A Triathletes Journey 2024 - Introducing Mafe Senosain! - Athletes in Motion Podcast

Narrator: 0:10

Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from race to recovery. With your hosts, Tom Regal, and Kenny Bailey.

Tom Regal: 0:30

Hey, Kenny, how are you doing?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:31

I am fantastic. Tom, how are you?

Tom Regal: 0:33

I'm fantastic as well. I would like to welcome Mafe Senosain to the show. Did I get that right,?

Mafe Senosian: 0:41

Yes. Thanks for having me.

Tom Regal: 0:43

We love having you on the show. So what we're doing today, we're introducing Mafe because she is the first of our triathletes, Journey athletes as we go through. So a word Welcome. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. We're excited. We're excited to have you this year, as we follow her journey to becoming a triathlete, right? This is the first one or have you done both before? Is this your first? Nope,

Mafe Senosian: 1:09

that's the first one. First one. So

Tom Regal: 1:11

we've got we've got a new one. We've got someone we're just finish on getting her going. So off her tell us about yourself. Give us your background. Give us your story. What's your story? Did you lose a bet? You could ended it? How did you get started? Oh

Mafe Senosian: 1:27

my god. No, not really. Um, so how far should I go? Just kidding.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 1:34

Pass the ball would be kind of nice. But maybe somewhere in between? I don't know. Well, I guess would be like, Have you been? Where you? Was this something you wanted to do for a while? Or was this just sort of like you woke up one day and say I decided I want to go to a triathlon? Or have you kind of worked into that idea? Um,

Mafe Senosian: 1:52

no, actually. So in terms of endurance sports, I started last year when I decided to get into to do a half marathon to sign up for a half marathon service a little bit earlier in the year that I I was finding myself in a not so healthy situation. And I was trying to get back into health I just finished the year before my PhD. So I was like, had a very stressful Thank you. Very stressed. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:30

So we have to call you doctor method then. Is it? Oh, you

Mafe Senosian: 2:33

can totally Yeah. Oh,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:35

Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, doctor. Thank you. Congratulations.

Tom Regal: 2:39

Yes,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:40

thank you. What's up? Before we get to

Mafe Senosian: 2:43

cancer biology.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:45

Oh, now you're just showing off. So that's awesome.

Tom Regal: 2:47

Art. Mafia is not only going to be a triathlete, she's going to be a smart save

Kenny Bailey<br>: 2:52

lives actually, like so. We appreciate that. So anyway, so he finished up a PhD now here you are, you're not feeling great. So you decided I needed to go do something about it. Is that Yeah,

Mafe Senosian: 3:02

exactly. And so it was like also that and that some labs, like work labs that didn't came out really good. So I was like, starting to get worried. I need to take my health seriously. So yeah, luckily, my sister is an attrition. And she helped me a little bit, getting back on track with my diet. And I always been like, I always like to do sports. So when I was in high school, I did swimming, competitive swimming. And then the rest of my years I've been doing just going to the gym, so regular workouts or group workouts, but I will always been very active. So for that last couple of years. So yeah, I got back into the gym and doing things but I was like, I really need a goal to keep myself motivated and do things and so yes, I I kept looking at this half marathon and publicity in Instagram. That was for the Great Smoky Mountains. Half Marathon from occasional races. Yeah. So like, okay, it's near. We can drive there, I can run and if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. So, yeah. So I signed up for by me last year, and I was running it in September. So throughout that time, I started training running by myself, learning a little bit about the sport. And I wanted to get back into swimming and found out about the open water swim in the townhouses. And I was like, Okay, I really want to do this because I love swimming and I haven't been doing it in a while and that's how I find out about the trapper group and I met the people and started getting into very curious about it.

Tom Regal: 5:03

It's perfect. Yeah, he got pulled in by the community of the Tricopter natural tri club. So what

Kenny Bailey<br>: 5:10

was there a part of like triathlon that made you hold back like I you know I can run I can swim but the bike seems scary or was there a hazard taken? And what was that? Yeah,

Mafe Senosian: 5:22

definitely the bike because I had background in swimming I started running I've been running for several months so I feel that I have gained some endurance but the bike is completely new to me. So it's like I've never racing the bike I've ridden bikes whether it's like not saying you know, it's scary as fast or

Kenny Bailey<br>: 5:43

stupid like a card on the back of it make noises and stuff. tassels on any tassels all over mind. It's fun. The My Little Pony baskets a bit much but you know, they may

Mafe Senosian: 5:58

Yeah, so that's quite scary. still scary. But I heard so much so many things about triathlon and I wanted to try it so I decided to sign up like by the end of last year, there were like, good sales for races and I sign up for a budget say like, if I sign up I know I know. I'm gonna do it. If I still thinking about it. I'm still gonna be thinking about it for months and probably not do it but if I sign up, I usually come in and then yeah,

Tom Regal: 6:31

function once you lock that golden there then you've you've you feel imperative to make that actually happen and kind of focused on that you seem like a very focused person when you get set on something that would be well yeah, to go with your research and like to get into that part of it. So you came at it from a kind of from a swimming background. So what was your swimming? What was your favorite distance in swimming?

