Published February 19, 2011 11:43AM
Several of the sport’s top professionals have traveled to Costa Rica for Sunday’s Rev3 Costa Rica triathlon. The group gathered for fans and media to answer questions at the pro panel. Here’s how the athletes answered some of the questions posed to them during the panel.
Why race Rev3 Costa Rica?
Matt Reed: “Had some cold weather in Boulder, Colo. It’s nice to get somewhere warm and gives me a goal to do some hard sessions during the winter. I also like to support Rev3. They put on a great race.”
Richie Cunningham: “This year is different with the movement of the 70.3 World Championships. So I wanted to start the season earlier and see how the fitness is.”
Chris McDonald: “I am completely outside my comfort zone. Usually I do Ironmans. I’ve only done eight Olympic-distance races. I came down here to get it handed to me—nothing like motivation to get your butt kicked.”
Amanda Stevens: “I wanted to kick off the 2011 season, get a good tune up to get the cob webs out.”
Amanda Lovato: “This is a builder race. Last year I started with a half ironman. This year I’m just building into it.”
Kelly Williamson: “I wanted to come down here and it is nice to ease into the season. But it’s all hard. Any race you do is hard. Every race is hard in its own way.”
How do you survive mental breakdowns?
Chris McDonald: “When you feel good, don’t take it for granted.”
Amanda Stevens: “Recognize you are being negative and change it around. Mentally you can get back on track.”
Kelly Williamson: “Remember how bad you feel, it’ll get better. No matter how good you feel, it’ll get worse.”
Michael Lovato: “The race always gets better. There’s beer and cookies waiting for you at the finish line.”
Why do you compete in triathlons?
Matt Reed: “This is our job. I want to support my family as best as I can.”
Amanda Lovato: “When I started in the sport, I just wanted to be active, lose a few pounds. But now I think about how hard I can go and how much faster I can go.”
What are your goals for 2011?
Michael Lovato: “I want to beat Matt Reed. Have faster transitions than Richie Cunningham, be faster out of the water than Amanda Stevens and help out more around the house with Amanda Lovato.”
Chris McDonald: “I am going to look up Richie Cunningham’s schedule and do all the races he is going to do and try to beat him.”