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Tuesday, April 29, 2003

By Virginia Linn, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The sixth annual Seagate Pittsburgh Triathlon & Adventure Race is scheduled for July 13 along the North Shore. The Post-Gazette profiles two local athletes preparing for the competition.

Interested in competing? Check out a proposed training schedule covering the next five weeks.

Mom Betsy Monroe

When Betsy Monroe started training for July's Seagate Pittsburgh Triathlon a month ago, she figured her biggest challenge would be squeezing in time for exercise while caring for her two young boys.

Betsy Monroe pedals on her training bike in the backyard of her Regent Square home, while keeping an eye on three small boys. Her 18-month-old Casey is on the swing with neighbor Russell Sullivan and that's her 4-year-old Jonathan keeping an eye on her. (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

It has involved some creative strategies. Such as riding her training bike on the back deck while her boys play in the back yard. Taking her 50-pound Hungarian hunting dog Sassy on a run after the boys are asleep at 9 p.m. And getting a temporary membership at a local health club so she can swim while her boys are in the club's child-care center.

"Juggling is exactly how it's worked so far," she said. "I've been surprised I've been able to work out almost everyday."

As the workouts get longer over the next few weeks, she suspects she'll have to schedule her training more rigidly.

Monroe has exercised recreationally for most of her life, except for a year on a crew team at University of Michigan. And she's done 150- to 400-mile bike rides with her husband, Bob, before the kids came along.

When she tried to get back into shape two winters ago after the birth of 18-month-old Casey, she sprained her left ankle badly on her first run in Frick Park and hobbled home.

Last summer she started kick-boxing and then picked up running once a week at Thanksgiving. She believes the kick-boxing has strengthened her ankles to better prepare her for running.

Still, she's most worried about finishing the 6.2-mile run, particularly on a long, flat route along the North Shore. "It's been maybe a decade since I ran six miles."

And because she's caring for the boys all day, she's often tired when she starts her training runs.

She's also a little worried about the open water swim. Others who have participated in triathlons report "how chaotic the scene is in the water. I've got some apprehension."

Despite these concerns, she said her personality fits well with the demands of a triathlon.

"I find it really hard to back down from a challenge. I really like endurance events. I've never been quick, fast or particularly coordinated. Ball sports don't work for me. But I can go for a long time."

Swim coach Chuck Knoles

Chuck Knoles spends a lot of time coaching college athletes. What he hasn't been spending a lot of time doing is staying in shape himself.

Chuck Knoles at Trees Pool in Oakland (Martha Rial, Post-Gazette)

So when he realized he'd be hitting the Big 5-0 next year with a softening belly, he thought it was time to stem the tide. Just a few weeks ago, he started the 14-week training schedule for the Seagate Pittsburgh Triathlon.

"The first week, I was so sore, I couldn't comfortably sit on the toilet," recalled Knoles, head coach of University of Pittsburgh's men's and women's swim teams.

He was sore from running. Or perhaps more accurately described as his attempt to run-walk-jog. He needs to work up to complete the 6.2-mile running leg of the Olympic distance triathlon.

That's the feat he's most apprehensive about. "I have never been a runner," he said.

He hasn't spent much time on his bike, either. Although he lives five blocks from his job, he drives to work every day.

Part of the triathlon's 24.8-mile bike ride will be the Interstate 279 HOV lane. He knows it's a long uphill stretch because he once coasted the opposite direction from McKnight Road to Downtown when his car was running out of gas.

Knoles lives atop one of Oakland's steepest hills. As part of his training, he's been riding his old mountain bike down to Schenley Park. But to return, he has had to get off and walk up the hill (despite the bike's 20 gears). His goal is to get home without walking.

Even though he's a swim coach, he hasn't trained in the water for eight or nine years. He last swam competitively in junior high, although he has been a lifeguard, taught swim lessons and coached Pitt's swim teams for 13 years.

The only college sport he played was golf at Christopher Newport College (now University) in Newport News, Va.

He started training in the pool last week and has been trying to follow the training schedule developed by triathlon race coordinators. He also has added weight lifting to his regimen.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to finish the run or bike race without getting stronger," he said.

And he's determined to get in shape. "I'm around younger people, I'm around athletes all the time," he said. "I've been putting the love handles on, watching my weight creep up. ... It sounds funny that a coach of an athletic team is not in shape.

"It's easy to teach people how to do it. It's hard to do it yourself."

He also told his friends and college athletes that he's preparing for the triathlon, figuring that they would help keep him motivated.

"Having opened my mouth and told everybody, I have to deliver the goods."