Mafe Senosian: 6:54

Um, it was a fair distance. It was February style probably with butterfly. Okay, but shorter distance because it's a very demanding style. Yes. Yeah. Like 50 meters. But still, I like I always love water in general. So I, I feel very, like comes very natural to me like being water. Okay.

Tom Regal: 7:22

Did you grow up around water? Did your family

Mafe Senosian: 7:26

spend? Yeah. So I'm originally from Peru from Lima. So um, I mean, I grew up in the Coast summers by the beach all the time. So yeah, I love I love the ocean. I love being in water and cool and yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 7:43

so that's good. And that's a great advantage right? Because a lot of people you know will pull swim but when they get in the open water they get a little nervous for you. It's just home, which is fantastic for you. Yeah. So what races Did you signed up for?

Mafe Senosian: 7:57

I think Yeah. Distances though because they wanted like I have in my ambitious my I want to do an Ironman at what point but firstly, I want to get familiarized with this board. And, yeah, build some confidence. And get to know like, is like, the part that I don't know, like, the whole the whole, the whole event? It's very new to me. So I sign up for the women's triathlon sprint. Which is in May. Then the other one, the Music City, also to print and probably. And then the what's the name of it? And Ashland city? Oh,

Tom Regal: 8:47

the River Bluff?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 8:49

Yeah. They're all great. So

Mafe Senosian: 8:52

yeah, Olympic distance for that one. Okay,

Tom Regal: 8:54

so two sprints that are Olympic step. All right. Yeah. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 8:59

that's good. Other than the bike, what else are you nervous about? Or is that the only thing you nervous about?

Mafe Senosian: 9:04

The transitions? Okay. Yes, on the rolls? No getting disqualified for something that I don't know.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 9:14

Well, the good news is that two things One is there's a lot of really friendly people that can help you in the morning, right to get set up and all that sort of stuff. So triathletes are very good that way. And secondly, they'll make sure to point out like, hey, if you've got something, I mean, if you've utterly if you forget your helmet, you know, that's gonna be a problem. But I mean, if you're doing something, they're like, Hey, you, you know, you need to be over here. They're not going to, you know, you're not gonna go to triathlon jail for it, right? They're, they're very helpful. I mean, they're trying to get people to succeed. So I think that's, I don't personally when I go into places, you know, you're like, Oh, they're going to point and all that sort of stuff and what they ended up doing, which I think is a great job as everyone wants to see everybody succeed. And that's what's cool about this community. So if somebody can help you out, like, Hey, you got to be careful with that, or hey, you may want to do that they're going to, they're going to try to help you out. which is a great thing. So, but yeah, transitions are scary because you're not just doing a sport you're doing three of them. So how do I pack for the swim? How do I get everything for the bike? How do I Okay, now I'm off the bike, how to get everything for the front. So and then the bike part, of course, is going to be, you know, like you said, you just gonna, it's almost like riding a bike, you just kind of write

Tom Regal: 10:19

it. That'll steer all of that. The track club is super, super great community to be a part of, and we'll walk you through lots of stuff we have, they have a very active. I think national track club is on the Slack channel, they have a Slack group that where the questions come flying fast and furious. And you know, there's, there's no question that stupid, right, every everybody understands, we've all been there at that same point. And the best part is, by the time you get to the race, the morning of the race is Kenny was saying there's people that will help you. But if somebody notices something that you're doing wrong, or you're missing, or you know, helmets on backwards or wetsuits on backwards, or some something like people will point it out and help you not like it's a hey, by the way, you know, you need to do this, oh, don't forget, you know, don't forget your goggles or, you know, kind of walk you through a lot of stuff. And if they, especially if they know you're new, which magic sports does a great job with giving you a wristband that you can wear as a first timer so that people can recognize that your first time race and they can reach out help you and keep an extra eye on your to make sure that everything's going great. They do such a fantastic job with that. And their concierge their concierge service that they have for for newbies is fantastic. It's it's a great addition that they did to the races. So you're in good hands. With with magic

