Training for a triathlon is challenging from a time, money, and motivation perspective. A largely individual sport, it can also be a bit boring. When training as a family of five for a triathlon, however, many words come to mind, and none of them are boring. This was the situation I created last summer when my wife, our three kids, and I decided to compete in the Pumpkinman Triathlon just after Labor Day.
To be clear, I wanted to be in this situation. In fact, I absolutely loved it and it was a long time coming. Two years earlier, I did a triathlon on my own. It was a tremendous experience and one that left my eldest daughter wanting to join. As I’m sure any parent can relate, it’s hard to beat an opportunity to do something with your kids that you both enjoy. So, we agreed that if she joined a swim team to get her stamina up for the open water portion of the triathlon, we’d do the race together the following year.
She stuck with it and pestered me — I mean, lovingly asked — about registering for the triathlon for the better part of a year. I should point out my own nervousness around having my daughter, who was 12 at the time, swim in open water for about 600 yards. She was anything but nervous, and I didn’t share my anxiety with her, but I did struggle a bit with how to sign her up. Fortunately, this triathlon has a “Family and Friends” wave where you can start the race without the usual grouping by gender and age. And so, we got registered, she trained her keister off, and we did the race.
It was amazing. She was as calm as a cucumber in the water — I eventually relaxed — and we cruised through the bike and run. Which naturally meant her brother and sister — twins who are 18 months younger — wanted to get in on the fun.
With four out of five of us on board, my wife agreed we would all do the next triathlon as a family. After the excitement wore off, I quickly realized the madness that would ensue. Around training, that is. The twins had the same requirement as their sister to become strong swimmers, which they agreed to. Obviously, I set ZERO conditions with my wife as I like being married. Plus, she was a swimmer growing up.
Next up was the biking and some teeth grinding over that challenge of time, money, and motivation. A 15-mile bike ride requires quite a bit of time to train for. Not only that, but getting everyone comfortable with riding on the road can be dicey. It’s one thing for the kids to ride their bikes to school and friends’ houses in the neighborhood. It’s another to ride, single file, along the shoulder of a road for 15 miles. I’ll get to the motivation side of the house momentarily, but it’s fair to say NO ONE was pleased with my plan.
As for money, bikes — as you probably know — ain’t cheap. At least fancy new road bikes. Fortunately, I’m a cheapskate and deemed the, um, well-loved mountain bikes that I got for 50 bucks at a yard sale, acceptable for the twins. Somehow, my eldest ended up on my wife’s newer bike, my wife got my ragged old mountain bike, and I rode my ancient GT road bike. With all the sports my kids have done over the years, I’ve learned that buying all-new gear for something they may not even like is not smart. Instead, we agreed that if the triathlon was a hit, we’d look at upgraded bikes for next time.
Now, the motivation to get everyone trained up is tricky when you’ve got three sports bundled together. Swimming was covered by scheduled team practices. Running comes relatively easy as all three of my kids are on the track and cross-country teams. I’m a longtime runner, and my wife easily translated the couch-to-5K program she’d been doing into triathlon prep. But getting all five of us on bikes for long training rides? Less easy.
To make it work, I rousted the whole house at 5:30 on Sunday mornings. You’ll be unsurprised to know that nobody liked me very much those days. But we live in a busy area, and it was the only way to get the whole crew familiar with road riding sans heavy traffic. Add in the fact that my son wants to go 100 mph, his twin sister is in no particular rush, and their older sister falls somewhere in between, and you can imagine the chaos that ensued.
Bottom line: All five of us stuck with the triathlon training. There was fussiness, there was arguing, and there was even a crash … on the bikes … between two siblings … that left the whole family in awe at my command of foul language. That said, we did it, had a blast in the process, and were ready for the triathlon. The results of which I look forward to sharing with you soon! Stay tuned …
