September 2, 2020 • 39 mins
The more reasons you have not to do a triathlon, the more you should do one. That's right! Aiming to do a triathlon of any length can be a wonderful way to give yourself a peek into the confidence-boosting benefits of exercise, all while you become a well-rounded athlete in the process. Tom breaks down his reasons as to why he does triathlons, and why he thinks you should too.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is Fitness Disrupted. Seven
reasons you should absolutely do a triathlon. If you've never
(00:23):
done a triathlon and you are listening to this podcast,
you have to do one. And I know so many
of you are listening going not a chance. And you
have your reasons, you have your what you consider good reasons.
I'll call them excuses, or you may say no, it's
not an excuse, and I'm gonna go through them, and
(00:45):
I'm gonna tell you why every single reason you think
you shouldn't do a triathlon or you can't do a
triathlon are the very reasons you should and you have to,
all right. So we're gonna go through all the reasons
(01:06):
you should and all of those obstacles you think are
in your way, and you're gonna sign up for a triathlon,
all right. So talking about triathlons, now, I've done many.
I've talked about it on just about all the podcasts
where it makes sense to talk about them. And the
(01:26):
reasons I'm gonna give are the very same reasons I
started doing them many years ago. And let me say this,
and I know it may sound a little looney, but
I don't consider myself a triathlete. I also don't consider
myself a cyclist or runner. These are just things I do, okay,
and the reasons I started doing them again, I'm gonna
go through them because they're the very reasons you should.
(01:49):
But I'm not. I'm not a triathlete. I'm just someone
who likes to move and likes to you know, get
outside and do these things. And my first book was
The Twelve Week Triathlete and amazing a pumplishment for me,
my first book, and it came out of doing all
of these triathlons. And my opening introduction is about how
(02:10):
this is what we did when we were kids, swim,
bike and run. That was like a great summer day
when you were a kid. You swam, you ran a little,
you biked, and you did it for fun. And why
we change as we go, you know, get older, we
don't have to when we shouldn't. And so swimming, biking
(02:34):
and running, and by the way, that is the order.
I know many people there's so many misconceptions about triathlons,
and at the very end, I'm gonna give you the
distances you know, many people know iron Man and they
think that all triathlons are crazy distances, and they're not.
And that's one reason you should do one. But it's swim,
(02:55):
bike run, And I often say because if swim were
the final leg would be a problem. Right when you're
biking running, you can just slow down. Swimming in water,
open water, depending on where you're doing it, that can
be a challenge. And I can talk about that. Swimming
is quite often the barrier for most people. It was
and still to this day, is my weakest of the three.
(03:18):
And when I started, when I did my first iron Man,
suffice it to say I was not a good swimmer
at all. And and that's being nice to myself, all right,
So every reason you think you shouldn't do a triathlon
(03:38):
are the very reasons you should. Okay, And when we
come back from the first quick break, I'm gonna talk
about age, and I'm going to give you three different athletes,
male and female, who are doing triathlons way past when
you think you should be able to do it. All right,
(03:59):
quick break, when we come back to talk about an
eight seven year old triathlete who did the Hawaii iron Man,
I'm going to talk about one of my favorite female
triathletes of all time, Sister Madonna Boodher, a nun who
has been doing them forever, just did another triathlon at
age ninety. So for those of you who think you're
too old, stay tuned. We'll be right back. Seven reasons
(04:32):
you should absolutely do a triathlon now. I don't want
you to tune me out. And I know many of
you are listening to going there's not a chance, Tom,
I don't care. I'm not doing a triathlon. Hear me out,
hear me out. Okay, So let's just start with that
age reason I'm too old. You're too old, really, okay,
So let's go through. I'm just gonna give you three
(04:54):
different examples and some of the best. All right, Hiromu
in the the aged eighty seven. He just won a
Guinness World Record for doing what He was the oldest
person to compete and complete the iron Man World Championships.
Fortunate I got there twice. Did it twice. It is
the Championships, it is on Hawaii, ancona brutal conditions, one
(05:20):
of the most magical events you could ever witness and
participate in, and Hiromo did it at eighty five years
old and three eight days, so almost And this was
back in two thousand eighteen, all right, And for those
of you who don't know an iron Man two point
four miles swim, hundred and twelve mile bike ride, and
(05:42):
a full marathon twenty six point two mile run, okay,
and rom w did it in sixteen hours, fifty three
minutes and forty nine seconds. And iron Man to be official,
you need to finish in seventeen hours or less. So
how amazing seven minutes to spare age eighty five at
(06:04):
the time he did it. Here's my favorite part of
this though, which that that alone is amazing. Right, Yeah,
Hiromu started swimming and running and bought a bike at
the tender young age of sixty nine. Sixty nine. Many
(06:26):
of you who think you're too old to do something runners,
Many runners who started at a young age beat themselves up.
They didn't train well, so they experienced injuries. So oftentimes
many people who start running and biking and swimming later
in life are almost better off then those people who
(06:47):
didn't do it right way back. Went. Now, I have
to I'm not saying that running is bad for you.
Of course it's not. But you have to do it correctly,
and oftentimes bad coaches and overtraining and things like that
for super competitive people, they run in of issues. So
that's actually a reason that people who start later in
life can be better off, as counterintuitive as that may sound.
(07:09):
Started at sixty nine, finished the Hawaii iron Man at
eighty five. And here's the final thing for her Romo.
He's not done. He wants to do it again. So
races have been canceled as I record this show, but
he's training to do it again, and I think he's
gonna be if I'm not mistaken. Ninety somewhere around ninety
(07:30):
back to the Hawaii iron Man. Amazing, and I talked
about sister Madonna Bodder, amazing triathlete. When I first started,
you know, many decades ago, doing triathlon, she was doing
it and she's still doing it today. She's a nun.
She was the oldest woman to ever finish an iron Man.
She was eighty two when she finished iron Man Canada
(07:51):
in two thousand twelve, and she's still going. She's still
setting records for the sport. Okay, she's been covered and featured.
You may have seen her on NBC iron Man World
championship coverage over the years, and just as she's inspired
so many people amazing at seventy five she was the
oldest to finish and then went back and did it
seven years later. Right, so continues, and at eighty nine
(08:15):
she's still racing. She's not doing iron Man, or didn't
do it that year as as far as I know.
Obviously she would have set a record for being even older.
But she's doing triathlons. And again, I will give you
the different distances at the end. Iron Man, is this
the most Well, it's not. There's it's it's a it's
a far distance, but you don't have to do an
iron Man, and most of you won't. Most of you
(08:36):
are gonna do a sprint and maybe an Olympic. And
I'll give you those distances shortly, but again, Sister Madonna Buddha.
She finished third last year at the USA Triathlon National
Championships in the eighty five plus category. And finally, Bill
bell I did a fit tip kind of a tribute
to Bill bell another older gentleman who recently passed but
(09:01):
was racing. Uh started racing late in life, continued racing
way into seventies and eighties amazing. So if you want
to quick inspiration, listen to the fit Tips short show
I did on Bill Bell. So age is not a factor, people,
Age is not a factor, all right, and let's go
right into the points now. Number one reason you should
(09:23):
do a triathlon. It is the absolute perfect goal. So
when we talk about success in fitness, it's about goal setting,
and quite often the goals that people set are completely
flawed from the outset, and it's like trying to, you know,
go somewhere with bad directions. You're not gonna achieve. You're
not gonna get to your destination when your directions are
(09:46):
completely screwed up to begin with. And that goes for
goal setting, and quite often it's weight loss goals and
crazy weight loss goals and crazy dieting goals and even
crazy exercise goals too much, too soon. I often talk
about when I was a trainer and I would set
goals for people and they go, this isn't enough. I go, no,
(10:08):
it is. It's about consistency, small goals over time, building
towards the bigger goal. And so a triathlon is a
perfect perfect goal for exercise on every single level, and
it will lead to other reasons okay, but when we
(10:29):
talk about goal setting, one of the top things we
want when we set goals for ourselves is a date
for that goal, right, hard date. So's something to work for,
And that is exactly what a triathlon does. You have
a date and you generally you're gonna set it months
(10:49):
down the road, and you have something to work for.
