Athletes of all ages, abilities learn to train with Hammerhead
Triathlon team
Morgan Hill – Mandi Middleton, who had never really participated in sports, wanted to get in shape to keep up with her young daughters. Todd Andrade had an extensive soccer background, but wanted to try a marathon. Cody Kent, a 12-year-old baseball and football player, thought running races might be fun.
The three South Valley residents may come from different backgrounds. But they – and several other Gilroy and Morgan Hill residents – have all been training together with coach Cristin Reichmuth and the Hammerhead Triathlon team.
Many of the Hammerhead athletes have their sights set on upcoming events. For some of the adults, there is this weekend’s Wildflower Triathlon at Lake San Antonio – one of the country’s largest triathlons. For the kids, there is the Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon on June 4 and the Hammerhead Kids Triathlon at Bonfante Gardens on July 16.
Reichmuth holds training sessions twice a week. On Wednesdays, the Hammerhead team meets at the Live Oak track for running. On Saturday, they have “brick” workouts, which involves running and biking back-to-back. Many of the kids get their swimming workouts in with their swim teams at the Morgan Hill Aquatics Center while the adults train on their own.
“My big emphasis is quality over quantity and rest,” Reichmuth said, in between recording split times for her trainees at a recent practice at the Live Oak track. “With all the athletes, it’s all about building up really big so that when the event comes, it’s not a surprise, so that the race is easy in comparison to what they’ve been doing.”
Gilroy resident Middleton had her two daughters, 3-year-old Grace and 6-year-old Claire, in the all-ages Hammerhead program last year before she even considered doing it herself.
“They kept asking me when I was going to do a triathlon,” the 31-year-old said. Last July, “60 pounds ago,” Middleton began working with Reichmuth. In August, she took up cycling and is training for the April 14 Tierra Bella century ride – a 100-mile ride. Middleton said cycling has changed her life.
“It’s my true love. I had never really been into sports,” she said. “I have more energy and I’m setting a good example to my kids.”
Andrade, a former San Jose State soccer player who now coaches the Archbishop Mitty boys’ soccer team, had never run a marathon before this year. But his time of 3:03.53 at the Napa Valley Marathon in March – his first and only marathon – qualified him for one of the world’s best-known races, the Boston Marathon. The Gilroyan’s time was six minutes under the qualifying time for the 30-34 age group. He finished 39th overall.
“My family and friends said I couldn’t do it, so I did it,” laughed Andrade, who will run the 2007 Boston Marathon. “(The training) was really tough, but actually running and doing (the marathon) and being competitive gets you itching to do it more.”
It’s not just the adults getting in on the action. Cody, who goes to Charter School of Morgan Hill, and brother and sister Kooper and Katie Knutson are some of the youngsters gearing up for June’s Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon.
For Solorsano student Kooper, 12, this is his second triathlon season. But for 9-year-old Katie and Cody, the experience is new. Cody began working with the Hammerhead team a month ago.
“It’s really fun,” Cody said. “Running is my weakest and biking is my easiest (event). I want to get podium (at the Silicon Valley triathlon) but I also just want to finish to tell myself that I could accomplish something.”
Kooper is looking to rank in the boys’ 12-year-old division top 10 during the Grand Prix season.
“If I win Silicon Valley, I’ll definitely make top 10,” he said. “I’m pretty serious but I like to have fun.”
Katie is looking to improve her running times.
“I like the swimming and biking, but I don’t like to run,” said the Rod Kelley student. “I want to get a faster running time.”
Ana Patejdl is the sports editor of the Gilroy Dispatch. She can be reached at 842-1694 or by e-mail at
ap******@gi************.com
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