard work is really paying off.

JAileen

Veteran

I’m so impressed! Congratulations!

Aquamarine

Veteran

What an accomplishment! Congratulations! Go for it!

Ginkgo

Veteran

Congratulations, this is so great! I admire you for setting your goals for both losing weight and exercise and then methodically doing the hard work to achieve them. It's so easy to slack off as I well know; anyway you have inspired me to try the 30s walk, 90s run intervals. Good luck, I look forward to hearing about your experience in the Nationals.

Sal

Veteran

Well done Toban on this great achievement - you obviously have some great speed!!

Yes go for it - it is great to be heading off there and the distances sound achievable if you are already doing them. I also have found the swim a nerveracking experience but I just hung back a little bit so I was not amidst the real thick of it. I have done four open water swims/triathlons so I am not an expert at all.

RobinF

Veteran

Congrats to you! Very impressive, the weight loss but even more so the triathlon!

Anonymous

This is such incredible news. Congratulations on so many DIFFERENT LEVELS.

kkards

Veteran

Oh My Goodness....i'm so impressed!
Congratulations!

Toban

Veteran

Thank you, Barbara, JAileen, Aquamarine, Gingko, Sal, Robin, Sterling and kkards!!!

I’ve spent most of the past two days (after learning that I was qualified) calling myself pack fodder and an ‘imposter’ that doesn’t belong, especially since I’ve not raced the distance. It’s so nice to come here and hear your support. I’m still planning on doing it, though! I’m not fast but have a good ability to stay at a hard effort for a long time. I used to do ultra-distance cycling events. These weren’t races but they tested your endurance at cycling events from 125 to 720 miles in length. However, I was injured, then reduced my exercise to a more typical load and turned my focus to my work and my weight crept up. These ultra events had given me great mental strength to endure discomfort. I’m finding it enjoyable to train three sports rather than single focus on just cycling. It’s all crazy, really. But I’m loving having an athletic focused life again.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Toban, your training sounds really sensible, similar to how I worked my way up to running in the first place (7 years ago, and I had never run before in my life, I trained with Team in Training to do my first half marathon).

Even after three half marathons and a few other running events, I still didn't think of myself as a runner or an athlete. Even after riding my first century bike ride or riding across the entire state of Iowa, I still don't think of myself as an athlete. It's funny how much it takes to overcome the "imposter" syndrome. Even though I'm not fast (especially when it comes to running!), I get it done. So I totally understand what you are saying! However, I never did ANYTHING athletic ever, other than swimming some laps and leisurely bike riding, until I was 45. I astounded myself and everyone who knows me well by taking on the challenges I did. So I'm seriously applauding you for resuming this!

I think about working my way back up to at least a 10K. I stopped running any kind of distance after my hysterectomy a few years ago, and have never stepped up the level of training I did back then. I lost weight while running but not while cycling, although I think cycling did good things for my legs. Now I'm doing more yoga to get a more rounded full-body workout with more stretching and flexibility, because last year I had a shoulder issue that got in the way of pretty much anything. I feel like I need a new challenge, but I don't know what it should be! Your story is inspiring to me.

Toban

Veteran

Janet, thank you for sharing. I have been reading many inspirational stories of athletic success by women that never previously competed and only found their way to serious sport in their 40s. In fact, it seems like we come into our own then. I’ve learned to add the word ‘yet’ to any sentence saying “I’can’t do X .... yet”. Then, if I really want it, I try to break it down into pieces and progressive steps. For instance, I wanted to be able to do pull ups. It took me 3 months of focused progressive work to get there, but I can do them now! Find your goal and break it down into steps. You can absolutely get your 10k distance healthily in about 12-16 weeks or achieve whatever other goal you decide on. That said, the HARDEST part is what you said — the mental part about imposter syndrome and not considering yourself an athlete. It was a hard hurdle for to call myself an athlete because I didn’t think I looked like one - regardless of my 10+ hours of training per week. We’re our own biggest limiters.

Style Fan

Veteran

Congratulations! I am impressed. I use to run but I never got into swimming and biking.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

CONGRATULATIONS. You are amazing.

unfrumped

Veteran

Fabulous!

I don’t have a competition goal at this point; instead I have a “ carry my grandson “ and “ be able to hoist my own ( overpacked) suitcase into the overhead bin” goals. I intend more than that, but it speaks to the point of functional goals and not weight numbers.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Nodding along with you, Toban.

Just yesterday I was on the road where I finished my first half marathon, and remembering that I did that almost exactly seven years ago to the day. I hadn't run a step since middle school until February of that year. So I somehow went from not running at all, to running (with walk breaks) 13.1 miles in less than four months. That is a pretty incredible testimony to the power of training, and what the human body is capable of, when a sedentary 45yo woman can go from zero to a pretty solid accomplishment in that short of a time! I gained respect for myself that I never really had before. It's an empowering thing to challenge yourself and achieve something you never thought possible. I cried when I finished that first half marathon, it was such an emotional thing!

Toban

Veteran

Thank you, Style Fan, Angie, and unfrumped. I appreciate your support.

Unfrumped, functional goals like yours are excellent motivation! Asking “why” do I want this helps get me off the couch.

Janet, that’s an amazing story! The power of consistency and progression and motivation combined. Bite size pieces get us to amazing achievements! I have had such an upswelling of emotion learning that I had qualified for National age group championships, given that I weighed 50% heavier 15 months ago than I do today. It is an unreal feeling.

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