Eva Pérez, Triathlon Trainer. Interview conducted by @loretosocorro
Eva is a young woman who lives by and for the triathlon. She receives us at the Metropole Swimming Club (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) where she trains both adults and children.
Eva, can you explain to us what a triathlon is? How is it possible to combine three sports?
The triathlon combines three sports modalities that are linked in transitions. The test begins swimming, then it mounts a bicycle and ends up running; Depending on the distance covered, it is classified as a sprint or super sprint where, for example, in the sprint you swim 750 m, run 5 km and cycle 20 km. The super sprint is shorter than the sprint and already, above these two modalities, there is the distance olympic Then come the Half Ironman and the Ironman, which is the longest distance in triathlon.
Do you always compete outdoors?
Nature is the environment where you compete: you swim in the sea, in open waters, on beaches, in ports. The road is the circuit. In the tests the traffic is closed but in training you have to deal with it and we also run outdoors.
With the pandemic some indoor triathlons emerged, but the nature of triathlon is outdoors.
Is triathlon more individual or team sport?
In itself, it is a more individual sport because you face yourself: you have to do the test in the shortest time possible to improve your personal best. Obviously, you compete with other people but it enhances personal fulfillment.
On the other hand, it is a team sport, for example: in the Canarian series you score points for your team. What each athlete does is to give points to his team and, when training, it is very important to be surrounded by people who have the same goals.
How did you start being a coach?
Thanks to Cristian Martín, who was my coach and gave me the opportunity to be his second coach, here, in the Metropol Triathlon section. Cristian knew me as an athlete and he knew that I liked to know more, to train myself… -I took the Federation courses to be able to be a coach – and I trust myself. So I had the opportunity to dedicate myself to this professionally.
The hobby became a profession through training and having someone who knows a lot by your side. Between the two of us we make a good team.
Did change scare you?
It was a responsible decision. Triathlon was something amateur for me. I worked as a journalist in the sports section and I also had a great teaching vocation and, in fact, just when I started in this world I was called from the lists to teach language and literature. I had to choose and it was very difficult. I felt horrifying vertigo at that moment, because I didn't have the stability with sports that working for the Ministry of Education offered me, but something told me that this school had a future: I saw that every week one more child joined and I said "I stay here". With the support of Cristian, I also felt supported and we have carried out a very nice project. I don't regret it at all. Just seeing children hooked on sport and that sport is part of their daily life, that is a success.
Do you train children, at what age do they usually start?
Registered in the Triathlon Federation there are from prebenjamín to junior category. They can start from five or six years old but here we start when they are twelve years old. There is an exceptional case if we see that they are very motivated and have a level that allows them to be with the group.
Is there a quarry?
It's getting stronger. It is a young sport. Until now people from other sports had come: swimmers, cyclists... but for a few years there has already been a school and that means that triathletes start to be from children.
What atmosphere is breathed in the section of the Metropole Swimming Club?
Cristian and I are very happy because it is a human group that nourishes each other, with extraordinary motivation and it is not only because of us, as coaches, but because of that synergy that is created between them. Personal goal improves the team.
What is the minimum level for the little ones to start?
None in particular. We adapt to the level of each person. It is a sport that seems to be played by heroes, but deep down it is just another sport, like any other.
What if adults come to try it for the first time?
Still, there are even adults who have never swum in their lives and start swimming here, at whatever pace. To finish a triathlon there is a cut-off time that is normally very long. It is up to anyone.
Have you also trained any amateur athlete?
If there is someone who has sports goals and who wants to do a special test, I support them with online monitoring, every day, planning their schedules and being in direct contact to supervise and set the goals for the season.
What does being a coach bring to your life?
A satisfaction that I don't know whether to tell you, which is almost greater than when I compete myself. I remember the first time I took the group that I had been preparing to compete: some athletes were making their debut and others were going to meet goals and I felt that I had helped them to be there.
Do you like to feel on the other side of the barrier?
I like it because I know what they are experiencing, for myself, and being part of that personal process of someone who wants to overcome himself, the truth is, it is something very nice. I like my job, I love what I do and I get involved with my athletes a lot, with total availability but because I was born that way. My work, my life and my passion are united.
What kind of competitions are there on the islands?
The Canarian series, which are regulated by the Federation, with an annual championship and where we compete in teams.
There are also competitions for minors, although the health situation complicated it, they have been resumed.
What are the canary series?
There are nine tests distributed throughout the year and among all the islands. It's like a league and most are sprint distance. The juniors also compete there.
How do you program the season for you and the people you train?