And why is that important? It gives your workouts structure
and purpose and hopefully, if you do it right, it
makes them fun. But structure and purpose is everything because
now you're gonna work backwards. So you say, okay, I'm
doing a sprint triathlon in four months, and now you
(11:13):
know who you will figure out what your workouts are
going to be. It gives you a reason to go
to the gym. It gives you a reason to go
down to your home gym. It gives you a reason
to go out for a run or a bike or
a swim. You have purpose, You are working towards something.
When you're just out going to the gym to look
good to lose weight, that can be really challenging for
(11:38):
all the reasons I've talked about in so many other podcasts,
And here is the most amazing takeaway when it comes
to that the goal setting, when you take your focus
off of looking good and losing weight, that's when it happens.
So many clients over the years I talked into doing
a triathlon for all of these reasons. They came to
(11:58):
me with a weight law school. They came to me
with a goal of looking better, and I said, Okay,
let's do an event. Let's do a triathlon. And like you,
they said, you're nuts, not a chance. But we did,
and they achieved the weight loss goals, often exceeded. They
achieved the vanity goals, but most importantly, they achieved the
(12:24):
self efficacy goals that I'm going to talk about. Goal
that I'll talk about in one of the final reasons
you should do a triathlon, all right, so perfect go
a date gives your workout structure purpose, You have a plan,
and now you're going to wake up in the morning
and know exactly what you're gonna do. And I often
coached people so after I transitioned out of personal training
(12:46):
and they overlapped. But I did a lot of coaching online,
especially designing workouts for people doing running races, marathons, half marathons,
and triathlons. Of all distances and other races. And one
of the major it fits to the client was they
wake up in the morning, they have the workout from me,
and any of you that have worked with a coach
(13:06):
know this. You go, now, I know I'm gonna run
three miles or I'm gonna swim for a half hour.
I'm gonna go to the gym and do five minutes
of strength training. You have a purpose and you know
when you're finished. There is a sense of satisfaction from
every workout when you know what you're supposed to do
and you know when you're done. Many of you get
on the elliptical, go what do I do I do
(13:28):
twenty minutes? Do I do thirty minutes? How many cowies
do I need to burn? How do I know? Know?
When you train for an event, it's not about the
colories burned. It's not You're just going to do these
workouts and you're gonna know when you're done. And that
is so powerful. And this leads right to number two
and what I've been talking about for the first fifteen
(13:48):
minutes of the show. It's challenging for many of your
people who are still listening. I hope and haven't totally
dismissed the idea. This is the very reason you should
do it. It's challenging. You go, Tom, I can't swim, awesome,
it just takes swim lessons. I could barely swim. When
(14:09):
I signed up for my first triathlon, which was a sprint,
and that triathlon was building to my Iron Man, I
pretty much decided I was doing the Iron Man when
I still couldn't swim. Now, I grew up swimming, you know,
in the ocean and riding waves and things, so I
could swim, but not this way. And it was never
on a swim team, never put on a pair of
(14:29):
goggles all right, or a swim cap or a wetsuit.
And it scared the heck out of me. But that
is what makes it so powerful, and especially when you
complete it. But if your goals don't scare you a
little bit, they're not big enough. How many times have
we seen that, you know, meme, And but it is
(14:50):
so true. Your goals have to be scary, challenging, and
and the satisfaction, the self efficacy that comes out of
that enormous, enormous and for you it might not be
the swimming. You can may go, Hey, I grew up swimming. Tom,
I don't know what your problem is. It's the running
(15:11):
that scares me, or the biking that scares me, or
just all three things together. Great? Great, And for many
of you like me who have kids, do we tell
them to shy away from the challenges. And you know what,
I'm gonna add an eighth reason in the I don't
even think of as I was preparing the show. It's
still the title will be seven. But the eighth reason
(15:33):
I'm just gonna throw this out there right now that
you should do it is to be a great role
model for your kids. I can't believe I left that out.
I'm throwing it in right now. All right there, you
gotta see mom dad both challenging themselves doing something that
the kids know. Wow, they're doing something that scares them.
Maybe maybe I should too. All right, there you go,
(15:55):
just throwing an extra one. But the challenging aspect is
one why you should. Now you may say, Tom, I
can't run, I have pain. Well you're gonna figure it out.
You're gonna figure it out and sprint triathlons. So often
for people who have the running related issues swimming and
(16:17):
biking first, sure, you're not gonna run super fast, but
that warm up is oftentimes immeasurably helpful to so many
running related issues by the time you get to the run,
and you will be tired, but you won't have those
issues quite often that you have when you just go
out for a run because the body's warmed up in
(16:37):
a unique way. All right, But you're gonna work on
that weakness. That one reason, if it is the swim
or the bike, or the run or all three together
that scares you, that is challenging to you, that's exactly
why you should do it, and that will give you're
training that much more purpose. You'll be that much more
(16:59):
excited about it. So the challenge is good, all right.
And number three one of the top reasons I started
doing them way back when, if not the goal setting
was huge for me. But number three is it is
forced cross training. How many times in fitness disrupted in
(17:21):
the last year of doing this podcast have I talked
about variation and cross training and how we need to
do things that we don't normally do. How there are
five components of fitness, and most people do one, the
one you're good at, the one you're genetically predisposed to
do and that's where problems happen. Just lifting weights heavy
not the way to do it. Just doing long distance
(17:42):
cardio not the way to do it. Just doing yoga,
you're not gonna be well balanced, and most likely you're
gonna have issues. We need to do all of these
things a little bit, not a lot. And when you
sign up for a triathlon, you are now doing forced
cross training. You have to swim, bike, run, and I
always throw in that fourth you have to strength train.
(18:04):
But you don't do a lot of any one thing.
And that's what's so amazing. People I don't have the time.
Oh yeah you do, especially if you're doing a sprint
or even believe it, even the longer distances, even iron Man,
And yes I did many, so I had a base
of strength, but it was quality over quantity. There are
so many people that train way too hard, do way
(18:28):
too much volume, and they get hurt. So when you
do a little bit of swimming, a little bit of biking,
a little bit of running, some strength training, some flexibility,
and that's what triathlons call for, you're gonna be healthier
than you've ever been in your lifetime. And yes I
had to drag myself to the pool. Even today, I
(18:51):
enjoy it more than I did way back when because
I'm better at it. Still not great at it, and
it's not my favorite thing to do, but I know
how good it is for me, and when I don't
have to go five days a week and swim five
days a week. Although many triathletes do and I did
way back when, I didn't get that much better though it.
