Last weekend, I met a super cool, very inspiring, and incredible triathlete named John Hatala. He is a retired Marine who competes in various triathlons including IronMan and XTerra races. Since I love competing in triathlons, I was so excited to be able to ask Mr. Hatala questions about training, races, and expert tips.

I learned that he is the 2011 Western Region XTerra Champion. I had never heard of the XTerra races, and as he talked about them, my eyes got bigger and bigger. It’s basically an OFF-ROAD TRIATHLON where the run and bike is OFF-ROAD. That means like dirt, rocks, streams, and mountains.. and a DIRT BIKE! So cool.

I had no idea there were such competitions and now I have it on my list of things I want to do when I am old enough. Mr. Hatala had all kinds of stories from his experiences that really showed how brave and dedicated he is to the sport and to always improving.

He is a bike enthusiast so I learned about the importance of bike maintenance, weight considerations, and training methods. He talked about the importance of monitoring his heart rate during training so he could improve the efficiency of his heart muscle for endurance. He talked about pacing, nutrition, pre-race preparation.. so many things.

One time during a triathlon, he said he had a panic attack during the first few minutes of the swim. The water was freezing cold and it sort of took his breath away. He had pre-race nerves and when he entered the water, he found that he simply couldn’t move. So he floated onto his back and just slowly waved his arms back and forth to stay afloat until the panic attack went away and he was able to turn over and start swimming. I thought this was really amazing because he is a well-trained athlete and I learned that something like that can happen to anyone at anytime.

I was most grateful that he would take an hour and a half out of his weekend to talk and share tips with me. He said that triathletes as a community are pretty laid-back and enjoy a sense of comraderie(sp?). Just by sitting with me, I felt like I got to experience a piece of that community! Thank you, Mr. Hatala!!!!