Category: Our Stories

What has inspired Pat Hawks to take part in the sport of triathlon? To answer this, she took me back to her childhood.

Growing up in southern California, Pat loved to swim and surf in the Pacific Ocean. She also learned valuable life lessons from a mother who refused to give up, despite serious challenges.

After contracting polio at age two, Pat’s mother never walked. However, even though doctors told her she would never have children and not live past age 50, she raised a family and learned to drive a car. She also lived longer than everyone in her immediate family.

What is also remarkable about Pat’s mother is that she taught Pat to swim. Because of her mom’s exceptional upper body strength, Pat never won a swim race between her mother and her.

Seeing her mother accomplish so many things no one expected her to do inspired Pat. Today, Pat often dedicates her rides and runs to her mother, since these were things her mother could not do.

Pat is also determined to pass on her mother’s perseverance to her children. It’s working. Her daughter, Heather, tells others about the difficulty of keeping up with her mother. Pat hopes her children will pass on her legacy to the next generation.

Pat Hawks – Mother, Teacher, Writer, Hair Stylist and More

Pat has had a rich life, full of diverse experiences.

During a 20-year period in which Pat raised three sons and a daughter, she stayed physically active, albeit with different companions than today. Pat swam and biked with her kids. She also enjoyed water-skiing and running.

Pat was also a Girl Scout leader for the troop to which her daughter, Heather, belonged. One day, she learned that Heather and her friends were going to quit Girl Scouts. They no longer wanted to sell cookies, take part in parades, or do community service projects. They just wanted to focus on badges.

Rather than allowing them to quit, she negotiated with them. They would sell one box of cookies, complete one community service project of their choosing, and identify badge goals.

The first badge goal the girls chose was survival hiking. Through this, Pat learned that she loves hiking. She would draw on this love a few years later.

This experience also became the basis for one of several books she has written. Under Their Wings is the story of her time mentoring those in her daughter’s Girl Scout troop.

Work Outside the Home

Pat also worked as a hair stylist, retiring from the profession after 35 years. She did so when aerosol cans were prevalent and before chemicals carried warning labels and ventilation was required. She credits her decision to add ventilation to her salon for the good health she enjoys, despite what many of her peers have experienced.

After retiring from hair styling, Pat became a parenting teacher. In this role, Pat worked through the court system of the State of Hawaii to teach mothers and fathers how to be parents.

Following this, she became a yoga instructor for seniors, something she continues today. She leads classes both on-line and at a beach in Maui, Hawaii. She also offers a hot yoga class.

Joining the Triathlete Community

Suddenly, at age 50, Pat found herself newly divorced. She started ballroom dancing. And, remembering the fun she had hiking with the Girl Scout troop she led more that a decade earlier, she started a hiking club. She learned that physical exercise was a way to combat depression resulting from the divorce.

Around this time, she also met a friend in her 40s at work who was training for a half Ironman 70.3 triathlon. The woman invited Pat to train and do the race with her. However, after looking at the distances of each of the legs, Pat declined. After all, she hadn’t swum any significant distance for many years.

Not accepting this answer, Pat’s co-worker argued, “If you can hike thirty miles into the wilderness with a thirty-pound backpack for three days at 10,000 feet, you can do this.”

An Important Lesson About Training for Older Athletes

She initially started training for the triathlon with a group of younger, 40-year-old people. However, early in the training, she had a lot of knee pain when following the group’s training plan.

She visited her orthopedic surgeon, who was also the sports medicine doctor for the local high school. He told her she was pushing herself too hard.

Pat remembers him telling her, “You cannot train like the 40-year-olds. You are a senior. Do one session per day, not two.” She followed his advice and trained in one swim, bike, or run activity each day for three days. On the fourth day, she did yoga and rested.

Ironically, Pat, who was age 51, and another person in their 50s, were the only ones from the original training group who finished the race. Three of the people in their 40s dropped out before race day or didn’t finish the race because of injuries.

While she did not finish on the podium, Pat completed the race and each leg with time to spare. She walked away healthy, injury free, and happy.