(19:12):
To be honest, I didn't get much faster. It's just
less tired. But that's the other beautiful thing, by the way,
about triathlon, you don't have to be great if you
want to go fast, which most of you you're listening
to go. I don't even want to do one, tom
I couldn't care less about how fast I go. It's
about completing it. And over time I'll talk about how
there's very few people that end up doing one of
any type of race, but the first couple of races,
(19:35):
that's the goal. It's just to finish and have a
good time and ideally want to do one again. Okay,
so you do a little of everything. It is the
greatest form of cross training forced for cross training that
I know, that I know and true balanced health comes
from doing a bunch of different modes of exercise. So
(19:57):
there you go, all right, you know what one five,
don't break and when we come back, even though I
threw in that extra one for more reasons you should
do a triathlon, and I'm not gonna give you the distances,
and then you're going to go and sign up for one. Now,
I know that most races are, you know, canceled as
of recording this show, but there are virtual races. And
(20:18):
here's the greatest thing. They're gonna come back, and now
you have time to train, final break. When we come back.
For more reasons you are going to sign up for
a triathlon, We'll be right back. Like how I changed
(20:43):
it now, the title is seven reasons you are going
to do your first triathlon? Uh. And I've written so
many articles for so many different magazines on this very topic.
I love it, and yes I'm biased, but I'm a convert.
I know how powerful it is. And that's one thing
I have always wanted to do with my business because
I was never going to coach someone to do something
(21:05):
that I couldn't speak to, especially triathlon. So yes, at
fifty one, I am still running and biking and swimming
and doing races and everything that's it's the lifestyle. And
to be totally honest, I don't know why you would
listen to anyone in the health and wellness industry who
aren't practicing what they preach really consistently over time. And
(21:26):
so I was so many of you listening who are saying,
not a chance. I was living in New York City.
I couldn't swim. I didn't own a bike. By the way,
I'll get to that. I didn't own a bike, and
you don't have to. But I did triathlons. I rented
a bike, I borrowed equipment, and it was one of
(21:47):
the most life changing things I've ever done. Okay, number four,
you can tie travel in my first iron Man New
Zealand when I was turning thirty on my birthday third
pre internet, I thought, this is the I'm going halfway
around the world because then no one can see me
(22:07):
in my hours of struggle. But it was so life changing.
So I tied travel into the triathlons. So if that's
something you want to do, listen. There are so many
triathlons probably where you live there all over the world.
But you can make it a destination for you and
your kids. So your spouse, your boyfriend, girlfriend, you can
(22:31):
have kids. There's kids triathlons, so you have that option.
And whenever I sign up, whenever I'm looking for spring breaks.
By the way, this is maybe sharing a little too
much with how nuttie I am, with what I love
my whole lifestyle. But when I'm booking, I try to
go somewhere different with the family every April, and somewhere warm.
(22:51):
I'm always looking for some races as well. I'm not
making the choice based on the race, but if I
find a great location and they're just happens to be
a five k half marathon, a triathlon, even better. But
you can start with that, you can say hey to
your family. And quite often now triathlons are doing just that.
(23:12):
They are having triathlons in locations like amusement parks and
places where you can go. You know, there's the Disney
World running races type things like that. So you can
make it a destination. You can make it a family affair,
whether your family is going to, you know, watch you
while you do your triathlon. But that's such a great
way is to connect travel and training and goal setting,
(23:37):
and it's a family affair. And again going back to
that extra eighth reason you should do a triathlon, my
goodness if your family is watching you finish. And I
loved It's gonna sound sexist, but I loved training moms
back in the day because so often, especially you know,
those of my age fifties, like, it wasn't as okay
(23:58):
to engage in these sports back when we were younger,
not for women. And so when you know, the daughters
see mom sprinting across the finish line of a triathlon,
that goes for sons as well. But it's just super powerful.
There's no downside. So travel and family and goal setting
(24:20):
and your kids seeing you challenging yourself so when you
think you can't, and the coach for the dads too,
I know there's many, there are many listening who think
they can't think how powerful that is for your kids
to see you're choosing a goal, working for it and
challenging yourself. All right. And number five reason, And this
(24:43):
is not talked about enough except on shows like mine.
You know they talk about is it diet, is it exercise,
blah blah blah. It's it's all of the above, I say,
because one leads to the other. So that's the fifth
reason signing up for a triathlon. Training for a triathlon
leads to other healthy habits, like eating healthier. The more
(25:07):
you exercise, the healthier you will start to eat. It happens.
I have watched it for decades. I have experienced it myself,
and there's a whole bunch of reasons why that happens.
One is, you look at your watching you say, I
just ran two miles three miles, I burned X number
(25:28):
of calories. I'd rather not undo that with three donuts
right after. And then another top reason is you feel
better about yourself. You swim, you bike, you run, you
strength train, and you want to fill your body with
healthier foods. It feels better. And that is one of
the most powerful concept concepts in exercise and nutrition that
(25:54):
has not talked about, that is not written about, that
is not understood, especially from people who don't live the lifestyle.
I'm not sacrificing anything by eating healthy. It's what my
body wants it what's it's what makes me feel good
that has changed over time. I did eat more of
the other stuff when I was younger, and over time
the more exercised I engaged in, the more my body
(26:15):
craved the other foods, and the more I enjoyed them.
And that can be you. I will say that over
and over and over again. So if you want to
clean up your eating, if you think you need to
go on a diet, sign up for a triathlon. Don't
sign up for that restrictive thirty day diet. Sign up
for a triathlon. And especially for those of you, oh
my goodness, who do have some weight to lose, this
(26:41):
is like one of the greatest reasons to start losing
that weight is because it's exponentially easier to run and
even to bike when you weigh less. And so the
more you exercise, the more that goal is off in
the distance, the better you feel about yourself. Other things
change as far as you're healthy, habits, sleep that changes.
(27:03):
You're tired, your body feels good. You've done all this exercise.
So many people on sleeping aids, pharmaceuticals, natural remedies. You
know what, the greatest natural remedy I've ever found, and
is supported by a heck of a lot of research. Exercise.
Exercise that will help you sleep exponentially. All Right, So
(27:24):
those eating sleeping, so many other side effects of signing
up for a triathlon, especially when you're doing all of
these different disciplines. You're can be tired, You're gonna feel
better about yourself, You're gonna eat better, all right. Number six.
One of my favorite terms in sports psychology self efficacy,
(27:46):
self efficacy, situational confidence. One day I'll tell my story
greater depth as far as stuff I haven't talked about,
but traveling the world, challenging myself to do these things,
to swim two point four miles when I couldn't swim
two point four you know, laps of the pool, much
less do it in a foreign country on my own. Essentially,
(28:09):
the confidence I got and have and continued to receive
from doing these things priceless. And that's why I started
the show by saying, the more you think you shouldn't
do a triathlon is the reason you should. It leads
to so much confidence. And that's not just the situational
confidence that hey, I could do it a triathlon. It
(28:33):
extends into all aspects of your life, positively obstacles, learning
to be in the moment, learning to not give up,
to keep moving forward, that things will always get be difficult,
no matter if if things will go wrong, but when
and by doing a triathlon, and that is you know
what are the toughest things about coaching people for a triathlon.
(28:56):
You give them everything, you set them up for everything,
all the possible scenarios that could go wrong, but something
or three other things will as well. And it's that resilience.
It's that grip that comes from challenging yourself and getting
through the unknown problems, things that you didn't foresee or
(29:18):
you're prepared for, but you know happened outside of your control,
and you get that self efficacy. Self efficacy is everything,
and I would argue it's been taken out of our
lives for so many people's lives. Staying safe, not challenging
ourselves one of the one of the worst things we
(29:39):
can do when it comes to feeling good about ourselves.
