How does a nearly 13-year-old end up doing a half-ironman? The drive comes from Jared himself.
We have a rule that we do not allow any form of electronics in our house during the school week (unless it is needed for a school assignment). Because of this, our kids have always played outside and used their imagination. We can’t say if it was his love for being outdoors or the fact that he is fairly reserved child, but when he was introduced to the sport at the age of seven, it ignited a passion in him.
Since neither his father nor I were triathletes or even runners at the time his interest began, we had to research to see if it was feasible for someone his age to begin doing longer distances when the kids triathlons were no longer challenging for him. Additionally, we received full approval of his doctors who closely monitor his training. I know there has been a great deal of concern about what this will do to his growing body. The research we found proves that this will not harm him. The excerpt from the below article helps explain our feelings:
Can too many miles ruin young runners?
By Jonathan Beverly
Published June 26, 2011
“It’s basically an urban legend,” says Cathy Fieseler, M.D., practicing sports physician on the board of directors of the American Medical Athletic Association. While you won’t find controlled studies on this, as you can’t put a group at health risk for science, Fieseler maintains, “You’ll find no data that kids will tear up ligaments, destroy cartilage or damage growth plates with high mileage. You don’t need to put a top limit on it. “William Roberts, M.D., medical advisor for the Twin Cities Marathon, has conducted several studies on young marathoners, a self-selected group of young high-mileage runners, and has come to the same conclusion. “Kids and mileage basically makes us nervous,” Roberts says, “but from all I’ve found, there is no harm being done; they are not getting hurt. If it is their choice, keep doing it.”
(to view the full article visit http://m.runnersworld.com/high-school-training/should-kids-run-long?page=single)
Jared started slowly with his participation in adult triathlons. He began on relay teams; his plan was to build up to racing alone by doing 2 races where he did just one leg of the race, then 2 races where he did 2 legs of the race. After three relay races, he altered his plan when he found out about a super sprint race. It was a perfect distance for him. He has continued to use a plan when “stepping up” to longer distance races. He was the biker on an Olympic relay team before attempting his 1st Olympic race on his own. He did 2 Olympic distances races in the 2012 season before doing a 1/2 Iron Aquabike at Oilman Texas last year. He did the Houston 1/2 Marathon, the MS 150 and 2 additional Olympics this year in preparation for this 1/2 Iron distance goal. He also did an Xterra Off-Road Tri this summer as well. The planning and execution skills he uses in training will hopefully help him become a more productive adult.
As far as his day-to-day training, most of his time is spent on non-weight bearing activities such as swimming and biking. He swims with Rice Aquatics year-round so the majority of his training is in the water. In the past, he attended weekly bricks with the Bicycle World Kids Club, but lately he has been training on his own. He was able to compete in Cross Country at school this year so for the first time he was able to actually practice running with kids his own age. Prior to that, the only running Jared did with other kids was in a local summer program put on by Coach Andy Stewart.
Jared’s goal is simple. He wants to finish a 1/2 ironman distance race and he wants to raise awareness for GAN for his siblings.
He has no aspirations about setting any time records. He is perfectly fine walking part of the run and he plans on stopping at all of the water stops (he doesn’t like eating while riding). As his parents, we want to make sure that he has fun and stays healthy. We emphasize nutrition and he knows what he needs to do to stay hydrated and energized for the race.
He LOVES this sport and would race every weekend if he could afford to do so. He volunteers at races in order to help pay his entry fees. He paid for 1/2 of his new mountain bike that he uses to commute to school with every day.
With most sports, you can just drop your child off at practice with the coach and then watch them compete. However, there were no triathlon teams available for kids who wanted to do adult races when Jared started. There were also no books I could read to help him figure out how to train. In our family, it is not the case of a parent “pushing” their child or trying to live through them. I remember watching him at his 1st adult triathlon and thinking “I could never do that”.
He has been an inspiration to our whole family. Since he started this sport, the rest of his immediate family has completed at least one Triathlon. His little sister, Lexi, did her first open water kids tri just 2 months after she got off her training wheels at age 4. Lexi enjoys tris but is happy to just do a few kids triathlons a year. Justin also did a few kid’s triathlons before it became so difficult for him to run. His dad, Dave, appeased him by doing a super sprint in April of 2012, but decided that he will be happy to bike with Jared, but will never do an open water swim again. I did my 1st super sprint tri on Mother’s Day 2011 and I am now training to do my 1st Ironman distance as well. Since I did not know how to properly swim (I swam without putting my head in the water), it was necessary for me to join a women’s tri training group and learn how to swim properly.
There was a story published a while ago that talked about how Tri training can really wreak havoc on families. In our family, it has done just the opposite. We get to spend time together while we train. How cool is it that my almost 13 yr old wants to hang out with his mom?
Ironically, Jared is not that fast nor does he have an intense competitive drive. My husband and I have tried to figure out why he loves this sport so much and wants to race whenever it’s feasible since he doesn’t care where he places. When his twin brother Justin was diagnosed with GAN and we asked him to come up with a name for his “campaign”, he picked Justin’s Triumph. It didn’t even dawn on me until a few weeks later when a friend pointed out how fitting that was for our family since the word “Tri” is in Triumph. Jared’s endurance and love for this sport is enabling us to reach out and make others aware of this fatal disease. Hopefully this increased awareness will bring in some big donations to help find a cure for this horrific disease. It’s Jared’s way of supporting his brother and sister.
I love all three of my children. They each have very different needs right now and I do my best to encourage them to set goals and then help them figure out what tools they need to accomplish those dreams. I never would have expected that supporting Jared would lead us to the triathlete life, but I am glad it did.
