racing at any age: 40s
Fitness As A Family
I have been racing since 1987. I crossed my first finish line as a young woman, when the Chicago Triathlon had 1,000 participants in comparison to the 30,000+ it has today. I have since gone on to have four children, something I might not have believed in 1987, and eventually opened my own tri shop. I have been lucky enough to race all over the world at every distance over the years, and have met incredibly nice and talented people that I would have never met otherwise, both through racing, and through the shop and website.
Racing has nurtured me through all the ups and downs we go through in life. And we all need that-- that something outside of our parenting and marriage that makes us whole. It has seen me through joyous moments, stressful ones, milestones, illness, marriage, and subsequent divorce. It has seen my children grow from toddlers to the fine young people they are today.
I've been lucky enough, through RaceLogix.com, to experience the equilibrium racing brings to us through our customers. It's what gets you out of bed on a snowy winter morning when you'd much rather just lay in bed. It gets you to the gym at 5am because that's the only window there is. It provides a structure to our otherwise hectic existences. And it brings us back to our very essence, and makes us aware of just how powerful the human body is. It rewards us when we tend to it. Not unlike a garden. It is honest-- it gives back what you are able to put in. And then there is the middle-aged realization that our bodies and our schedules can no longer give it what we once could. Expectations are subsequently aligned with reality, and there is learning even in the acceptance of this.
I find lots of joy in how accessible racing has become over the years. There are races at every distance, so that all of us can know that feeling of the finish line. I have seen every body type and every age on the race course. I was recently passed by a man in his 80s. Yet at five feet I also have passed men well over six feet. These experiences are there for all of us and makes the accessibility of competitive adult sports today a great equalizer. It raises up those who think they can't, and humbles those who thought they had it down to a science.
I was a late bloomer in this sport. I placed in my age division for the first time at 40, and attended Worlds for the first time at 42. It may seem strange, to gain my mojo while raising kids, but it was the experience of childbirth that gave me a confidence in my body the 27-year old could not have in 1987. There is something about enduring labor, where you know, no matter what, that your child is going to exit your body, that gives you supreme confidence in its aftermath. There is a point of no return where you know you are in for several hours of pain and discomfort for a joy that is incomprehensible until you experience it, and the power of enduring that resonates in your being forever. I am not saying childbirth needs to be experienced to get your game on. Not at all. But it is about finding that one thing that taps into your inner strength that you can use in your fitness. And we all have those life experiences that change us and make us stronger. For me, it was the births of my four kids. Suddenly a long swim in an ocean was no big deal. Isn't it just like one big womb? Nor were aching calves. Compare that to a contraction! Or even the bleary-eyed, catatonic state reached 24-hours into an adventure race, where you mind and body are fatigued in incomprehensible ways. What mother hasn't been thorugh sleep deprivation? I was just grateful my teammates did not expect me to feed them or change their soiled under garments. We all have something that makes us feel good and strong, and that was it for me.
Look back. Look back into your life experiences and find that one where you said to yourself "I can't believe I did that!", or surprised yourself with your own inner strength Tapping into that is where you will find you inner athlete.
And expect that to change as you do and life brings more challenges from which to grow.
Today I am in a new phase of racing. Despite all of my experiences, and what got me here in middle age, nothing has prepared me for this: my own kids getting in on the act. Certainly they have heard me say "breakfast when I'm done" on winter mornings when I ride my trainer, they have seen the gels mixed in a basket with fruit and other snacks, and they've helped me pack internet orders filled with trisuits and cycling shorts. They learned when they asked to race me in the pool last summer that I actually can not only swim, but faster than them. When my then 10-year old son did a paper on his family and had to list three things about his mother he liked, he wrote, for number three, "she can swim really fast". It's funny how you can never choose what sticks with your children. What is ironic and precious is that I don't swim all that fast, but it's nice that he thinks so.
But did I think this might translate into them being interested in this sport? Not ever. But it did.
A few years ago my son and daughter did their first youth triathlon, complete with an open water swim in Lake Michigan. When my daughter returned to that race the following year the water was so rough I volunteered at the last minute so that I could get in the water with her. She looked over her shoulder, a huge wave about to crash over her entire little body in water where she could not touch the bottom, and shouted " Mom get out of here". The picture I have of her sipping water, covered with sweat, as she transitioned from the bike to run is one I will always cherish.
