Editor’s special project: 150 days to my first triathlon start

Is 150 days a lot or not enough? Is it possible to change yourself, your body, your thoughts and habits in 150 days? This is a philosophical question, and most of the time it depends on the person. Is it possible for 150 days to learn to run and not to choke after the third lap, to swim crawl not “for the soul” but “for speed”, to sit on a highway bike, to hook your feet to the pedals and to ride without panic and fear for your own life? It’s a much more realistic question, and we’re one hundred percent sure it’s possible.

Each week, as part of our special project “150 Days to My First Triathlon Start”, we will publish here one very useful and informative article on triathlon topics. We will tell you how to choose a coach, balance your training regimen, decide on a start and distance, save money on equipment, choose the most useful smart watch and dive into the world of “Garmin-dependent”, successful and “steely” people. But before we start, we want you to get motivated and, who knows, maybe you’ll venture down this path with us. In the first article in the series, we offer an insight into what a “triathlon” is and why thousands of people around the world choose this challenging, “iron” path day in and day out.

Triathlon is more than IRONMAN

Many people hear “triathlon” and immediately think of IRONMAN, and then say “it’s not for me” or “I can’t do that”. But triathlon is not only IRONMAN, triathlon is a way, a culture of sports behavior, if you want, even a philosophy. And IRONMAN is just a point, a checkpoint to measure your capabilities or the most incredible challenge you can organize for yourself.

IRONMAN is a series of long-distance triathlon events organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). Each individual race of the series consists of three stages held in the following order without interruption: open water swim – 3.86 km, road cycling – 180.25 km and marathon race – 42.195 km.

Much more important and interesting are the opportunities and qualities that this sport develops, much more important is the process and the road to the start. Maybe you will never run this “iron distance” and make your goal the fastest sprint or Olympic distance, but you will definitely realize that your whole life will be divided into “before” and “after” the first training.

A trial triathlon workout is a reflection of your life

At my first triathlon training session, my mentor, five-time IRONMAN Vika Shubina told me that she only needs to look at one person’s trial run to tell them why things are going wrong in their life. I was very surprised at the time, because after all, a coach is a coach, not a psychologist or a spiritual coach.

But everything turned out to be much simpler, our body and our brain really work and make decisions in exactly the same way, even in those different cases when we need to overcome a sporting distance or make a favorable deal at work. It’s a question of approach, stamina and the ability to distribute your forces. You know how it happens: you make a deal or start a project, put all your physical and emotional strength into it, and at the very final point of agreements or realization, something starts to go wrong? Well, this is never better seen during the most ordinary hour-long startup in INDOOR conditions.

I remember that back then, in April, all my activity peaked in the middle of it, coming out of the pool, spinning off the bike, as Vika says, “for all the money,” and then almost going crazy at the thought that I had another twenty hellish minutes on the track. At that very workout, Vika pushed me to speed nine on the track and all I could say at the time was that I wouldn’t run longer than two minutes like that. Running, I think, at six or seven km/h (well, like running, I would say more accurately: walking).

Changing lives through the philosophy of triathlon training

A lot has changed since then, now I know for sure that finishing a workout at the peak is a pure high. And so it is in everything: finishing a project on a major note, or a meeting, or the banal end of a work day. That’s the principle behind triathlon training. You will never overcome IRONMAN if you can’t calculate your strength, if you can’t distribute yourself over the distance. When I watched the broadcast from the World Triathlon Championships from Kona, I saw people running to the finish line. You know, running, at a decent speed, smiling, and behind each of them is not just a marathon 42 km, but also water and 180 km on a bike. And they’re running, can you imagine? It’s an incredible feeling, even when you are on the other side of the computer screen, you still get goosebumps.

At such moments you realize that maybe I didn’t come to triathlon for an “iron” finish in Kona, but I came to triathlon to change the quality of my life and transform my thoughts, approach to business, to start making my plans come true and be realized, instead of falling into a distant desk drawer. The best part is that this transformation starts to happen on its own, it’s something like a self-preservation instinct, when the body teaches the brain how to distribute itself, it’s magic.

Triathlon is about you and what’s behind you

Beyond all of the above, triathlon is about people and friendship. Yes, some may say that the race and the distance are all about being at one with yourself and your thoughts, but behind every triathlete’s result is a competent coach, reliable teammates and a very understanding family: wives who know that their husbands can really ride a bike for three hours in the evenings at the fitness club and husbands who are proud of their “iron” girls’ successes, buy Garmin watches, cycling uniforms and Hoka sneakers for March 8th because they have to. And in the end, when you think about all of this, the sport of conformists and one-liners is seen in a completely different light.

Also, speaking about myself, I really like practicing in a team. We sometimes come to training after a hard workday or early Saturday morning, we look at each other with the girls and realize that if it were not for the team, we would not have reached the gym. Or how can you not work on your running technique when your fellow teammate Nastia is running next to you on the mechanical track and, judging by the sound and speed, a little more and we will all take off. Teammates and a good coach are the best things that can happen to you in a sport.

Triathlon is all about variety

And not to put it any other way, and that diversity is in everything. In choosing a location for your first start: Monaco, USA or maybe the coast of Abkhazia? In choosing a beautiful outfit for training, a starter suit, a road bike or a hydride for an open water swim. But the biggest and most important variety for me is that the body doesn’t get used to the workouts. Yesterday you had a functional training session, today you’re running through a snowy park because you have homework (that’s the kind of thing we still have), and tomorrow you’re swimming and learning your crawl technique in the pool, and oh yeah, on Sunday there’s also yoga or interval training on bikes or something new. So it comes out that this variety in training is what gets you to your main goals, and also helps your body develop properly and organically. For me triathlon, as well as for many people who started doing this sport, is something very personal. Since August I have lost 6 kilograms, learned to sleep well and to get up disciplined in the morning with an incredible desire to do a lot of things. Everyone will certainly find something different in it, you just have to start.

I see a goal, I go to it

Now my goal is to prepare for the first distance and the first start in May, I promise that within the project we will lay out all the details and understand all the intricacies, together we will register for the start, pack a suitcase for the trip, pick up gel and isotonics for the distance and, at least, come up with a couple of motivational posts for Instagram.

Every 10 days we will publish new material here in the section, there will be lots of insights, webinars, training plans and opportunities to find out all the information from the source. Every day something new and useful will be published in our Telegram channel (except for the New Year holidays). Subscribe and send us your questions, we’re interested to know what you’d like to read about.