How to do everything - personal life, work, hobbies? And how safely can the achievement of goals be combined in completely different areas of life? An excellent proof that with the right setting of life goals and the right selection of motivation, everything is possible - is the life of Maria Kolosova, a participant in amateur triathlons, a mother of four children and a successful business woman.
Life before meeting Ironman
Sport and vegetarianism are two things in the life of Maria Kolosova, which occupy an important role in her and which began to accompany her long before making an informed choice. The family of the future “iron lady” always respected the sport lifestyle - her dad was a master of skiing, although he was not a professional athlete. He paid much attention to the physical development of his daughter, thanks to which Maria quickly fell in love with running, skiing and an active life. Her family paid no less attention to nutrition, preferring only natural and wholesome food.
From childhood, Maria Kolosova was used to achieving her goals: school - excellent, additional classes - piano and running, three higher educations. One of them is the psychological faculty of Moscow State University, where she successfully studied motivation. And the first work - the leading project "Gifted children of Russia."
Maria Kolosova, whose husband passed away very early, was left alone, and for her four children she had to become both mom and dad. By her example, she showed children the importance of setting a goal and moving towards it, regardless of the sphere of life.
Mom is the main motivator in the life of children
Combining work, sports, constant education, family is very difficult, but Mary always finds the opportunity to be around and help her children if they need it at the moment. It can be only one hour of allotted time in the busy schedule of the Iron Lady, but it will be spent so productively that it will certainly become noticeable.
So, as a result of an accident at school, Mary's youngest son, Zhenya, was seriously injured - a spinal fracture. As a result, he was bedridden for a year, and only maternal love and understanding of how to help the child set priorities, set goals in life, helped to cope with this trauma.
At that time, Maria was carried away by the triathlon, and Genet offered to go swimming, or to be more precise, she helped to decide on the goal - to cross the Bosphorus. This idea was very carried away by Zhenya, and he began to train with success. As a result, excellent results in recovery from injury, in studies and sports. To date, Eugene is the repeated winner of difficult starts.
Maria Kolosova, whose biography is filled with unexpected twists, always found the right way out of the most difficult situations. And the triathlon taught her a lot - this is the understanding that you can not always be successful, and overcoming yourself, and the limit of possibilities has been worked out. But first things first.
"Iron People" Sport - Triathlon
What is this race, and how does it differ from other sports? This is a multisports kind of competition that allows you to open all the hidden possibilities of the human body, because to overcome the full distance means repeatedly overpowering yourself. This is due to the change of sports along the way - swimming, cycling and running.
The distance of the distance is determined by the level of preparedness of the athlete:
- Ironman - 3.8 km swimming, cycling - 180 km, running - 42.2 km.
- Half-Ironman (Ironman 70.3) - 1.9 km - swim, 90 km on wheels, 21.1 km - run.
- "Olympic distance" - 1,500 meters swim, 40 km - cycling, 10 km - running.
- Sprint - 800 meters by swimming, 20 km by bike, 5 km - jogging.
To overcome the maximum distance under the force only to a person with an iron will. A world record at a full distance is about eight hours, although on average it takes 15-17 hours. If the athlete does not fit at this time - the volunteers unobtrusively offer him to leave her.
Meet the Triathlon
In October 2013, Maria’s friend, Dmitry Pronin, gave her the book “There is an Iron Man in Everyone.” He also showed her a record of the triathlon race just held in Hawaii. And this was the decisive moment in Mary’s sports self-determination - it seemed to her that the triathlon was ideal for her, that this was the kind of sport that seemed to be created for her. After all, the whole life of this woman is a constant change of occupation, overcoming herself, working to the limit of human capabilities, setting and achieving the most incredible goals.
At the fitness club, where Maria practiced a couple of times a week, the coach helped contact a person who knew firsthand about the triathlon. Sasha Zhukov (trainer of “iron people”), having arrived from the next races, called Kolosova, and talked with her for almost an hour about her lifestyle, nutrition and her goals in practicing this sport. Despite the fact that Maria’s initial level of training was “zero” (she ran five or six kilometers a couple of times a week, but didn’t know how to ride a bicycle and swim), he decided that training could begin.
Training
Maria notes that of all the workouts, the most memorable ones are those that take place on future tracks when she finds out the places of the competition. She tries to come in advance and swim, run or roll the entire track. The most exciting stage is that it should be the most beautiful and challenging. Passing it, Mary experiences mixed feelings - amazement, excitement, delight. And it is these workouts that she expects the most.
Another type of catchy workout is tests. According to their results, it becomes clear how effective the previous work is and how to build a further schedule. It is for this reason that the tests cause incredible excitement in the athlete, which is even stronger than before the start.
The process and result of training are closely related. Despite the fact that Maria, with her whole life and achievements, shows that she is a man of purpose, the conditions under which the training process goes, plays a very big role for her. Favorite places of preparation, the diversity of the program, and even failures - everything becomes important and significant, in that it helps to move to a new level, a new level and once again rethink values and change priorities.
Sports career
Maria Kolosova, for whom the triathlon was a discovery at the age of forty-five, together with the coach set clear goals for herself and moved towards their achievement without sparing her strength. Initially, a two-year work plan was prepared, and two months later Maria Kolosova went her first sprint distance in a triathlon. The Olympic distance was submitted after four months of regular training, and half Ironman - after nine months. Maria passed the full distance of the race in this sport only a year and a half after the start of training, and by that time she already had nine starts at different distances.
