TrainingPeaks member profile: the O'Connor family, triathletes

TrainingPeaks members Pat and Monica O'Connor and their three children Ryan, Daniel and Casey like to spend family time together in a different way than most: they all compete in triathlons. After meeting at West Point, where Pat played lacross and Monica participated in intramural sports such as swimming and sailing, they moved to Santa Cruz, where Monica started training for the Pacific Grove Olympic distance triathlon in September 2002. Watching Monica compete, Pat became inspired to start training as well: "I got the bug after seeing Monica do her first triathlon and also from a couple of guys, who have since become my best friends, who were training for Ironman Utah 2003."

Both Pat and Monica are coached by Mike Ricci of D3 Multisport, and they feel that training together has strengthened their relationship and their family. "Because we are doing something in common, we understand the demands of the sport and the training involved. We encourage each other, play devil’s advocate, and just plain support each other – for better or worse, through the highs and the lows. We’ve experienced both, from the giddiness of completing our first races to the death of one of our best friends in a cycling accident."

All three of their children have competed in at least one triathlon. Ryan, the oldest, started doing triathlons in 2002, when he was nine years old, and eventually participated in over 40 races between then and 2007, doing everything from kids' races to sprints. Ryan's younger brother Daniel started training at the same youth triathlon camp as Ryan in 2003, when he was just six years old, and raced the MTB Sprint at Wildflower in 2006, when he was eight. Their little sister Casey rode her bike with the training wheels still on in her first triathlon, the Silicon Valley Kids' Triathlon in 2004. All three continued to compete in triathlons after the family moved to Arvada, Colorado in late 2004, and have also started participating in other sports: Ryan plays lacrosse and hockey, Daniel plays lacrosse and football, and Casey does gymnastics and swimming.

Balancing their training with the rest of their lives can sometimes be complicated, but the O'Connnoors make it work by being flexible. "I have to schedule my training around my work responsibilities," says Pat. "I just have to be flexible. I’ll get workouts in during my lunch hour or right after work. I also have to occasionally travel for work, so I’ll have to juggle my schedule around the fact that I don’t have a bike at my disposal. When one of the kids has a game on the weekend, I’ll schedule a bike ride to end up at the field where they are playing. Or I’ll ride from a game. Flexibility is the key."

Monica likes it a lot when they can coordinate their schedules to do a workout together. "Every once in a while Pat might have a recovery ride on the same day that I have a long ride, so we’ll ride together. We have been able to coordinate our schedules occasionally so that we can meet at the pool and swim at the same time. When we do get to workout together, I really enjoy it!"

They've also raced together, although they discovered that doing the same Ironman-distance triathlon severely strained their organizational skills. "The sprint and Olympic distance races weren’t bad," says Pat. "We never seemed to have any schedule conflicts or maybe our training requirements weren’t so great that we didn’t have any problems working around one another."

"But IMAZ this year was another story," adds Monica. "We agreed afterward that we wouldn’t train for the same Ironman distance race again. The volume of training that we each had to do, and at the same time, really pushed our organizing capabilities to their limits."

One tool that the O'Connors use to help them keep their training organized is TrainingPeaks. "We use TrainingPeaks to log all of our work outs and as a means of communication and feedback with our coaches. Mike uploads all of our workouts online, we view them, do them, and log them. It is really a very good tool!"

There are many rewards that the family has gotten from racing. "Just to name a few, being fit and healthy, setting a healthy lifestyle example for our kids, having events that we can go to as a family, making great friends, and finding out how much we can actually push ourselves and how much we can actually accomplish."

Pat and Monica are also featured as the D3 Athletes of the Month in the September issue of the Extra Mile. TrainingPeaks and D3 have teamed up to recognize these fine athletes. Congratulations, O’Connor Family for making triathlon a family sport!