Seeking To Inspire Others

Looking back, Pat saw how difficult it was to restart training after thirty years of raising an active and a busy family. It wasn’t until her last child graduated from high school she could include regular exercise into her schedule. Training for the first triathlon was hard. Really hard.

She never again wanted to restart from near scratch in building physical endurance. She was going to keep moving from now on.

After completing her first triathlon, she scheduled another half Ironman. For this race, she tried to convince her three sons to do the triathlon with her.

When they told her she was crazy for racing at this age, she suggested that the three brothers form a relay team, with each completing one leg of the triathlon.

Before race day, two of Pat’s sons had dropped out, leaving her 21-year-old son, Stacy, to race alone. Even with an injury, Stacy completed the triathlon on his own, saying “If one old lady can do it, I can do it”.

Inspired to Continue With Triathlon

Today, at age 68, Pat splits her time between Maui, Hawaii and several western states of the mainland USA. She continues to compete in sprint triathlons and marathons. She still enjoys ballroom dancing and hiking mountains in Hawaii and on the mainland. When we spoke, she was preparing for a century (100 mile or 160 km) bike ride in Maui, Hawaii.

Pat’s strategy for continuing to compete in triathlon is three-fold: (1) do some physical activity every day with a goal in mind, (2) eat well, and (3) destress to stay healthy.

She does this for many reasons. First, she believes that good health results from these goals and choices.

Second, she sees these choices as a way of both honoring her mom and passing on her mother’s legacy to her children. As her mother and grandmother impacted her, Pat hopes to inspire her children and others to make choices that will keep them healthy and physically active.

For Pat, there is actually one more source of inspiration to stay with triathlon. She loves the feeling of elation coming from finishing a race or reaching the summit of a mountain. Anticipating this feeling keeps her going whenever she is struggling during a training activity, hike, or race.

How Pat Trains for Triathlon and Other Endurance Activities

For Pat, what some call training is simply time to do physical activities that she loves. This self-coached approach is based on advice over the past 20 years from medical professionals, especially her orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine doctor and her chiropractor.

Since she believes consistency is key, Pat spends one hour each day either swimming, biking, running, or walking. Her belief about the importance of consistency is shared by many, including coach Tony Washington, whose advice on daily strength training can be found here.

On any day, you could find Pat going for a one mile swim in the ocean, a four-mile run/walk, or a one hour bike ride with some hills. She swims every other or every third day. And based on the advice of her doctor, she never runs over four miles.

She is also a believer in yoga for muscle flexibility and the body’s overall health. Pat is convinced that yoga is the crucial piece of her training, holding the keys to her being able to train for a sport as physically and mentally demanding as triathlon.

Yoga is so central to Pat’s ability to compete in triathlon that on the day before a race, she completes two yoga sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. She does these to get the body tuned up and muscles toned. For her, this routine is key to safely running the race.

Some Weight Training

Pat also does some weight training, primarily to maintain bone density and prevent osteoporosis. This includes running with light ankle weight belts. For other weight training, Pat has learned to use lower weights with more repetitions. Sadly, her one experience with a personal trainer, in which he had her lift 50 pounds (23 kg) above her head landed her at a chiropractor.

Pat also considers hiking and ballroom dancing part of her training. “Hiking is especially good for building endurance.”

Choosing Health Through Nutrition

Hanging over the door in her yoga studio is a sign that reads “Food is our FARMacy”. She does not take supplements. Instead, Pat believes in juicing fruits and vegetables to get the vitamins and minerals needed to remain healthy.

Pat recommends new triathletes learn about nutrition and hydration alongside learning about swimming, biking, and running.

Having seen the terrible consequences of becoming dehydrated in other triathletes, Pat has become a stickler for staying hydrated, especially during hard exercise and races. To make sure she has adequate electrolytes, she likes coconut water because of its potassium content.

Her pre-race ritual includes consuming 1/2 liter of coconut water. She also carries her own water during the bike and the run legs to supplement that provided by the race organizer.

Pat has become so good at staying hydrated that, in a recent race, she finished with “my bladder ready to burst.”

Advice for Seniors Thinking About Triathlon

From the lessons learned on her triathlon journey, Pat offers the following advice for the over-50 person who wants to do a triathlon.