Last year my 13 year old started to get into track. He asked me if I would run a mile loop by our house a few times. As we started I tried to tell him about negative splits, and how he should run the first half slower than the second. He immediately took off, and I figured he would learn when I caught up to him midway and passed him. But that didn't happen. He WAS doing negative splits. He was just faster than me, and I never did catch up to him. It's a great day when that happens. When your kids jump into choppy waters fearlessly or surpass what you can do. It's the best experience this sport has given me I think. It's like this sport just keeps giving and giving, and getting better and better.
I attended the Duathlon World Championships in Italy in 2008. The race was great, but what was even better was touring Rome with my 10-year old son who is a greek and roman history buff. Watching his face as we entered the Colliseum certainly made up for the performance of my untrained self at the race, as was having him at every lap and the finish line. I've made a point of picking races where qualifying will take the kids and I somewhere we have never been. And it's motivated me to train hard enough to make that happen.
In April of 2009 I competed at Duathlon Nationals in Richmond, Virginia, but this time my 13-year old was also a participant. He competed in the youth division, which allowed me to watch him race, and for him to watch mine. And his brother and sister were there to cheer him on as he raced up and down the hills of Richmond on my road bike for the first time. All those rituals of traveling to a race-- unpacking your bike from its case and re-assembling it, eating your pre-race dinner, attending the course talk--- the thought of doing this with my kids just fills me up to no end.
If on that day in 1987 someone had told me that I would still be doing this in 2010 and that I would be doing this with my kids, I'd have thought they were nuts. It was all I could do to struggle through that open water swim back then, let alone watch a small child do so, or contemplate myself at middle age still doing this. I thought that was the first and last race I'd ever do. What we don't realize as we contemplate aging when we are younger, is that life experience makes our life richer than we can possibly imagine. One day I will go full circle, and be that tenative person who will find an open water swim daunting. But I know I can always rely on a place for me at a finish line for my own children, whatever it is they choose to do and if I'm really lucky, for their children as well.
Train Smart. Be Happy.
Linda Mallers
Founder, RaceLogix.com
Q & A section
Add your question
I have been racing since 1987. I crossed my first finish line as a young woman, when the Chicago Triathlon had 1,000 participants in comparison to the 30,000+ it has today. I have since gone on to have four children, something I might not have believed in 1987, and eventually opened my own tri shop. I have been lucky enough to race all over the world at every distance over the years, and have met incredibly nice and talented people that I would have never met otherwise, both through racing, and through the shop and website.
Racing has nurtured me through all the ups and downs we go through in life. And we all need that-- that something outside of our parenting and marriage that makes us whole. It has seen me through joyous moments, stressful ones, milestones, illness, marriage, and subsequent divorce. It has seen my children grow from toddlers to the fine young people they are today.
I've been lucky enough, through RaceLogix.com, to experience the equilibrium racing brings to us through our customers. It's what gets you out of bed on a snowy winter morning when you'd much rather just lay in bed. It gets you to the gym at 5am because that's the only window there is. It provides a structure to our otherwise hectic existences. And it brings us back to our very essence, and makes us aware of just how powerful the human body is. It rewards us when we tend to it. Not unlike a garden. It is honest-- it gives back what you are able to put in. And then there is the middle-aged realization that our bodies and our schedules can no longer give it what we once could. Expectations are subsequently aligned with reality, and there is learning even in the acceptance of this.
I find lots of joy in how accessible racing has become over the years. There are races at every distance, so that all of us can know that feeling of the finish line. I have seen every body type and every age on the race course. I was recently passed by a man in his 80s. Yet at five feet I also have passed men well over six feet. These experiences are there for all of us and makes the accessibility of competitive adult sports today a great equalizer. It raises up those who think they can't, and humbles those who thought they had it down to a science.
