Show Some Love

By Amy Kloner

There is something brewing among many female athletes (and with many of you guys) that is getting on my nerves, and it’s time we stop the madness.

I always used to think that Girls + Athletics = an equation for good self esteem, positive self image, and a healthy body. For the most part, that has been my personal experience and the experience with many athletic friends growing up. Youth and high school sports kept us balanced and focused on positive and healthy activities. By default (or exhaustion), we stayed out of trouble and kept our eyes on the prize, not obsessing with our size.

Where does all that positive energy and self-love go as we get older? As an athlete in her 30s, I sense that many of my peers are increasingly harder on themselves physically and emotionally as the years pass by.

By nature, competitive athletes are a cut above the average Joe when it comes to setting high standards for ourselves. This is precisely what makes us HUNGRY for more, hungry for challenges, and hungry to hunt them down and be a little bit better than we were last year, or last race.

As a competitive athlete myself, I am not immune to this. I embrace this spirit that we share, and I love the fact that it trickles into other areas of our lives. Pursuing excellence, or just improvement upon the status quo, is what leads us to be better, stronger, and more capable. The reason why athletes are usually valued employees in the workplace is part of this very principle; separating the competitive drive and hunger for success is often an impossible proposition. Essentially, you can take the athlete off the race course, but you can’t take the race out of the athlete.

The “trickling into other areas of our lives” is the part that can be complex, though. That desire to be the best that we can be is a force that must be managed with care. Otherwise, it can become a slippery slope when applied to certain aspects of our lives. Specifically, I am referring to our body image.

Women in general seem to have a bigger challenge with body image. Throw in your average Type A, overachieving, competitive athlete, and all of the sudden a half ironman PR is no longer enough. We want that half ironman PR . . . AND the body of a runway model.

I may be wrong, but I’d be willing to bet my entire stash of Powerbars that Kate Moss doesn’t have the leg strength or endurance to hammer a 56 mile bike ride, and follow it up with a smokin’ fast half marathon.

What we do as multisport athletes puts us in a unique and small percentage of the population. Regardless of our personal records, the fact that we are even crossing the finish line of these events is a testament to the dedication to our fitness, our bodies, and the pursuit of our goals. My mom told me a long time ago that if we are not our own cheerleaders, we cannot expect anyone else to be. Essentially, we have to believe in ourselves before we can expect anyone else to.

So, why then are we so hard on ourselves? If you are not in this category, good for you! But so many (especially female) athletes I know are unnecessarily harsh on themselves when it comes to what constitutes a “normal” body. We must eradicate that type of thinking! We are strong, powerful, and beautiful just by virtue of our dedication to our health and fitness.

Looking like Kate Moss isn’t in my training plan (or my genes), but when I look at my strong legs, I know that I earned every centimeter of the muscle through hard work and desire to be the best I can be. That is gratifying . . . and that is enough.

Can we reach an agreement, ladies? Set all the performance goals that you want. Work your tail off and follow your coach’s training plan to a T. Fuel yourselves properly for your training and put good, healthy foods in your body. That is all part of a healthy plan for performance, weight management, and self-improvement. Let’s just stop chastising ourselves for consistently being five pounds away from our “ideal selves.” Work on self-improvement, but love who you are and what your body is doing for you NOW.

Oh, and one more thing.

Next time you turn around and check out your rear end in a new pair of jeans, change your thought process and stop the self-loathing. Instead of wishing for a smaller tush, take pride in knowing that your glutes are the strongest and most powerful muscle in your body, and that booty is going to power you past a supermodel on a bike any day!

Amy Kloner is a professional triathlete and multisport coach for The Sport Factory in Atlanta, GA. She is a former amateur world champion and two-time national champion duathlete. Amy is passionate about the sport on and off the race course, whether she is competing, coaching, or working as a bilingual race announcer for several international Ironman events. Amy can be reached at coachamy@sportfactory.com or www.amykloner.com.