First, she says, talk to your healthcare professional about your plan. Pat bases this on the value of advice she received from her doctor when she was training for her first triathlon. For example, he advised her to start with a run-walk combination. He also took her shopping for the correct running shoes for her.

Second, Pat says, start slow, learn your limits, and keep at it. “You will be astounded at the improvements.”

Pat reminds us that as we start, realize that you can’t train like your 40-year-old self. Be careful about the weights you use in strength training. More repetitions (reps) with lower weight are both effective and will help prevent injury.

Once you have started, be consistent. Do some training every day, preferably with a friend or group of people close to your age. They will help to hold you accountable. Just remember to never compare yourself to anyone else.

Finally, Pat says that once you have decided to do a triathlon, sign up for a race and pay the entry fee. In most cases, this will prevent self-doubt from derailing your plan.

Remember, The Tortoise Won the Race

Pat’s advice is to be like the fabled tortoise, for whom slow and steady won the race. She remembers the accomplishments of her mother and grandmother. She appreciates that she can move and wants to stay active as long as possible.

If that is not enough, she need only look at those around her who are older, some in their 80s and 90s, that get up each day and start moving despite the many pains.

She is especially excited to see those who get back capability they thought had been lost for good. Pat remembers an 80-year-old woman from her yoga class who came into class one morning with fist in the air, proudly announcing “I just put on my pants without sitting down on the bed.”

Seeing other’s health and fitness, including strength and balance, improve through continued exercise and a yoga discipline is motivating.

What Inspired You To Do Your First Triathlon? To Continue?

What was the reason you did your first triathlon or are now planning to do it? What has kept you in triathlon or other multi-sport endurance events?

Please share what motivates and inspires you in the Comments below.

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For Johny Dignam and his wife, Tracey, triathlon has been life-changing.

“My wife Tracey says she waited 30 years for this version of me! I have always had this stored energy in me. The only way I could relax [before triathlon] was with the consumption of large volumes of alcohol.”

Johny’s passion and love for Ironman training has become a new, healthy, life-changing outlet for this energy.

“Triathlon training and the inspirational people we have met have had a profound positive effect on my general well being. It has also shown that there are some amazing people in this world from all different walks of life.”

Introducing Johny Dignam

Johny Dignam, age 57, has been married to Tracey for 33 years. He has always been an active, high energy guy with hobbies that include surfing, swimming, and mountain biking.

He works as Refractory Installer for Pyrotek, a company that produces high temperature materials used in handling molten aluminium (or aluminum if you are from the USA). His typical work day begins with an hour long commute to be onsite at 4:30 am for a 10-hour workday. At the end of his workday, there is another one hour drive to return home. Considering other family commitments, this does not leave much time for training and sleeping.

However, as you will see, that hasn’t stopped Johny from pursuing aggressive goals along his triathlon journey.

Johny’s Path to Triathlon

The journey which has led to triathlon for Johny Dignam began around six years ago. It was a sunny Sunday morning in Sydney, Australia’s Central Business District.

Johny was sporting a massive hangover after a late night on the town. Meanwhile, over three thousands runners gathered for the Sydney Marathon.

Seeing the excitement around the race and realizing that he wanted to make a change in his life, Johny decided he would complete the next year’s half marathon in Sydney.

Fast forward one year. Johny had just completed the Sydney half marathon when he met an old friend. They talked about running and eventually triathlon. A few months passed and the two of them met again, this time at a dinner party with mutual friends. The conversation again drifted to running and triathlon.

The next day, Johny registered for Ironman 70.3 Port Maquarie along with a friend and his nephew.

Triathlon History

Johny’s first triathlon was actually an international (Olympic) distance race in Wollongong, Australia in March 2019. He planned this event as a lead up to the Port Maquarie 70.3 two months later.

“My first triathlon was fun but underwhelming. However, since I had already signed up for the 70.3 in May, I continued training” said Johny.

Before the Port Maquarie race, he completed a 70.3 practice triathlon as part of his training. Then, in May, he successfully completed his first 70.3 and promptly vowed to never do one again.