All right. And finally number seven, Yes, chances are really
strong you're gonna get hooked the one and Dunn's when
it comes to triathlons, marathons, all of the above almost negligible.
It is so rare. I've met a couple people who
(30:01):
have done one marathon, one triathlon and stopped. But chances are.
You're gonna get hooked and it's gonna lead to that lifestyle.
You're gonna feel better, you're gonna look better. You're gonna
be like Hi, Romu and Nada maybe at age eight seven,
still doing your races. But it's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle.
(30:26):
That's why over a hundred thousand people try to sign
up or sign up, try to get into the New
York City Marathon every year. There's a reason, there's a
reason we do these things. We challenge ourselves. They feel good.
And again, you don't have to do a marathon. I'm
gonna give you the distances in two seconds to bring
this all together. But you gotta pick that goal. You
(30:49):
gotta challenge yourself. And when it comes to so many
people saying, hey, Tom, I don't have the motivation, I
don't have the structure, you know, and beating themselves up
saying you don't have the discipline. You know. How you
get discipline? You pick a date and here's here's the
other thing. By the way, sign up and pay the money.
(31:10):
And the more money you can pay, how crazy does
this sound? Be invested in it. So if you're gonna
do a trip, do a trip, get in there, because
when you got money on the line and that event
is tied to that, you're gonna be that much more
likely to train to do it. And that's what it's about.
These These are the quote unquote secrets right to success
(31:33):
in fitness. It's not about motivation. It's about setting yourself
up for success, picking that goal, picking that event, investing
in it, you know, and if you want to get
a coach, this is a topic for another show, but
books and coaches. There's so many resources once you decide
to do this that weren't around, by the way, when
(31:53):
I did it, there was almost nothing, which is why
I suffered more than I probably should have for the
first couple of iron Man, but I enjoyed it that
much more too, all right, So you will hopefully get hooked,
and what you're gonna get hooked on is the lifestyle,
not triathlons. Again, and you might, you know, turn into
a triathlete when of like my crazy friends type. But again,
(32:16):
it's not about calling yourself anything. It's just about doing
healthy things for yourself and being successful at your program,
because that's what I want for you, all right. So
the distances there are basically and there are variations, especially
in the first one. But there are sprint triathlons, there
are Olympic, half, iron Man and iron Man. Now there's longer,
and there's variations, but by and large, talk to triathletes,
(32:37):
you read triathlon books, those are the four distances, and
so many people can and should start with that sprint.
And again there there is the most variation in this distance,
just because they're shorter and local um event organizers will
kind of play around with them. But generally speaking, you're
gonna swim about a half a mile, which is about
(32:59):
seven five demeters. Okay, that may sound scary to so
many of you, and good, but you can do it.
And by the way, you can swim whatever style you want.
The running joke is freestyle means you are free to
swim whatever way you want. Doggy paddle, breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke,
doesn't matter. All right, You're gonna bike around twelve point
(33:20):
four miles twenty k and you're gonna run, generally speaking
of five k, which is about three point one miles,
so anywhere I mean the fast guys around an hour
and change. It's about ninety minute workout. Again, depending on
your fitness level and the distances four the average person
ninety minutes. But you're gonna swim a little, you're gonna
(33:42):
bike a little, and you're gonna run a little, okay,
And that is the perfect ale for so many of you.
Find a sprint triathlon in your area in you know,
three or four or five, six months from now, and
that's gonna give your workouts purpose. And again there are
virtual races now as well. If you want to do that.
(34:02):
If that gets you excited and you're gonna be just
as motivated for that, you know, do a gut check
and see if that works for you. But if not,
I strongly encourage. Again. The weird thing now is is
that races are on hold, but that doesn't mean they're
not coming back, and that you have the perfect amount
of time to train, all right, So sprint distances for
(34:24):
so many of you perfect way to start, and then
you're gonna move up that after. You may do a
handful of sprints, you may stay there, you may never
do more than that, and that's awesome. But then there's
Olympic distance, which is basically one point five kilometers swim,
which is just under a mile. You're gonna bike around
forty KOs, which is miles just under and you're gonna
(34:46):
run a ten k, which is six miles. So swim
about a mile, bike about twenty five miles, and run
about six miles. And again this is now you're double
the distance or double the time roughly, you know, around
three hours. That's challenging for people, but a great goal,
a great goal for someone who might be fitter, and said,
you know, I mean, I encourage you to start at
(35:06):
the sprint level, but there are people that jump right
up to the Olympic. And finally you've got the half
iron Man and iron Man half iron Man. You are
doing a total of seventy point three miles, which is
a one point two miles swim, a fifty six mile bike,
and a half marathon which is thirteen point one and
obviously then an iron Man two point four miles, twelve
(35:28):
mile bike, and full marathon twenty six point two miles.
But please, as we wrap this up, if you are
listening and a triathlon sounds like the last thing you
should ever do and that you would think of doing,
you are the exact person who should do it. And again,
(35:49):
I know the aches and pains that you think are
gonna stand in your way. But that's why you go
to a coach, that's why you hire a trainer, That's
why you start eating books and eating better and figuring
out those issues. And I've said this about running so
many times when people told me they couldn't run. As
a trainer, I'd go, let's figure out why was it.
(36:11):
Your back hurts, your leg hurts, you have knee issues,
muscle imbalances, muscle weaknesses, flexibility issues so often fixable. And
when you're doing a sprint triathlon ninety minutes or so,
you're not going super fast and you're just trying to
finish each leg. And let me kind of end with this.
(36:34):
When I finished that swim of my first Iron Man, especially,
holy cow, the sense of satisfaction. And so that is
what you will find when you do as I say
and sign up for your triathlon. If swimming is what
really freaks you out, you finish that swim and you go,
oh my gosh, and then you're on the bike and
(36:56):
it's truly magical. People. And as one of my goals
as a coach, as someone in this industry is to
take you out of your comfort zone so you can
live your best life and the physical and the mental
are all connected. And I feel so fortunate to have
figured that out and have been able to do it.
And again, I did it on credit cards and you know,
(37:18):
a lot of cheap flights. But there was nothing that
I've invested in that has been more impactful in my
life then fitness and challenging myself and doing it over
and over. And you should too. Seven reasons and I
(37:39):
threw in an eight why you should do a triathlon.
Absolutely do one. Now I want to hear from you.
Tom h Fit is Twitter as well as Instagram. Tom
h Fit Fitness disrupted dot com and go there and
email me the questions you have about this. But I
want to hear from people who say, Tom, You're nuts,
(38:00):
there's no way. But actually I'm thinking of doing it,
and I signed up for this race. I want to
hear from you. I want to hear I want to
see that you're going to challenge yourself, that you're jumping off,
You're going I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm
gonna do it. I don't care if you're twenty or
e d And on a final note, my third final note,
(38:21):
I've raced with people in wheelchairs. I've raced with blind athletes,
one leg, you know, missing limbs, every issue known demand.
So whatever your reason you think you can't trust me,
trust me, you can listen to my show. I just
did with Sean Swarner. One long cancer twice that should
(38:43):
have killed him as a kid, totally different. I'm Deverest,
all right, There's so many stories, so do not short
change yourself. We have one life to live. We control
three things, how much we move, what we put into
our mouths, and yes, our attitude, our belief in what
we can do. And you need to believe in yourself.
