triathlon

The question I'm asked most often, when people find out that I'm training for a triathlon, is: how do you find the time? As a mother of four children under the age of 10, and a part-time writer, the truth is, sometimes even I'm not entirely sure. But one thing I know for certain: I'm no superwoman.

If nothing else, preparing for a triathlon has given me an appreciation for cross-training. Over the years, I've been a dabbler: a hatha yoga class here, an evening jog there. But I've never kept up anything for very long, or with any consistency, let alone alternated between more than one activity.

Goals. I've set myself a big one, a challenge for a not-particularly athletic mother of small children: complete a triathlon. But I'm starting from scratch and will need about a year to prepare. As I ease my way into training, the big goal seems to stretch farther and farther away. It becomes a maybe-triathlon, a haze on the horizon. "I don't feel like getting up for a run," I say to my husband. "So stay in bed," says he. "But if I don't get up every time I don't feel like it," I say, "I'll never go for a run."

In a month and a half, when I find myself trembling at the starting line of my first triathlon, I'll be on my own. But I won't be alone. All of the friends who have helped me during training will be swimming, cycling, and running alongside, too, invisible to everyone but me.

To compete in a triathlon, you need to be able to do three things: swim, bike, and run. But let's face it, if you hope to have fun on race-day, you need not only to be able to do these things, but to do them reasonably well. This is where training comes in: building endurance and skill, over time.