Currently, Maria Kolosova has a total of more than thirty starts (five of them Ironman, ten half distances, several marathons and shorter trials in the triathlon). Maria’s marathon is not very like, as it is too monotonous work, and she is used to a constant change of activity, to dynamism and work to the limit.
One of Maria's starts was the amateur Ironstar Sochi, which took place in early June 2015. He walked in the direction of the "Olympic distance" - it was necessary to overcome 1,500 meters by swimming, 40 km on wheels and 10 km on the run. At the age of forty-seven, Maria took them second place in her age category, although by that time there were only two years of training.
Mary's experience - sports and raw food diet
Twenty-two years have passed since Mary completely refused animal food. She had to take this step when during pregnancy her body simply stopped absorbing animal protein. Maria notes that even before that, she did not particularly like meat food, and the transition to a different food system did not become a stress for her. Subsequently, she simply liked such a nutrition system, and she became a vegetarian. Maria not only eats vegetables, but almost completely switched to raw food.
It is generally accepted that without the use of animal protein in sports, it is impossible to achieve serious results. However, Mary proved by her example a completely different theory - everything is possible for the human body! Her frequent breakfast is fruit. In winter, it is usually pomegranate and a bar of pressed dried fruits with nuts. Although most often the athlete prepares a nutritious mass of dry fruit herself. She takes in arbitrary proportions nuts, favorite types of dried fruits and twists everything through a meat grinder. The summer beginning of the day is always only fresh fruit.
After the training, Maria immediately eats a vegetable salad or any fruit, and after an hour and a half - nuts. One hundred to one hundred and fifty grams of nuts give the body the right amount of protein. The main thing is that they are well dried, but not processed. Another athlete prefers herbal teas, but more often the energy for training and during the competitions of Mary is provided by a mixture of grated ginger root with honey and lemon.
Thanks to such nutrition, Maria Kolosova quite successfully proves by her example that a raw food diet and a triathlon are completely compatible things.
Maria Kolosova and her strategic consulting
In addition to her personal life, family, constant education, Maria also feels great in the business sphere. She founded and successfully supports two of her own businesses - strategic consulting (financial business) and a cafe network serving only healthy food. As you can see, the directions in them are very different, but she copes with them and enjoys it.
Maria Kolosova is a business coach and consultant to some people, as well as companies, on issues related to improving management efficiency. This work is her vocation. Helping other people to improve themselves, to reach new heights, to increase their competence and motivation gives Mary great pleasure. It is this work that is the result of her studies in three higher educational institutions, and it is she who has a meaning-forming character for Mary.
Healthy Food - a business that meets internal values
The second business in Maria’s life was a chain of cafes that serve only healthy food. She is developing this business area together with her partner and friend, Dmitry Pronin, who is also involved in triathlon and marathon running.
A separate area of this business was the creation of vending machines, which sell only healthy products and dishes - 22 types of cheesecakes, salads and sandwiches. Thus, the owners of the company accustom to the right diet the most vulnerable in this sense, the audience - office workers.
The Healthy Food project is based on the implementation of and delivering to the masses of personal values of Maria Kolosova. However, like any business, it should bring not only pleasure, but also income, which business partners have successfully achieved.
Other hobbies and plans for the future
All her life, Maria discovers herself in new activities and is constantly learning something. It seems that there is no limit to its capabilities. For example, she is currently studying three languages at once, although all her life she considered herself incapable of this. She simply decided that the usual methods of learning did not suit her, and was developing her own methodology for teaching languages.
Another interesting hobby of Maria Kolosova was nutritional science - this is a separate science about healthy nutrition. She reads a lot of literature related to her. Maria loves to play the piano, but has to devote less time to this.
A separate plan for the future is the desire to write. For Mary, this is a fairly new type of activity, which is very carried away by her at present. In part, writing is similar to conducting trainings, as in both types of activities there is the possibility to influence other people with the help of the word, to change something in their life, to bring more colors and achievements to it.
Now Maria Kolosova writes stories and ends her autobiography related to the triathlon and what he changed in her life.
Interesting Facts
- Maria Kolosova is called the “Queen of Motivation”.
- Considers himself a terrible coward, but this fear prompts her to action.
- Maria is a very risky person and loves to set goals for herself not only in sports, but also in everyday life, which seem impossible.
- He loves long workouts, bike-running or purely running, when the body is no longer running, but “flying”.
- Favorite test training - race on Mount Col de la Madone in France. If Maria copes with this task (13 km of climb, with an inclination angle of 8-14 degrees) better than in previous tests, she feels omnipotent, standing on top and looking at the mountains and sea far below.
- At the full distance Ironman in France in 2016, the time is 13:19:15; half Ironman in Turkey in 2015 for 05:54:39; at the Olympic distance in the city of Bronnitsy in 2014 02:24:55 - these are the best personal results that Maria Kolosova achieved.
Triathlon, personal life, business are all under the strict control of this truly “iron” lady, and, given her interests and persistence, with which she achieves her goals, we will most likely meet this name more than once in the most diverse spheres of modern life.