I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted, Believing yourself. Fitness
(39:14):
Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Fitness Disrupted, a production of My Heart Radio.
I am Tom Holland, and this is Fitness Disrupted. Seven
reasons you should absolutely do a triathlon. If you've never
(00:23):
done a triathlon and you are listening to this podcast,
you have to do one. And I know so many
of you are listening going not a chance. And you
have your reasons, you have your what you consider good reasons.
I'll call them excuses, or you may say no, it's
not an excuse, and I'm gonna go through them, and
(00:45):
I'm gonna tell you why every single reason you think
you shouldn't do a triathlon or you can't do a
triathlon are the very reasons you should and you have to,
all right. So we're gonna go through all the reasons
(01:06):
you should and all of those obstacles you think are
in your way, and you're gonna sign up for a triathlon,
all right. So talking about triathlons, now, I've done many.
I've talked about it on just about all the podcasts
where it makes sense to talk about them. And the
(01:26):
reasons I'm gonna give are the very same reasons I
started doing them many years ago. And let me say this,
and I know it may sound a little looney, but
I don't consider myself a triathlete. I also don't consider
myself a cyclist or runner. These are just things I do, okay,
and the reasons I started doing them again, I'm gonna
go through them because they're the very reasons you should.
(01:49):
But I'm not. I'm not a triathlete. I'm just someone
who likes to move and likes to you know, get
outside and do these things. And my first book was
The Twelve Week Triathlete and amazing a pumplishment for me,
my first book, and it came out of doing all
of these triathlons. And my opening introduction is about how
(02:10):
this is what we did when we were kids, swim,
bike and run. That was like a great summer day
when you were a kid. You swam, you ran a little,
you biked, and you did it for fun. And why
we change as we go, you know, get older, we
don't have to when we shouldn't. And so swimming, biking
(02:34):
and running, and by the way, that is the order.
I know many people there's so many misconceptions about triathlons,
and at the very end, I'm gonna give you the
distances you know, many people know iron Man and they
think that all triathlons are crazy distances, and they're not.
And that's one reason you should do one. But it's swim,
(02:55):
bike run, And I often say because if swim were
the final leg would be a problem. Right when you're
biking running, you can just slow down. Swimming in water,
open water, depending on where you're doing it, that can
be a challenge. And I can talk about that. Swimming
is quite often the barrier for most people. It was
and still to this day, is my weakest of the three.
(03:18):
And when I started, when I did my first iron Man,
suffice it to say I was not a good swimmer
at all. And and that's being nice to myself, all right,
So every reason you think you shouldn't do a triathlon
(03:38):
are the very reasons you should. Okay, And when we
come back from the first quick break, I'm gonna talk
about age, and I'm going to give you three different athletes,
male and female, who are doing triathlons way past when
you think you should be able to do it. All right,
(03:59):
quick break, when we come back to talk about an
eight seven year old triathlete who did the Hawaii iron Man,
I'm going to talk about one of my favorite female
triathletes of all time, Sister Madonna Boodher, a nun who
has been doing them forever, just did another triathlon at
age ninety. So for those of you who think you're
too old, stay tuned. We'll be right back. Seven reasons
(04:32):
you should absolutely do a triathlon now. I don't want
you to tune me out. And I know many of
you are listening to going there's not a chance, Tom,
I don't care. I'm not doing a triathlon. Hear me out,
hear me out. Okay, So let's just start with that
age reason I'm too old. You're too old, really, okay,
So let's go through. I'm just gonna give you three
(04:54):
different examples and some of the best. All right, Hiromu
in the the aged eighty seven. He just won a
Guinness World Record for doing what He was the oldest
person to compete and complete the iron Man World Championships.
Fortunate I got there twice. Did it twice. It is
the Championships, it is on Hawaii, ancona brutal conditions, one
(05:20):
of the most magical events you could ever witness and
participate in, and Hiromo did it at eighty five years
old and three eight days, so almost And this was
back in two thousand eighteen, all right, And for those
of you who don't know an iron Man two point
four miles swim, hundred and twelve mile bike ride, and
(05:42):
a full marathon twenty six point two mile run, okay,
and rom w did it in sixteen hours, fifty three
minutes and forty nine seconds. And iron Man to be official,
you need to finish in seventeen hours or less. So
how amazing seven minutes to spare age eighty five at
(06:04):
the time he did it. Here's my favorite part of
this though, which that that alone is amazing. Right, Yeah,
Hiromu started swimming and running and bought a bike at
the tender young age of sixty nine. Sixty nine. Many
(06:26):
of you who think you're too old to do something runners,
Many runners who started at a young age beat themselves up.
They didn't train well, so they experienced injuries. So oftentimes
many people who start running and biking and swimming later
in life are almost better off then those people who
(06:47):
didn't do it right way back. Went. Now, I have
to I'm not saying that running is bad for you.
Of course it's not. But you have to do it correctly,
and oftentimes bad coaches and overtraining and things like that
for super competitive people, they run in of issues. So
that's actually a reason that people who start later in
life can be better off, as counterintuitive as that may sound.
(07:09):
Started at sixty nine, finished the Hawaii iron Man at
eighty five. And here's the final thing for her Romo.
He's not done. He wants to do it again. So
races have been canceled as I record this show, but
he's training to do it again, and I think he's
gonna be if I'm not mistaken. Ninety somewhere around ninety
(07:30):
back to the Hawaii iron Man. Amazing, and I talked
about sister Madonna Bodder, amazing triathlete. When I first started,
you know, many decades ago, doing triathlon, she was doing
it and she's still doing it today. She's a nun.
She was the oldest woman to ever finish an iron Man.
She was eighty two when she finished iron Man Canada
(07:51):
in two thousand twelve, and she's still going. She's still
setting records for the sport. Okay, she's been covered and featured.
You may have seen her on NBC iron Man World
championship coverage over the years, and just as she's inspired
so many people amazing at seventy five she was the
oldest to finish and then went back and did it
seven years later. Right, so continues, and at eighty nine
(08:15):
she's still racing. She's not doing iron Man, or didn't
do it that year as as far as I know.
Obviously she would have set a record for being even older.
But she's doing triathlons. And again, I will give you
the different distances at the end. Iron Man, is this
the most Well, it's not. There's it's it's a it's
a far distance, but you don't have to do an
iron Man, and most of you won't. Most of you
(08:36):
are gonna do a sprint and maybe an Olympic. And
I'll give you those distances shortly, but again, Sister Madonna Buddha.
She finished third last year at the USA Triathlon National
Championships in the eighty five plus category. And finally, Bill
bell I did a fit tip kind of a tribute
to Bill bell another older gentleman who recently passed but
(09:01):
was racing. Uh started racing late in life, continued racing
way into seventies and eighties amazing. So if you want
to quick inspiration, listen to the fit Tips short show
I did on Bill Bell. So age is not a factor, people,
Age is not a factor, all right, and let's go
right into the points now. Number one reason you should
(09:23):
do a triathlon. It is the absolute perfect goal. So
when we talk about success in fitness, it's about goal setting,
and quite often the goals that people set are completely
flawed from the outset, and it's like trying to, you know,
go somewhere with bad directions. You're not gonna achieve. You're
not gonna get to your destination when your directions are
(09:46):
completely screwed up to begin with. And that goes for
goal setting, and quite often it's weight loss goals and
crazy weight loss goals and crazy dieting goals and even
crazy exercise goals too much, too soon. I often talk
about when I was a trainer and I would set
goals for people and they go, this isn't enough. I go, no,
(10:08):
it is. It's about consistency, small goals over time, building
towards the bigger goal. And so a triathlon is a
perfect perfect goal for exercise on every single level, and
it will lead to other reasons okay, but when we
(10:29):
talk about goal setting, one of the top things we
want when we set goals for ourselves is a date
for that goal, right, hard date. So's something to work for,
And that is exactly what a triathlon does. You have
a date and you generally you're gonna set it months
(10:49):
down the road, and you have something to work for.