Kenny Bailey<br>: 11:49

sport. Yeah. And just just to give you an idea, right? I'm a seasoned athlete, right. And I showed up to a race where it was wetsuit legal, but I didn't want to wear red suit. But I worked floaty pants because I dislike having my hips up and long story. So I went did the swim. Got to the transition. Again, I'm an experienced guy. And I always seeing Head, shoulders, knees and toes, right. So I just started the helmet with my way down, got my shoes on, everything was doing well. I'm like, Wow, good transition, I go to leave, and I turn the corner out to the bike transition to start taking off. I looked down I still had my bloody pants on. I'm a season guy. So I went crap. So I had to take off my Get off my bike, rip off the floor depends throw me in a ditch, this lady's like I got you and then took off. So it's just it happens to you know, yeah, happens to everybody, right? So it's just a matter if you can, you know, laugh at yourself and kind of move forward.

Tom Regal: 12:39

But one of the pros at the races last year was exiting for the run and still had his bike helmet on and strapped. And he was literally running out to go and they just yelled at him. And he's like, Oh, take it off. He had to run back, put it put it away and then come back out again. It was and it really makes it so they've left without their helmet like they've started running out of transition with their bike without their helmet had to put their bike there run back over. So it happens to everybody. It's it's all

Kenny Bailey<br>: 13:09

it's a thing. It's just so do you are you let's see, it's March now. Are you on a training program now? Or are you getting ramped up for one? Or what's your comfort level right now? And sort of what your week looks like? Yeah,

Mafe Senosian: 13:22

so right now I'm training for the Rock and Roll Marathon.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 13:27

Nice before the fall. Yeah. Oh, gosh. That's great.

Mafe Senosian: 13:32

Yeah, so after finishing the half last year was far more I could be one more. Yeah, I guess twice as nice. I don't know. I mean, like I'm scared but but I think I could put enough time and commitment into the into the training to make it happen at least like it's my first one. So my goal is just to finish it I don't I don't want to pressure myself. Especially because Nashville is very hilly. I just want to finish in one piece that's it. Yeah, but I've been training for for that so I feel like my fitness is gonna be in that's my main event right now the fall. That's April the 27th. Okay,

Tom Regal: 14:20

so that's yeah, so you got you got a few weeks you got what two or three weeks or so before the women's try so you'll be able to recover and you'll be fine your fitness is going to be great. Yeah,

Mafe Senosian: 14:33

hopefully. Yeah, so So yeah, the main event will be the marathon and then yeah, I I was out of the country so I just recently came and I'm getting into buying the bike and starting like doing some cross training with the bike and swimming and yeah, but the main gray now will be getting in Getting the miles in. Yeah, this week's Yeah. Well,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:04

the good news is like you're you're, you know, you grew up swimming. So that's an easy thing for you. Right? It's 400 yards, I believe it's gonna be the sprint. Right? I think it's 400 meters?

Mafe Senosian: 15:13

I don't know yard. Sorry. Do you grew up here?

Tom Regal: 15:17

Yeah, it's close to that.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:19

It's 400. So it's very quick for you, you'll, you'll be done in six minutes, right? Yeah. So that one should be easy. It's a run, you'll be it's an appeal

Tom Regal: 15:27

as well. So it's in such flux. So that'll be and

Kenny Bailey<br>: 15:31

then no matter if it's just about of the bike, right? It's just transitions like getting used to your body. So what there's an exercise called bricks. So you put like a bike. And then as soon as you got the bike you run. So you treat those things like a back to back to help you with your hips and kind of get used to that you go from here to here. And you're using different muscle groups, that kind of thing. But so it's really the bike right that, like you said, you know, just get comfortable on that. You don't have to blow it out of the water. It's just, you've got to run down, you got to swim down. So now it's just that middle part to Yeah, yep. So

Mafe Senosian: 16:06

just just just the middle.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 16:09

Well, it's just like everything else. It's like a lab, right? You know, you break down the challenge is to you know, okay, we know, this is working, we know this is working, this is the part that's not working. So this is the part we need to focus on. And that's, that's kind of, so you don't have a formal plan right now? Or do you

Mafe Senosian: 16:24

know, no, okay. I'm just gonna do cross training and get advantage of some of the events happening in the trade clubs and try to research on my own whatever I can, like, I mean, I would like to have like a more formal plan in the future when I, I want to, like, see how this goes. And then plan if I want to see I have an acquirement. And that will be like, then that would be my, my main event. Sure. Byron, I just want to get familiar eyes. I know, I feel like training for a marathon can get me to a good fitness anyway. So my main concern will be to know how to do stuff like you know, like to, yeah, I'm very, I'm the kind of person that really wants to know everything. So I will be probably few weeks from now we'll be looking at the YouTube videos that I can, like, try to learn to do this stuff, and learn as much as they can. Yeah, but gosh,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 17:29

