Theresa Roden decided to train for a triathlon on a whim.
After enduring the physical and mental training of race preparation, she saw how the experience changed her life and her self-image for the better and about two decades ago decided to start facilitating the same experience for East End girls.
“Growing up I never thought of myself as an athlete, I hated gym class, it was a tough go,” says Roden. “It wasn’t until my thirties over in Block Island, all the sudden, these crazy lunatics came running down the beach and they had numbers written on their arm in Sharpie. Everybody was cheering, they were jumping over sandcastles and I turned to my friend and was like ‘What are they doing?’ and he said, ‘Oh it’s the Block Island Triathlon,’” says Roden.
Having never ran a 5K race, Roden was inspired by the energy and took to Google with friends in her book club to figure out how they’d complete the quarter-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride and four-mile run feat. Just a year later, she completed the Block Island Triathlon, herself.
“I realized very quickly that if I was going to reach this goal, I couldn’t continue to be the person I always was — the girl, the woman, the mom who had such a negative internal dialogue who was my own worst bully,” says Roden. “At the same time that I was training my body for the race, I was training my emotions, my mind, body and spirit.”
Roden pulled skills from the 2006 film The Secret, practicing positive affirmations and visual rehearsals of the race.
In 2010, Roden who has a daughter of her own, thought back to being a young girl facing the trials, tribulations and self-doubt of being middle school aged, prompting her to present an idea for a youth triathlon — a six-mile bike ride, 300-yard swim and half mile run — training program to her daughter’s East Hampton School.
“What if we took a group of girls in that vulnerable age and gave them this really hard goal, but gave them all of the tools, the training, the love, the support, camaraderie, what would happen?” Roden said, presenting the idea.
She got the green light and in her first year coached 10 girls from the one school. Now, 17 years later, there are over 200 middle school girls in the program from 13 participating schools from Montauk to Mastic, all working towards the same goal — a youth triathlon on July 11 at Long Beach in Sag Harbor.
Over the course of time, the core training has remained the same.
From February to July, girls meet once a week for two hours after school, practicing empowerment and all different forms of exercise, presented as an outlet for girls to opt for at times when they could lean on unhealthy coping mechanisms, like drinking or drugs.
“Those sessions are really to introduce fitness as a lifelong thing that you can enjoy,” says Roden.
On Saturdays from February to May, the girls train for the running and swimming portion of the race at the East Hampton YMCA (2 Gingerbread Lane, East Hampton, 631-329-6884) and Suffolk County Community College Health and Wellness Center (121 Speonk-Riverhead Road, Riverhead). Come May, the girls practice biking, a group of which are learning for the first time each year typically taught by i-tri alums, who are all invited back to participate in the program, volunteer as mentors and eventually work for the program guiding the young girls.
Throughout the year, there are other events that the young triathletes have opportunities to participate in and learn from including Mentoring Day where they speak with female professionals, becoming familiar with various lines of work to pursue in the future.
Roden has plans to expand the program west in coming years, reaching young women in the Five Boroughs.
“I’ve seen what can happen when they’ve been exposed to somebody who’s willing to invest in them and love them,” says Roden.
To learn more about i-tri click here.