And why is that important? It gives your workouts structure
and purpose and hopefully, if you do it right, it
makes them fun. But structure and purpose is everything because
now you're gonna work backwards. So you say, okay, I'm
doing a sprint triathlon in four months, and now you
(11:13):
know who you will figure out what your workouts are
going to be. It gives you a reason to go
to the gym. It gives you a reason to go
down to your home gym. It gives you a reason
to go out for a run or a bike or
a swim. You have purpose, You are working towards something.
When you're just out going to the gym to look
good to lose weight, that can be really challenging for
(11:38):
all the reasons I've talked about in so many other podcasts,
And here is the most amazing takeaway when it comes
to that the goal setting, when you take your focus
off of looking good and losing weight, that's when it happens.
So many clients over the years I talked into doing
a triathlon for all of these reasons. They came to
(11:58):
me with a weight law school. They came to me
with a goal of looking better, and I said, Okay,
let's do an event. Let's do a triathlon. And like you,
they said, you're nuts, not a chance. But we did,
and they achieved the weight loss goals, often exceeded. They
achieved the vanity goals, but most importantly, they achieved the
(12:24):
self efficacy goals that I'm going to talk about. Goal
that I'll talk about in one of the final reasons
you should do a triathlon, all right, so perfect go
a date gives your workout structure purpose, You have a plan,
and now you're going to wake up in the morning
and know exactly what you're gonna do. And I often
coached people so after I transitioned out of personal training
(12:46):
and they overlapped. But I did a lot of coaching online,
especially designing workouts for people doing running races, marathons, half marathons,
and triathlons. Of all distances and other races. And one
of the major it fits to the client was they
wake up in the morning, they have the workout from me,
and any of you that have worked with a coach
(13:06):
know this. You go, now, I know I'm gonna run
three miles or I'm gonna swim for a half hour.
I'm gonna go to the gym and do five minutes
of strength training. You have a purpose and you know
when you're finished. There is a sense of satisfaction from
every workout when you know what you're supposed to do
and you know when you're done. Many of you get
on the elliptical, go what do I do I do
(13:28):
twenty minutes? Do I do thirty minutes? How many cowies
do I need to burn? How do I know? Know?
When you train for an event, it's not about the
colories burned. It's not You're just going to do these
workouts and you're gonna know when you're done. And that
is so powerful. And this leads right to number two
and what I've been talking about for the first fifteen
(13:48):
minutes of the show. It's challenging for many of your
people who are still listening. I hope and haven't totally
dismissed the idea. This is the very reason you should
do it. It's challenging. You go, Tom, I can't swim, awesome,
it just takes swim lessons. I could barely swim. When
(14:09):
I signed up for my first triathlon, which was a sprint,
and that triathlon was building to my Iron Man, I
pretty much decided I was doing the Iron Man when
I still couldn't swim. Now, I grew up swimming, you know,
in the ocean and riding waves and things, so I
could swim, but not this way. And it was never
on a swim team, never put on a pair of
(14:29):
goggles all right, or a swim cap or a wetsuit.
And it scared the heck out of me. But that
is what makes it so powerful, and especially when you
complete it. But if your goals don't scare you a
little bit, they're not big enough. How many times have
we seen that, you know, meme, And but it is
(14:50):
so true. Your goals have to be scary, challenging, and
and the satisfaction, the self efficacy that comes out of
that enormous, enormous and for you it might not be
the swimming. You can may go, Hey, I grew up swimming. Tom,
I don't know what your problem is. It's the running
(15:11):
that scares me, or the biking that scares me, or
just all three things together. Great? Great, And for many
of you like me who have kids, do we tell
them to shy away from the challenges. And you know what,
I'm gonna add an eighth reason in the I don't
even think of as I was preparing the show. It's
still the title will be seven. But the eighth reason
(15:33):
I'm just gonna throw this out there right now that
you should do it is to be a great role
model for your kids. I can't believe I left that out.
I'm throwing it in right now. All right there, you
gotta see mom dad both challenging themselves doing something that
the kids know. Wow, they're doing something that scares them.
Maybe maybe I should too. All right, there you go,
(15:55):
just throwing an extra one. But the challenging aspect is
one why you should. Now you may say, Tom, I
can't run, I have pain. Well you're gonna figure it out.
You're gonna figure it out and sprint triathlons. So often
for people who have the running related issues swimming and
(16:17):
biking first, sure, you're not gonna run super fast, but
that warm up is oftentimes immeasurably helpful to so many
running related issues by the time you get to the run,
and you will be tired, but you won't have those
issues quite often that you have when you just go
out for a run because the body's warmed up in
(16:37):
a unique way. All right, But you're gonna work on
that weakness. That one reason, if it is the swim
or the bike, or the run or all three together
that scares you, that is challenging to you, that's exactly
why you should do it, and that will give you're
training that much more purpose. You'll be that much more
(16:59):
excited about it. So the challenge is good, all right.
And number three one of the top reasons I started
doing them way back when, if not the goal setting
was huge for me. But number three is it is
forced cross training. How many times in fitness disrupted in
(17:21):
the last year of doing this podcast have I talked
about variation and cross training and how we need to
do things that we don't normally do. How there are
five components of fitness, and most people do one, the
one you're good at, the one you're genetically predisposed to
do and that's where problems happen. Just lifting weights heavy
not the way to do it. Just doing long distance
(17:42):
cardio not the way to do it. Just doing yoga,
you're not gonna be well balanced, and most likely you're
gonna have issues. We need to do all of these
things a little bit, not a lot. And when you
sign up for a triathlon, you are now doing forced
cross training. You have to swim, bike, run, and I
always throw in that fourth you have to strength train.
(18:04):
But you don't do a lot of any one thing.
And that's what's so amazing. People I don't have the time.
Oh yeah you do, especially if you're doing a sprint
or even believe it, even the longer distances, even iron Man,
And yes I did many, so I had a base
of strength, but it was quality over quantity. There are
so many people that train way too hard, do way
(18:28):
too much volume, and they get hurt. So when you
do a little bit of swimming, a little bit of biking,
a little bit of running, some strength training, some flexibility,
and that's what triathlons call for, you're gonna be healthier
than you've ever been in your lifetime. And yes I
had to drag myself to the pool. Even today, I
(18:51):
enjoy it more than I did way back when because
I'm better at it. Still not great at it, and
it's not my favorite thing to do, but I know
how good it is for me, and when I don't
have to go five days a week and swim five
days a week. Although many triathletes do and I did
way back when, I didn't get that much better though it.
