MODG Triathlete: Sofia Valdivia

Triathlons are one of the hardest races that exist, an exhausting mix of running, swimming and biking. They require you to be in great shape since there are so many different aspects to the race. If you’ve ever been interested in running one, having the advice of someone who has already run one will help tremendously. Sophia Valdivia is running the CAVEMEN triathlon April 7 in Flower Mound, Texas. One day she wants to run a triathlon in Florida. She has some tips for those who are interested in running a triathlon.

How do you work up to a triathlon?

Working up for my triathlon, I am running about 3 miles every two days (I would do more but since I have school it limits my time for training during the week), I go to my city’s recreation center to swim laps- I started out by doing 11 laps and now I am swimming 45 laps, and lastly I am biking about 5 miles every other day!

What is training like?

The training is very easy if you keep a schedule, so it is easier to build up! I feel that with my background of track and field, cross country, and swim team, training has just been like brushing off a few cobwebs.

For you, what is the hardest part?

The hardest part for me is practicing my transition from biking to running; the gravity doesn’t help much!

The triathlon that Sophia is running is 275 feet of swimming, 3.1 miles of running and 11.5 miles of biking. Sophia is in the 16 to 18 year old division. The hardest triathlon, the Iron Man, is 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 mile bike race and a marathon run. The many different types of triathlons also makes it easy to work your way up to harder distances. As you can see, triathlons are very diverse in distance which means that no matter your skill level, there will be a triathlon for you.