Triathlete raises money for Family Service

By Cindy Huang
chuang@eagletribune.com

July 05, 2009 12:43 am

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Jocelyn Cascio's bike broke in three places during the recent Ford Ironman Triathlon in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

The Haverhill athlete was told her 18-gear bike couldn't be fully repaired, but she could ride it with one gear — making her pedaling five times more difficult.

Some competitors would have stopped. But not Cascio. She hopped on her one-geared bike and kept going.

Cascio, who grew up in Lawrence, isn't a quitter. She raised more than $4,100 for Lawrence's Family Service Inc. through this triathlon, her third competition but her first for Family Service.

The event consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike and a 26.2-mile run. Training wasn't a problem for Cascio — who volunteers for Family Service as a middle school duathlon coach, training kids to do a run-bike-run course.

In three weeks, Cascio will do it all again, this time with the Ironman Triathlon in New York.

— Cindy Huang

What was the training like?

You have to start training six months in advance. You have to start slow, with 10 hours of training a week. Then you ramp up to 20 hours a week in the month or so before the race.

What kept you going as you swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles?

I think the race is easier than the training. I find that race day goes by much faster than the clock says it does. Race day is the celebration and reward at the end of the training. With all the volunteers there, the people cheering and all of my teammates out on the course, it's kind of like a big party for all the hard work I've done.

This was your third triathlon, what keeps you going back to it?

It's a really special experience. Every race has about 2,000 participants. To be out there with 2,000 people that you know have gone through trials and tribulations of training, and to share in that celebration with people like that, is a unique privilege. When you think about it, there are people who would love to be able to run a mile and can't. I have good health and I don't want to take it for granted. The Ironman is the ultimate celebration of being healthy and being fit.

How much of the endurance for the race is mental and how much of it is physical?

I think it's at least half and half when it comes to the training. You have to be disciplined or else you won't be prepared. A lot comes down to your attitude, especially when you get to the starting line. Deciding for yourself that you can do it is just such an important first step. My mom really raised all of us to believe we can do anything we want. Endurance is all about saying to yourself, "I can do it, I believe I can do it."

Did you do something you didn't expect to do?

The most unexpected thing about my day on Sunday was that I volunteered for the rest of the day. After I wasn't allowed to keep going on the bike because I had been stationary for an hour and a half waiting for the repairman, I worked at the volunteer tent as the athletes were going from their bikes to the run. Then I worked at the finish line, catching participants as they finished the race.

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