(19:12):
To be honest, I didn't get much faster. It's just
less tired. But that's the other beautiful thing, by the way,
about triathlon, you don't have to be great if you
want to go fast, which most of you you're listening
to go. I don't even want to do one, tom
I couldn't care less about how fast I go. It's
about completing it. And over time I'll talk about how
there's very few people that end up doing one of
any type of race, but the first couple of races,
(19:35):
that's the goal. It's just to finish and have a
good time and ideally want to do one again. Okay,
so you do a little of everything. It is the
greatest form of cross training forced for cross training that
I know, that I know and true balanced health comes
from doing a bunch of different modes of exercise. So
(19:57):
there you go, all right, you know what one five,
don't break and when we come back, even though I
threw in that extra one for more reasons you should
do a triathlon, and I'm not gonna give you the distances,
and then you're going to go and sign up for one. Now,
I know that most races are, you know, canceled as
of recording this show, but there are virtual races. And
(20:18):
here's the greatest thing. They're gonna come back, and now
you have time to train, final break. When we come back.
For more reasons you are going to sign up for
a triathlon, We'll be right back. Like how I changed
(20:43):
it now, the title is seven reasons you are going
to do your first triathlon? Uh. And I've written so
many articles for so many different magazines on this very topic.
I love it, and yes I'm biased, but I'm a convert.
I know how powerful it is. And that's one thing
I have always wanted to do with my business because
I was never going to coach someone to do something
(21:05):
that I couldn't speak to, especially triathlon. So yes, at
fifty one, I am still running and biking and swimming
and doing races and everything that's it's the lifestyle. And
to be totally honest, I don't know why you would
listen to anyone in the health and wellness industry who
aren't practicing what they preach really consistently over time. And
(21:26):
so I was so many of you listening who are saying,
not a chance. I was living in New York City.
I couldn't swim. I didn't own a bike. By the way,
I'll get to that. I didn't own a bike, and
you don't have to. But I did triathlons. I rented
a bike, I borrowed equipment, and it was one of
(21:47):
the most life changing things I've ever done. Okay, number four,
you can tie travel in my first iron Man New
Zealand when I was turning thirty on my birthday third
pre internet, I thought, this is the I'm going halfway
around the world because then no one can see me
(22:07):
in my hours of struggle. But it was so life changing.
So I tied travel into the triathlons. So if that's
something you want to do, listen. There are so many
triathlons probably where you live there all over the world.
But you can make it a destination for you and
your kids. So your spouse, your boyfriend, girlfriend, you can
(22:31):
have kids. There's kids triathlons, so you have that option.
And whenever I sign up, whenever I'm looking for spring breaks.
By the way, this is maybe sharing a little too
much with how nuttie I am, with what I love
my whole lifestyle. But when I'm booking, I try to
go somewhere different with the family every April, and somewhere warm.
(22:51):
I'm always looking for some races as well. I'm not
making the choice based on the race, but if I
find a great location and they're just happens to be
a five k half marathon, a triathlon, even better. But
you can start with that, you can say hey to
your family. And quite often now triathlons are doing just that.
(23:12):
They are having triathlons in locations like amusement parks and
places where you can go. You know, there's the Disney
World running races type things like that. So you can
make it a destination. You can make it a family affair,
whether your family is going to, you know, watch you
while you do your triathlon. But that's such a great
way is to connect travel and training and goal setting,
(23:37):
and it's a family affair. And again going back to
that extra eighth reason you should do a triathlon, my
goodness if your family is watching you finish. And I
loved It's gonna sound sexist, but I loved training moms
back in the day because so often, especially you know,
those of my age fifties, like, it wasn't as okay
(23:58):
to engage in these sports back when we were younger,
not for women. And so when you know, the daughters
see mom sprinting across the finish line of a triathlon,
that goes for sons as well. But it's just super powerful.
There's no downside. So travel and family and goal setting
(24:20):
and your kids seeing you challenging yourself so when you
think you can't, and the coach for the dads too,
I know there's many, there are many listening who think
they can't think how powerful that is for your kids
to see you're choosing a goal, working for it and
challenging yourself. All right. And number five reason, And this
(24:43):
is not talked about enough except on shows like mine.
You know they talk about is it diet, is it exercise,
blah blah blah. It's it's all of the above, I say,
because one leads to the other. So that's the fifth
reason signing up for a triathlon. Training for a triathlon
leads to other healthy habits, like eating healthier. The more
(25:07):
you exercise, the healthier you will start to eat. It happens.
I have watched it for decades. I have experienced it myself,
and there's a whole bunch of reasons why that happens.
One is, you look at your watching you say, I
just ran two miles three miles, I burned X number
(25:28):
of calories. I'd rather not undo that with three donuts
right after. And then another top reason is you feel
better about yourself. You swim, you bike, you run, you
strength train, and you want to fill your body with
healthier foods. It feels better. And that is one of
the most powerful concept concepts in exercise and nutrition that
(25:54):
has not talked about, that is not written about, that
is not understood, especially from people who don't live the lifestyle.
I'm not sacrificing anything by eating healthy. It's what my
body wants it what's it's what makes me feel good
that has changed over time. I did eat more of
the other stuff when I was younger, and over time
the more exercised I engaged in, the more my body
(26:15):
craved the other foods, and the more I enjoyed them.
And that can be you. I will say that over
and over and over again. So if you want to
clean up your eating, if you think you need to
go on a diet, sign up for a triathlon. Don't
sign up for that restrictive thirty day diet. Sign up
for a triathlon. And especially for those of you, oh
my goodness, who do have some weight to lose, this
(26:41):
is like one of the greatest reasons to start losing
that weight is because it's exponentially easier to run and
even to bike when you weigh less. And so the
more you exercise, the more that goal is off in
the distance, the better you feel about yourself. Other things
change as far as you're healthy, habits, sleep that changes.
(27:03):
You're tired, your body feels good. You've done all this exercise.
So many people on sleeping aids, pharmaceuticals, natural remedies. You
know what, the greatest natural remedy I've ever found, and
is supported by a heck of a lot of research. Exercise.
Exercise that will help you sleep exponentially. All Right, So
(27:24):
those eating sleeping, so many other side effects of signing
up for a triathlon, especially when you're doing all of
these different disciplines. You're can be tired, You're gonna feel
better about yourself, You're gonna eat better, all right. Number six.
One of my favorite terms in sports psychology self efficacy,
(27:46):
self efficacy, situational confidence. One day I'll tell my story
greater depth as far as stuff I haven't talked about,
but traveling the world, challenging myself to do these things,
to swim two point four miles when I couldn't swim
two point four you know, laps of the pool, much
less do it in a foreign country on my own. Essentially,
(28:09):
the confidence I got and have and continued to receive
from doing these things priceless. And that's why I started
the show by saying, the more you think you shouldn't
do a triathlon is the reason you should. It leads
to so much confidence. And that's not just the situational
confidence that hey, I could do it a triathlon. It
(28:33):
extends into all aspects of your life, positively obstacles, learning
to be in the moment, learning to not give up,
to keep moving forward, that things will always get be difficult,
no matter if if things will go wrong, but when
and by doing a triathlon, and that is you know
what are the toughest things about coaching people for a triathlon.
(28:56):
You give them everything, you set them up for everything,
all the possible scenarios that could go wrong, but something
or three other things will as well. And it's that resilience.
It's that grip that comes from challenging yourself and getting
through the unknown problems, things that you didn't foresee or
(29:18):
you're prepared for, but you know happened outside of your control,
and you get that self efficacy. Self efficacy is everything,
and I would argue it's been taken out of our
lives for so many people's lives. Staying safe, not challenging
ourselves one of the one of the worst things we
(29:39):
can do when it comes to feeling good about ourselves.
