If you aren't sure you're up for whatever challenge you might currently be faced with, you don't have to look farther than the roads of Olds to find some inspiration.
If you aren't sure you're up for whatever challenge you might currently be faced with, you don't have to look farther than the roads of Olds to find some inspiration.
Two homegrown triathletes are headed to Penticton this week to hit the streets – and the water – for the Multisport World Championships festival. More than 3,600 athletes from 40 different countries -- including a thousand Canadians -- will compete.
Both Leoni Kelly and Hillie Van't Klooster qualified within their respective age groups for two of the five International Triathlon Union's events: the standard duathlon (10 km run, 40 km bike ride, and another 5 km run), and the long distance triathlon (3km swim, 120 km bike ride and a 30 km run).
Not impressed? Well, both women started doing triathlons after they turned 40. Both have recently qualified to run the Boston marathon. Oh, and Kelly only learned to swim five years ago.
"When I turned 40 I thought, I need a new challenge in life … so I thought to myself, OK, I am going to learn to swim," said Kelly. "I started swimming in our little swimming pool."
"I'm actually already a little nervous," said Van't Klooster, who to date has "only" done a half Ironman.
The long distance event will be the longest multisport race either has ever completed – the two qualified for the world champs after their placement at the Great White North triathlon in Stony Plain last year, which is equal to a half Ironman: two kilometre swim, 90 km bike and a cool half marathon run (21.1 km). It takes somewhere in the realm of five hours to complete.
While the pair train together, travel together and race together, each has their sights set on a different event this week. Van't Klooster is focused on the duathlon, after surprising herself by taking silver in her very first duathlon at the Canada national championships last year.
"It gave me the right of a qualifying spot for this year's world's – that is my main goal, to be really good at that," she said.
Kelly on the other hand has her sights set on the triathlon.
A former competitive cyclist, she took up it up again after injuries from running sidelined her, She then had to rethink things when cycling also led to injuries.
"So I thought, 'well let's do swimming,'" she said, "and you know what, it's just the best! You don't get injuries when you do triathlon ... well, you do, but it's really good cross training."
What she means is that workouts spread across the three sports reduces overuse injuries and increases strengths of different muscles, making her stronger at all three.
The pair is an international dynamic duo, both with athletic roots.
Kelly is originally from South Africa, and is a physician, splitting time between a local clinic and the emergency room at the hospital.
Van't Klooster hails from Holland, and came to Canada 17 years ago, settling on a diary farm north of Olds in 2004.
"I'm from a family who is really into sports, so it has always been in my genes, I guess, and picked it up over here," she said.
As a teenager she was a speed skater, and spent the summers running and cycling for cross training. When a friend started doing triathlons about a decade ago, she joined in.
"I thought, might as well give it a try," she said.
Van't Klooster likes the sport overlap in triathlon.
"Sometimes you are better in swimming than in running, you know and some people struggle on the bike," she said. "But that's what's so nice on triathlons –you have to be good in all three sports, to get a good result."
For Van't Klooster, it's not about race results and ripped abs.
"It's just a whole process for meeting people – I decided to do the things that I like, to meet people, and here I am," she said.
For her, the goal is the journey.
"It doesn't matter time, you know, or if you walk or you run (with) walk breaks," she said. "It's all good."
"I really enjoy training, always, but racing is a different level," she added. "You give it your best, what you have in you that day. And that is painful, and then yes, I think 'let's get over this, let's stop triathlon.'"
"But then after the race, you see everyone, you see your friends and you hang out, and it is so nice, and it gives you more energy for the next one," she said.
Kelly said as much.
"Before the time, and while you do it, you always wonder, 'why am I doing it, why am I doing it?'" she said. "And then afterwards you just love it."
Although, to be fair, you could meet people at the local pub. So why do they swim, bike and run for the duration of a mediocre night's sleep?
"To challenge yourself, I guess, to see where you can end, how deep you can go," said Van't Klooster. "I don't know, it's just something that athletes have, I guess."
"I think it's the nature of the athlete," said Kelly. "You want to do big things, right? You want bigger challenges in life all the time."
"Once you've run a half marathon, you will be 'oh maybe I can do a 30km, oh maybe I can do a full.'"
The pair generally train six days a week, either cycling, swimming or running, plus additional strength training. Van't Klooster gets her fix at the local cross fit gym, sometimes checking in as much as five times a week.
"It is really good interval training," she said.
The pair use an online coaching system, with a coach from Crossfield who schedules their workouts as needed around their lives, which include husbands and dairy farms and children and the emergency room.
"I think the training is the best, because that's my skills to cope in life," said Kelly. "I always tell people that's my medicine."
"Then for me, signing up for a race is the thing that motivates me to train every day," she said. "You know that, for yourself, once you've signed up for a race, you've committed to train."
"And then unfortunately, my goals are just getting bigger and bigger and bigger," she added. "I mean, fortunately."
In the summer they normally do three sessions of each sport three times in a week. In the winter, they cut back to two times each. In the spring and the fall, they do running races.
"It's just everything to prepare yourself for the triathlon," said Kelly, although there's more to it than just race prep.
Of course, in their "just preparing for triathlons" both women also managed to qualify for the Boston Marathon next April.
Kelly likes to talk down the accomplishments, saying that the pair aren't pros and that their achievements are within the context of age-group categories.
"All of this stuff, I just want to put it in perspective, is amateur, right?" said Kelly.
Amateur or not, the pair have both consistently managed to land on the podium and move up the triathlon ranks.
In July, Kelly finished second and Van't Klooster was third at the Ironman 70.3 in Calgary, qualifying both for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships next year in South Africa.
And yes, a full Ironman – 3.8 km swim, then 180 km bike ride topped off with a marathon – is in the works.
"You just need to do your little bit every day. And eventually you will get there," said Kelly. "That's all it is. It's huge. But if you do your little bit every day, eventually you do get there."
"You just train for it and you do it," she said.
Easy as 1-2-3.
"You just need to do your little bit every day. And eventually you will get there."LEONI KELLY