Tom, it almost feels like maybe one of our upcoming episodes could be about transitions and tips and tricks on what to do light bulb. What we're gonna do is we're gonna make a video for you. Okay. Transitions, we'll talk about like, the little like, the little stuff. Some things you don't think about every day, the big stuff, you know, do I have a shoes? Do I have a helmet? Do I have you know those things, but especially on longer distance ones, there are certain things that you know, you want to be able to have, or that makes it just helpful in an easier. But yeah, it sounds like you've sounds like you're gonna have the physical ability. I think, you know, my, if you want any words of wisdom, for me, I think I come from a cycling background. I think on that one, you don't, I think it's less about, you know, going fast and doing I think it's just more about understanding your space and being comfortable on your bike. And so you don't make sudden movements. Because it's not you out there, it's you and a few 100 other people, right. So if you're consistent on just, you know, know how to control your bike, know how to turn, know how to be able to do that your speed is going to be what your speed is, of course, you want to practice that, but just your bike handling will be helpful, because that way, if you act predictable, people can then like, if I'm coming around you I know you're not going to do some crazy kind of thing because you're trying to grab your bottle. And now you're you know, six feet where you used to be so you know, those kinds of skills would be something you'd want to want to just practice so that you feel comfortable on the bike and comfortable handling the bike. Yeah, yeah, clearly you want to get faster, but you got time to do that. Yeah, yeah. But those kinds of skills, just having those base skills, that's really important. And I'm saying that for everybody, because people forget that. I mean, I've seen, you know, bad things happen when someone's doing that, they'll go to the aid station, and they're not, they don't look back and they just kind of turn out and you've got people whizzing by and you know that can be a very dangerous thing to do. So that's the one where I think if I were to give any advice to anybody is just feel comfortable about the what your bike does and how you are on your bike, how to brake properly, how to be able to take water properly, those kinds of things, and then you can worry about getting faster.

Tom Regal: 19:39

That's another another podcast we can do Kenny is

Kenny Bailey<br>: 19:42

that something? Podcast ideas pop it off? Situational awareness, that situational awareness. Yes,

Tom Regal: 19:48

that is my so my biggest pet peeve but my biggest thing to get everybody and awesome. I have a I have a in April we'll be doing the transition clinic. So Oh in person. So you'll get to practice and we'll go over all of that stuff. So we'll make sure you get an invite to that come over because that's what I do every year. And and seasons, great seasons, athletes show up. Beginners show up, we go over all the basics, we cover a lot of stuff. And then we actually do a couple of transitions we actually go through, I make you make a spin in circles, get your heart rate up, get your dizzy, make you run halfway through my lawn chain, you know, get onto your bike, and then go out, do a lap around neighborhood come back, transition off to run, go out, do a lap around the neighborhood, come back, and we talk about it. And then we do it again. So it's fun, it's a it's a nice way to learn because it's everyone shares their tips and tricks and things and all that stuff. So it's it's good to do in person, we can walk through all of that. So fun, fun stuff coming up, you're gonna have

Kenny Bailey<br>: 20:48

some coffee, we're excited for you. We're excited. Welcome to the community, like a pin or anything or a handshake, you

Tom Regal: 20:56

know, there's no secret handshake.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 20:59

Try to come up with something. But we're excited to have you on the program. We're excited to see your progression. For the audience, we're going to be tracking off a for the next few weeks. So like every three or four weeks or five weeks, we'll, we'll get you back on and we'll ask how your how your training is going. I mean, obviously right now, it'll be mainly on the run. But you'll need to get a bike and we'll have to talk about all that stuff. So we're excited to have you on the program. We're excited to share your journey with us understand sort of all the highs and lows and what you're excited for what you're scared about. And we can you know, we can watch you hit that hit that finish line.

Tom Regal: 21:34

Yeah. Now we're excited. Yeah, thank you so much for sharing your story with us. We really Yeah, absolutely like that. And for everybody, make sure you hit the subscribe button. It'll be someplace floating around on the YouTube channel. And if not, just hit the subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Send us comments, questions. Any of that fun stuff? Just just uh, you know, interact with us. We're on Facebook, Instagram. Any of that you can get a hold of us ask questions from off a if you want to get it get us cued up with some questions for that as well. We really appreciate all the comments and stuff that comes through now. So thank you so much. mafi, we appreciate it. We look forward to following you. It'd be awesome. Kenny, as always, and for everyone else. We'll catch you on the next Episode.