All right. And finally number seven, Yes, chances are really
strong you're gonna get hooked the one and Dunn's when
it comes to triathlons, marathons, all of the above almost negligible.
It is so rare. I've met a couple people who
(30:01):
have done one marathon, one triathlon and stopped. But chances are.
You're gonna get hooked and it's gonna lead to that lifestyle.
You're gonna feel better, you're gonna look better. You're gonna
be like Hi, Romu and Nada maybe at age eight seven,
still doing your races. But it's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle.
(30:26):
That's why over a hundred thousand people try to sign
up or sign up, try to get into the New
York City Marathon every year. There's a reason, there's a
reason we do these things. We challenge ourselves. They feel good.
And again, you don't have to do a marathon. I'm
gonna give you the distances in two seconds to bring
this all together. But you gotta pick that goal. You
(30:49):
gotta challenge yourself. And when it comes to so many
people saying, hey, Tom, I don't have the motivation, I
don't have the structure, you know, and beating themselves up
saying you don't have the discipline. You know. How you
get discipline? You pick a date and here's here's the
other thing. By the way, sign up and pay the money.
(31:10):
And the more money you can pay, how crazy does
this sound? Be invested in it. So if you're gonna
do a trip, do a trip, get in there, because
when you got money on the line and that event
is tied to that, you're gonna be that much more
likely to train to do it. And that's what it's about.
These These are the quote unquote secrets right to success
(31:33):
in fitness. It's not about motivation. It's about setting yourself
up for success, picking that goal, picking that event, investing
in it, you know, and if you want to get
a coach, this is a topic for another show, but
books and coaches. There's so many resources once you decide
to do this that weren't around, by the way, when
(31:53):
I did it, there was almost nothing, which is why
I suffered more than I probably should have for the
first couple of iron Man, but I enjoyed it that
much more too, all right, So you will hopefully get hooked,
and what you're gonna get hooked on is the lifestyle,
not triathlons. Again, and you might, you know, turn into
a triathlete when of like my crazy friends type. But again,
(32:16):
it's not about calling yourself anything. It's just about doing
healthy things for yourself and being successful at your program,
because that's what I want for you, all right. So
the distances there are basically and there are variations, especially
in the first one. But there are sprint triathlons, there
are Olympic, half, iron Man and iron Man. Now there's longer,
and there's variations, but by and large, talk to triathletes,
(32:37):
you read triathlon books, those are the four distances, and
so many people can and should start with that sprint.
And again there there is the most variation in this distance,
just because they're shorter and local um event organizers will
kind of play around with them. But generally speaking, you're
gonna swim about a half a mile, which is about
(32:59):
seven five demeters. Okay, that may sound scary to so
many of you, and good, but you can do it.
And by the way, you can swim whatever style you want.
The running joke is freestyle means you are free to
swim whatever way you want. Doggy paddle, breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke,
doesn't matter. All right, You're gonna bike around twelve point
(33:20):
four miles twenty k and you're gonna run, generally speaking
of five k, which is about three point one miles,
so anywhere I mean the fast guys around an hour
and change. It's about ninety minute workout. Again, depending on
your fitness level and the distances four the average person
ninety minutes. But you're gonna swim a little, you're gonna
(33:42):
bike a little, and you're gonna run a little, okay,
And that is the perfect ale for so many of you.
Find a sprint triathlon in your area in you know,
three or four or five, six months from now, and
that's gonna give your workouts purpose. And again there are
virtual races now as well. If you want to do that.
(34:02):
If that gets you excited and you're gonna be just
as motivated for that, you know, do a gut check
and see if that works for you. But if not,
I strongly encourage. Again. The weird thing now is is
that races are on hold, but that doesn't mean they're
not coming back, and that you have the perfect amount
of time to train, all right, So sprint distances for
(34:24):
so many of you perfect way to start, and then
you're gonna move up that after. You may do a
handful of sprints, you may stay there, you may never
do more than that, and that's awesome. But then there's
Olympic distance, which is basically one point five kilometers swim,
which is just under a mile. You're gonna bike around
forty KOs, which is miles just under and you're gonna
(34:46):
run a ten k, which is six miles. So swim
about a mile, bike about twenty five miles, and run
about six miles. And again this is now you're double
the distance or double the time roughly, you know, around
three hours. That's challenging for people, but a great goal,
a great goal for someone who might be fitter, and said,
you know, I mean, I encourage you to start at
(35:06):
the sprint level, but there are people that jump right
up to the Olympic. And finally you've got the half
iron Man and iron Man half iron Man. You are
doing a total of seventy point three miles, which is
a one point two miles swim, a fifty six mile bike,
and a half marathon which is thirteen point one and
obviously then an iron Man two point four miles, twelve
(35:28):
mile bike, and full marathon twenty six point two miles.
But please, as we wrap this up, if you are
listening and a triathlon sounds like the last thing you
should ever do and that you would think of doing,
you are the exact person who should do it. And again,
(35:49):
I know the aches and pains that you think are
gonna stand in your way. But that's why you go
to a coach, that's why you hire a trainer, That's
why you start eating books and eating better and figuring
out those issues. And I've said this about running so
many times when people told me they couldn't run. As
a trainer, I'd go, let's figure out why was it.
(36:11):
Your back hurts, your leg hurts, you have knee issues,
muscle imbalances, muscle weaknesses, flexibility issues so often fixable. And
when you're doing a sprint triathlon ninety minutes or so,
you're not going super fast and you're just trying to
finish each leg. And let me kind of end with this.
(36:34):
When I finished that swim of my first Iron Man, especially,
holy cow, the sense of satisfaction. And so that is
what you will find when you do as I say
and sign up for your triathlon. If swimming is what
really freaks you out, you finish that swim and you go,
oh my gosh, and then you're on the bike and
(36:56):
it's truly magical. People. And as one of my goals
as a coach, as someone in this industry is to
take you out of your comfort zone so you can
live your best life and the physical and the mental
are all connected. And I feel so fortunate to have
figured that out and have been able to do it.
And again, I did it on credit cards and you know,
(37:18):
a lot of cheap flights. But there was nothing that
I've invested in that has been more impactful in my
life then fitness and challenging myself and doing it over
and over. And you should too. Seven reasons and I
(37:39):
threw in an eight why you should do a triathlon.
Absolutely do one. Now I want to hear from you.
Tom h Fit is Twitter as well as Instagram. Tom
h Fit Fitness disrupted dot com and go there and
email me the questions you have about this. But I
want to hear from people who say, Tom, You're nuts,
(38:00):
there's no way. But actually I'm thinking of doing it,
and I signed up for this race. I want to
hear from you. I want to hear I want to
see that you're going to challenge yourself, that you're jumping off,
You're going I can't believe I'm doing this, but I'm
gonna do it. I don't care if you're twenty or
e d And on a final note, my third final note,
(38:21):
I've raced with people in wheelchairs. I've raced with blind athletes,
one leg, you know, missing limbs, every issue known demand.
So whatever your reason you think you can't trust me,
trust me, you can listen to my show. I just
did with Sean Swarner. One long cancer twice that should
(38:43):
have killed him as a kid, totally different. I'm Deverest,
all right, There's so many stories, so do not short
change yourself. We have one life to live. We control
three things, how much we move, what we put into
our mouths, and yes, our attitude, our belief in what
we can do. And you need to believe in yourself.
I'm Tom Holland. This is Fitness Disrupted, Believing yourself. Fitness
(39:14):
Disrupted is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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