The Triumph Project: 21 Days of 70.3

Please enjoy the guest post written by Jeff Fairbanks, Project Creator of the Triumph Project, documenting 21 days of 70.3 efforts in a different city each day across 11 states. 

The 21 Day Journey:

The 21 day journey was created to bridge myself, and the project, to the community voice of WHY WE TRI. The journey will take place this July, 2016, and travel along the East Coast enduring 70.3 efforts in a different city each day for 21 days.

The mission is to capture the community voice of WHY WE TRI, and the journey was created to be the bridge to get there. Sound crazy? I think so too. But that was the hope to engage you to join me at some point along the journey or share your story of WHY and how this sport changed/impacted you.

This is a community project, aimed at sharing your voice to the masses. To ignite the spark of doubting our own self-doubt by challenging those things that are thought to be out of reach. The journey was created to be crazy enough to engage your support in joining me along the way.

The goal is to never do a single swim bike or run effort alone.

Logistics:

Beginning July 27^th 2016, my family and I (wife and two kiddos) will begin an exploration of support/endurance by traveling from Maine all the way down to FL over the course of 21 days. We plan to do this excursion via truck/camper style with an occasional stop at a hotel or two. We’ve never done something this extreme, nor for this long, so it should get interesting! Many locations were considered for the 21 daily efforts, but ultimately as we began to map out the distances between the locations; it became evident that we needed to consider the time it will take to get to the next location after I’ve completed 70.3 miles (swimming/biking/running combined).

Currently we are busy mapping out the course details for each location in order to share those with you as they become available.

Challenges:

Preparing for this journey has been a challenge in and of itself. The amount of time I’m putting out in order to get myself “ready” for this journey leaves me constantly tired. Many days, I’ve surprised myself by being able to continue pushing through soreness and fatigue. That’s been one of the most empowering things has been my surprise (to myself) to doing more. To those that may not know, I’m not a paid athlete, nor have I come from a decorated endurance path. I’d be categorized as more of an average age grouper who works his day job, spends time with his family and works in pushing the limits where it fits in. Being that I have a day job, I do get asked how does it all work?

For me it’s all about integration rather than isolation when it comes time for training. As best I can, I attempt to make the sacrifice of training hours at times when it’s tolerable for the family. Many times that’s late at night during “show time” or in the wee hours of the morning before work. But often times, it is also with the kiddos during my daily runs (using a jogging stroller) or pedaling on my indoor trainer while the kiddos get their allotted shows.

In saying all this, I’m hoping to take the efforts being put out now and think that it may be somewhat easier once the 21 days do arrive as it will be the primary focus for that point in time. At least, that’s what I’m telling myself as the journey approaches- the hardest part is now, the journey will just be the output of all this preparation.

I think aside from finishing 21 days of 70.3’s, a major consideration as I get further south will be the heat. Keeping in mind that I’ll be performing these efforts towards the hottest times of the year, it will be crucial to make sure I’m taking in enough calories along with hydration.

Route mapping has also been a bit of a challenge as I’ve never been to many of these places that I’ll be visiting. Luckily, some local tri clubs/groups have started reaching out offering to map out the course efforts which has been a huge help. If you are your tri group would like to propose a course map, please let me know (contact details below).

Positives:

There will always be challenges (as touched on above) but the stuff I prefer to focus on are the positives. Nearly two years ago, this whole thing was a loose idea that wasn’t anticipated to go beyond a pipe dream. There have been sacrifices and challenges, yes, but this project has also introduced me to a lot of people and opportunities that I would have never known otherwise. That to me is a huge positive. The emails and messages I get from social media keep me moving through the fatigue now more than ever.

I think if you were to ask me what the thing I look forward to most would be, it would be to see the community embrace and participate with me at each of these stops. To be able to show to my wife and kids, and other community members’ support crews (wives, husbands, friends, families, kids etc.) that we really can be more than we think (and that others believe the same and are willing to lend a hand) would be an enormous positive and probably somewhat of an emotional thing if it happens at each location.

I want my family, and others to see (even if through this documented journey), that we can be bigger than ourselves and more importantly, bigger than our self-conceived and/or self-built limitations.

2016 Triumph Project City Selections with Dates:

7/27/16 Freeport, ME

7/28/16 Old Orchard Beach, ME

7/29/16 Gilford, NH

7/30/16 East Freetown, MA

7/31/16 Naragansett, RI

8/1/16 Westerly, RI

8/2/16 Middlebury, CT

8/3/16 Long Island, NY

8/4/16 Atlantic City, NJ

8/5/16 Lewes, DE

8/6/16 Cambridge, MD

8/7/16 Cape Charles, VA

8/8/16 Williamsburg, VA

8/9/16 Grimesland, NC

8/10/16 Wilmington, NC

8/11/16 Myrtle Beach, SC

8/12/16 Kiawah Island, SC

8/13/16 Tybee Island, GA

8/14/16 St. Augustine, FL

8/15/16 Clermont, FL

8/16/16 Vero Beach, FL

Follow: Instagram: @thetriumphproject Website: www.thetriumphproject.org

Contact Email: info@thetriumphproject.org

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