Categories: About Me

About Me

My name is Carol Scheible. When I was 20, my cousin started doing triathlons. I remember thinking “That sounds really cool, but I could never do that – I’m not athletic enough”.

Twenty years later I was overweight and out of shape, and generally miserable. I decided to make a commitment to follow a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. I lost a bunch of weight without any exercise. Then I hit a plateau where I could not lose any more.

So…I decided to start running. While searching for run training programs online, I ran across this great plan called Couch to 5k at a website called Beginner Triathlete. That old thought about how cool triathloning sounded came back to me …it was tucked away in the back of my mind all those years. This time, instead of thinking “I can’t do it”; I thought “I will do it!”.

After finishing the Couch to 5k training plan, I added biking and swimming to my workouts, and completed my first triathlon in April 05. I am now hooked on the sport of triathlon and am fitter than I have ever been in my life.

My brother, Mark, has been doing triathlons for several years and he is a great help to me – giving me lots of advice and support and answering all my neophyte questions. Thanks, Mark!

My brother-in-law, Tom, is a runner and fitness enthusiast and has always been an inspiration to me.

I’ve recently met a guy on my master’s swim team named Jon. He’s a master’s elite triathlete and actually wins races. He’s very inspiring and is kind enough to share his wisdom with me. He says all it takes is persistance. I think he’s just being modest and is very talented. What they heck, tho, I’ll dream big and tell myself that maybe I can win someday too.

The site Beginner Triathlete is a wonderful resource for triathletes – both novice and veteran. Also, read my post on Getting Started in Triathlon.

Here is a picture of me in Spring 04, as a couch potato. This was after a lost a bunch of weight, but before I started my triathlon training journey.

Here I am in Sept 05 at mile 12 of the VA Beach 1/2 marathon
Read Race Report, 2005
Read Race Report, 2006

Email me: ncskibum@gmail.com

carolyahoo

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View Comments

Carol says:

July 13, 2007 at 9:32 am

Dan,

Thanks for your comment on my blog.

How long it takes a person to train for a triathlon depends on weight, age, current health/fitness level and the distance of the desired event. It took me a year to get ready for a sprint distance triathlon. I was 40 lbs
overweight, over 40, and a couch potato...so I went slowly to avoid injury. A younger / fitter person could train for a sprint distance event in 8 weeks. On the other hand, training for an Ironman distance event would take a year or two for just about anyone.

You don't need to be athletic to do a triathlon. That is the coolest thing about this sport. All it takes is persistence to do the training. I have zero athletic ability. The other cool thing is that I meet such friendly and interesting people.

Happy workouts, Carol
Dan says:

July 12, 2007 at 8:57 pm

Hi Carol,

First off, I have to tell you, your blog is excellent. I love your posts regarding Chi running and and Pose running. Keep up the wonderful posts!

Question - how long did it take you from deciding you wanted to join a triathlon to actually racing in one?

I've always looked at triathletes with awe and admiration but I was never athletic to begin with so I always just wished I could do it. Well, almost a year ago now I decided, what the heck, I'm going to run a triathlon. I had estimated that it would take me two years before I could run on one. I'm almost done with my first year and really all I've done so far is to just get me into shape. Don't even know if my time frame is too loose or too restrictive really.

-Dan
LifeNowadays.com
Kristy says:

April 6, 2007 at 12:03 am

Hi. I just wanted to say I am so glad I found your website! You are such an inspiration to me. I too have this inner desire to do triathlons, but didn't think I could because I am not lean, fit, and barely able to run a few minutes at a time. I look forward to completing my first tri! Thanks again for having this site!