However, before leaving the race venue, Johny wandered over to the finish line,

“I watched the final people complete the full Ironman. That night, I saw several athletes, some over 70 years old, complete the hardest Ironman race in Australia. The atmosphere and sheer determination of some of the athletes stirred something in me I had never experienced before. I was completely mesmerised and overwhelmed by the whole event.

“The next day, I signed up for my first Ironman, Ironman Australia.”

Then There Was Covid

The scenes in Port Maquarie on that May 2019 evening had truly impacted Johny. He continued to train for his next race as most of the world locked down in early 2020.

With his sights still set on Ironman Australia sometime in the future, Johny completed a virtual Ironman of his own design. He swam 4 km (2.5 miles) in the local pool. Next, he cycled for eight hours on his bike trainer. He finished it with a 26.2 mile marathon around his local neighborhood.

“I finished about 11 pm that night. I think this set me up mentally for Ironman Australia.”

In 2022, Johny was able to finally reach his goal of completing Ironman Australia. Once again, he took time to watch and be inspired by the final competitors completing the course.

Not Stopping Here

With Ironman Australia behind him, Johny set a new goal, to complete one full Ironman and one half distance triathlon each year.

“The people I have met have helped push me to places I would’ve thought were unachievable several years ago. Sure, age, sickness, and injury are all significate barriers for maturing athletes. However, if we push ourselves out of our comfort zones while listening to our bodies, we continue to grow.”

Training for Triathlon Has Been Life Changing

To reach his new goal, Johny decided to develop a training plan that fits his long workdays and family commitments yet provides enough rest to prevent illness and injury.

Johny has taken this approach in part because of the difficulty getting age specific training information. Like many, he found the available print and on-line training resources to be aimed at the younger generation. One approach that could have worked is joining a triathlon club. However, this option didn’t work for him.

Next best for Johny has been to subscribe to two triathlon training plans which he considers “great value for the money”:

• Phil Mosley Intermediate Masters 140.6 plan on TrainingPeaks. This plan provides a schedule of swim, bike, run, and some strength and conditioning workouts to be completed each week. It also provides the number of hours for training and the intensity target for each week for the months leading up to the triathlon.
• Low Volume Triathlon Plan from TrainerRoad. Most of his bike workouts follow the TrainerRoad schedule.

He has compared these two plans and selected the portions from each that work best for him.

One limitation is that even the ‘masters’ plans seem designed for a large age group – age 40 and over. And, many feel they are tailored to the younger end of this age range.

Combining Indoor and Outdoor Training

During the main part of the training period, Johny trains 7 to 10 hours per week. Given his work schedule, family commitments, and priority for rest and recovery, Johny completes most of his long training blocks on the weekends.

For the rest of the schedule, Johny has developed an innovative approach that combines training within his house or near it and longer weekend sessions outdoors.

Riding Indoors Builds Fitness and Mental Toughness

As already noted, Johny usually follows bike workouts from TrainerRoad. Each week, he completes one threshold workout, one VO2max workout, and one long ride of three to fours hours.

Interestingly, over 90% of his bike training is indoors on a trainer. This is because he does not feel safe riding on the road. However, he does some workouts on his mountain bike on a short hilly track outdoors near his home.

Is indoor training for the bike effective? This was a question Johny was asking going into last year’s Ironman triathlon.

“I wasn’t sure how I would do on the bike. My training included weekly, long indoor rides on the trainer for three hours or more. I did one or two rides of nearly seven hours outside before the event. As it turned out, I felt more confident on the bike leg of the race as the day went on.

“Having said that, it was still a slow time of 7 hours, 30 minutes, but I got off the bike and could run, and that’s all that mattered.

“I think the long indoor sessions prepared me mentally for the day.”

Johny pointed out that several professional triathletes, including Jan Frodeno and Lionel Sanders, also rely on indoor training for the triathlon bike leg.

Cross Training for the Triathlon Run

Johny also cross trains for running to avoid overuse injuries. He has found water running using the Fluid Running system to be effective for building running fitness and preventing injury. “Running in deep water is harder than people think.” You can read the story of the company’s founder, Jennifer Conroyds, here.