I was a late bloomer in this sport. I placed in my age division for the first time at 40, and attended Worlds for the first time at 42. It may seem strange, to gain my mojo while raising kids, but it was the experience of childbirth that gave me a confidence in my body the 27-year old could not have in 1987. There is something about enduring labor, where you know, no matter what, that your child is going to exit your body, that gives you supreme confidence in its aftermath. There is a point of no return where you know you are in for several hours of pain and discomfort for a joy that is incomprehensible until you experience it, and the power of enduring that resonates in your being forever. I am not saying childbirth needs to be experienced to get your game on. Not at all. But it is about finding that one thing that taps into your inner strength that you can use in your fitness. And we all have those life experiences that change us and make us stronger. For me, it was the births of my four kids. Suddenly a long swim in an ocean was no big deal. Isn't it just like one big womb? Nor were aching calves. Compare that to a contraction! Or even the bleary-eyed, catatonic state reached 24-hours into an adventure race, where you mind and body are fatigued in incomprehensible ways. What mother hasn't been thorugh sleep deprivation? I was just grateful my teammates did not expect me to feed them or change their soiled under garments. We all have something that makes us feel good and strong, and that was it for me.
Look back. Look back into your life experiences and find that one where you said to yourself "I can't believe I did that!", or surprised yourself with your own inner strength Tapping into that is where you will find you inner athlete.
And expect that to change as you do and life brings more challenges from which to grow.
Today I am in a new phase of racing. Despite all of my experiences, and what got me here in middle age, nothing has prepared me for this: my own kids getting in on the act. Certainly they have heard me say "breakfast when I'm done" on winter mornings when I ride my trainer, they have seen the gels mixed in a basket with fruit and other snacks, and they've helped me pack internet orders filled with trisuits and cycling shorts. They learned when they asked to race me in the pool last summer that I actually can not only swim, but faster than them. When my then 10-year old son did a paper on his family and had to list three things about his mother he liked, he wrote, for number three, "she can swim really fast". It's funny how you can never choose what sticks with your children. What is ironic and precious is that I don't swim all that fast, but it's nice that he thinks so.
But did I think this might translate into them being interested in this sport? Not ever. But it did.
A few years ago my son and daughter did their first youth triathlon, complete with an open water swim in Lake Michigan. When my daughter returned to that race the following year the water was so rough I volunteered at the last minute so that I could get in the water with her. She looked over her shoulder, a huge wave about to crash over her entire little body in water where she could not touch the bottom, and shouted " Mom get out of here". The picture I have of her sipping water, covered with sweat, as she transitioned from the bike to run is one I will always cherish.
Last year my 13 year old started to get into track. He asked me if I would run a mile loop by our house a few times. As we started I tried to tell him about negative splits, and how he should run the first half slower than the second. He immediately took off, and I figured he would learn when I caught up to him midway and passed him. But that didn't happen. He WAS doing negative splits. He was just faster than me, and I never did catch up to him. It's a great day when that happens. When your kids jump into choppy waters fearlessly or surpass what you can do. It's the best experience this sport has given me I think. It's like this sport just keeps giving and giving, and getting better and better.
I attended the Duathlon World Championships in Italy in 2008. The race was great, but what was even better was touring Rome with my 10-year old son who is a greek and roman history buff. Watching his face as we entered the Colliseum certainly made up for the performance of my untrained self at the race, as was having him at every lap and the finish line. I've made a point of picking races where qualifying will take the kids and I somewhere we have never been. And it's motivated me to train hard enough to make that happen.
In April of 2009 I competed at Duathlon Nationals in Richmond, Virginia, but this time my 13-year old was also a participant. He competed in the youth division, which allowed me to watch him race, and for him to watch mine. And his brother and sister were there to cheer him on as he raced up and down the hills of Richmond on my road bike for the first time. All those rituals of traveling to a race-- unpacking your bike from its case and re-assembling it, eating your pre-race dinner, attending the course talk--- the thought of doing this with my kids just fills me up to no end.
If on that day in 1987 someone had told me that I would still be doing this in 2010 and that I would be doing this with my kids, I'd have thought they were nuts. It was all I could do to struggle through that open water swim back then, let alone watch a small child do so, or contemplate myself at middle age still doing this. I thought that was the first and last race I'd ever do. What we don't realize as we contemplate aging when we are younger, is that life experience makes our life richer than we can possibly imagine. One day I will go full circle, and be that tenative person who will find an open water swim daunting. But I know I can always rely on a place for me at a finish line for my own children, whatever it is they choose to do and if I'm really lucky, for their children as well.
Train Smart. Be Happy.
Linda Mallers
Founder, RaceLogix.com
Q & A section
Add your question
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