We do it to be able to reach each test in the best level of form. It is complicated because there are many competitions a year, especially in summer, there is a lot of competition. Some competitions are main objectives and we prepare the team with my teammate Cristian Martín, who is the head coach and also responsible for the general programming. Between the two of us we try to get the team to the most important tests in the best possible condition.
Apart from coaching you also compete, when did you start Eva?
I have always played sports. I come from the mountain ultras. I really liked running in long-distance races like the Transgrancanaria and as a hobby. When I did mountain races I always had the idea of doing a Triathlon and, at some point, I wanted to prepare for an Ironman which, by the way, I am going to Lanzarote this Saturday and it has taken me three years of work to get here.
How do you remember your first triathlon, competing?
I debuted in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in 2019 and it was in an Olympic. I remember it with tremendous joy and great enthusiasm. I was not scared that it was an Olympic modality because I came from a long distance.
Are triathlon competitions mixed?
Everyone is called but there are two different competitions. The largest group leaves first, so that we don't bump into each other; Normally it is usually the one for boys, but we all go out with the same tests, the same distances, the same route and at the same time. We compete under equal conditions, what happens is that there is a female and a male classification.
Do women and girls like Triathlon?
More and more women are encouraged and it is true that, in percentage, we are still a minority but every day there are more, especially in short distances. As for girls and female adolescents, I will tell you right now. of the thirty minors that we have, a little more than fifty percent are girls and young women.
Eva, how do you take care of yourself for the competitions?
I try to rest a lot. It is very important to prepare for a test like the Ironman because the number of hours I dedicate to prepare is brutal.
Is working with training compatible?
It's hard but like for anyone who has any other job. You have to spend a lot of time at work and a lot of time training. Sometimes rest is compromised when preparing for a very demanding test like the Ironman. What I do is that I look for a balance between being able to rest and maintain the energy to continue training and, at the same time, fulfill and come to work with energy.
How do you do it?
Taking care of food, rest and also giving up other things such as not seeing friends, since life becomes training and resting; but knowing that they can be recovered when the objective is exceeded. I am not always preparing myself for such demanding and complicated tests.
In fact, I advise the athletes I train to set goals that allow them to continue with their family life. That they think of assimilable objectives where they can have time for their own leisure, apart from sports.
After the Ironman, what are your next goals?
The first thing will be to take a breather and then I have a very nice goal, which is to go with my team from Club Natación Metropol to the club league, at the end of June in La Coruña, to try for promotion. We are in the third division and we want to go up to the second division. It's a team goal.
My sports goals culminate there, for now, for this year. And, of course, continue accompanying my team in all competitions but from the other side.
After trying Triathlon, do you stay or flirt with another sport?
As I am restless or restless -laughs with a trained and dreamy laugh-, sometimes I find myself thinking: “what if I try windsurfing, and if I try kayaking…?; But, to this day, I still have a long way to go with the triathlon and I am very happy. Also, my workhorse is swimming and I want to continue insisting to improve. I'm better at cycling and running, but swimming is my challenge to improve as an athlete and transmit that as a coach.
If you had to ask for triathlon to be publicized everywhere, what would you say to the people who program or promote sports activities?
Perhaps, to strengthen the idea that triathlon is within everyone's reach. It is true that it requires a bicycle and we have some that we lend for the children to try until they buy one. That is also wonderful because we should all ride bicycles more, use it as a sustainable means of transport in a city like ours. And, above all, I would tell you that the triathlon, by combining three sports, is very multidisciplinary and, at an early age, it is convenient to practice the more sports the better. The triathlon still has a lot to give to society.
And sports in general...
Everything that the brain produces with sport, on a hormonal level, is very positive but also on a social level: bonds are created by sharing challenges, working as a team with someone. Sport teaches you all that because it is like life itself. Sometimes there are falls or injuries when you are preparing for a test and it is hard. Overcoming this makes us emotionally stronger for other challenges.
Do the letters still accompany you when you train and compete?
I love to write and I use social networks to leave my comments; sometimes I chronicle my races and always from an emotional point of view, because for me sport is also emotion.
What title would have the novel of your life?
Well I do not know… -snorts softly and looks up to look- What would you call it? Maybe: “The goal is the path”.
And it is that I have realized that in sport you set a goal, but the journey to reach that destination is a learning in itself. The years that I have been preparing for the Ironman, whether I manage to cross the finish line or not, have already been worth it.
We wish the best to Eva Pérez, in her next challenge, in the Ironman of Lanzarote and that she knows that we are going to read her chronicles, in addition to infecting us with the desire to run, swim and ride a bike through these islands that are an environment privileged throughout the year.