Typical Training Schedule

The table below summarizes a typical week’s training while preparing for an Ironman triathlon. It also highlights some of the other tools Johny has identified for training at home.

Swim	1x – Swim simulation using ZEN8 bands 2x – Pool swims (weekend)
Bike	1x – Threshold workout using trainer 1x – VO2max workout using trainer 1x – Long ride either using the trainer or riding outdoors
Run	1x – 5 km run using Zwift mid-week 2x – 30-40 minutes water running after a pool swim using H2Go app from Fluid Running * beginning 3 months before an Ironman triathlon, he will start doing longer runs outside
Mobility & Strength	3x – 20 minute using Calimove mobility app, Skill Yoga app, or Sean Vigue Pilates book/video * one mobility workout is done on Monday afternoon as part of his recovery day

Final Preparations for a Race

In the final weeks leading up to a full or half distance Ironman triathlon, Johny focuses on the “little things” that left unprepared can change the complexion of one’s race.

“Try to have all the little things in place that may impact your day. Come race day, you want to be comfortable and able to enjoy the moment.”

He also completes some long swims and long rides, focusing on completing them without worrying about his time. The main goal is to build confidence for race day.

For example, these last weeks typically include a 4 km (2.5 mile) pool swim and at least one longer open water swim. He will also complete at least one long bike ride to become comfortable being on the bike for several hours. Before last year’s triathlon, he rode seven hours along the bike track on a freeway. This ride “definitely helped on race day”.

During this period, he will practice changing a flat tire. He also uses this time to test hydration, nutrition, and any new shoes or clothing he may wear on race day. He doesn’t want any unexpected ‘tummy problems’ or body chafing during the race.

If the next race is a short (sprint or international) distance race, he may simulate the race on a course near his home. This was helpful for Johny before his first triathlon and can be for first-time triathletes.

However, for long course triathlons, he does not do a complete simulated race. He wants to arrive at the race fully rested and recovered.

Refining the Training Plan Based on Experience

Johny has made note of the workouts that have helped him most and is using this experience to develop his own basic training plan. He has offered to provide a copy of the current working version of his plan. “This is only a draft. I will probably update it after this year’s events.”

You can request a copy of Johny’s plan using the Comments section below.

Lessons

What are the main lessons Johny has taken from his time training for and competing in triathlon? Here are his top four.

1. We are all different. Therefore, our triathlon training will reflect our differences in fitness and in the time we can devote to training. On the other hand, find a plan that works for you and try to stay with it.
2. Nutrition is the one of the unwritten disciplines of triathlon. Eat healthy, basic food with a good source of protein and fresh vegetables. Alcohol and sweets are not our friends. Have a tested nutrition plan for the race in place weeks before race day.
3. Rest and recovery are essential. Listen to your body. If you are constantly struggling to hit target heart rate zones or complete workouts, you may need a recovery week.
4. Come race day, just enjoy the experience. There’s no point worrying about the weather or if you have done enough training. Make the most of the conditions and be thankful that you have made it this far. Also, be thankful for your loved ones and others who have helped you get to this place.

Advice for Those Who Want to Take Advantage of the Life Changing Benefits of Triathlon

Here is what Johny told me when I asked what advice he would give to an older person thinking about doing a triathlon:

• ​”Don’t believe that you’re too old. The over-50 age groups in triathlon events have some of the largest numbers of participants.
• “In this sport, there are people from all different backgrounds – gifted athletes, everyday mums and dads, people with disabilities, and others just like you – all doing amazing things. You can do this!
• “Don’t think too much about it. Sign up for an event and give yourself 12 months to build. Find a coach, join a club, or get some sort of plan.”

Want a Copy of Johny’s Training Plan? Have Questions for Him?

Want a copy of Johny Dignam’s Ironman triathlon training plan? Let us know by posting a Comment below.

Do you have other questions for Johny? You can also ask these in the Comments section.

Comments: Please note that I review all comments before they are posted. You will be notified by email when your comment is approved. Even if you do not submit a comment, you may subscribe to be notified when a comment is published.

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