Monday, May 30, 2011

From Couch Potato to Ironman Triathlete and National Championships

I am updating this post, 4 weeks out from racing in the USA Triathlon National Championships! Another major milestone... we'll see what August 20th brings me - in the Adirondak mountains in Burlington, Vermont. I first wrote this post at the beginning of the tri season, just before I had competed in the "Elite Open" catagory for the first time in an Olympic Distance Triathlon.


It still seems amazing to me, considering 11 years ago in 2001, at the age of 29, I WASN'T DOING ANYTHING! I was a complete couch potato, totally out of shape, a soft 200 pounds and completely stressed out all the time. Today, I am in the best shape of my life, both physically and mentally!

Never would I have drempt that I would be a competitive triathlete... do 5 Ironman Triathlons, dozens of Olympic Triathlons, the Boston Marathon twice and 15 or more "regular" marathons. Now, I am in the top few % of the triathletes in the nation and I will be competiting in the National Championships for the first time. Just goes to show - you never know what you are capable of, until you get up and try!


In 2001 - I actually went to see a doctor, because I thought I was having heart trouble at 29. Turns out, it was acid reflux from a combiation of high stress, (poor) diet and a lack of exercise. The Doctor got out her prescription pad and wrote "GO TO THE GYM". I did... and the rest is history! This was such a great approach - instead of throwing pills at me to go after the symptoms... she went after the root cause all to common in the United States - no excercise, poor diet, too much focus on work and stress. That single piece of advise literally turned my life around!

2001, I just started going to the gym - with no idea really what to do... So, I would jump on the treadmill for a while, and then lift some weights. Something was better than nothing - but it was unstructured and without a goal. There was progress, but it was slow. The gym I belonged to at the time held a 5 mile race in Avon - The Eagle Run. I could barely run the 5 miles, but I liked the excitement of doing the event, and found that I trained a lot harder with a "goal" in front of me. A real goal... something to put on a calendar... with a fixed date and distance and everything.

In 2002, I remember on my 30th birthday, I thought it was such a big deal that I ran 10k (6.2 miles) on the treadmill. It WAS a big deal... I was starting to get excited about running! I ran a couple of 5Ks, and the Eagle Run again - and I found I was getting faster! I liked that. Measurable, real feedback. My friend and neighbor, an avid cyclist, introduced me to "Duathlon" (Run-Bike-Run). He lent me his bike that day (I hadn't ridden since I was in college!) and we did the race. I finished around 2ND TO LAST, but I totally enjoyed the workout and the variety and the excitement of running/transition/biking/transition/running again. I also liked the "mind / body" challenge I was finding during a hard race. I was HOOKED!

By the way - I took first place overall a few years later in the same duathlon!


2003 was my first marathon. Cleveland Rite-Aid Marathon. I ran 3:49... and was absolutely choked up and teary-eyed when I finished the last mile along Euclid Avenue, with thousands of screaming people on both sides, cheering us in. It was so amazing - considering just a couple of years before, I couldn't even go 1/5 of the distance! Now, I was finishing a marathon! I decided to train harder and do the Columbus Marathon that fall... 2003 was also the first year of my first sprint distance triathlon.

At the gym where I belonged, I found a "triathlon swimming group" that swam on Thursday nights... that is where I met Mikey Donuts (Mike Cousino), Eric Gibb, Jeff Gegan and some others. We would go out for a beer at the "Creekside Tavern" afterwards and hang out. Now I had a social aspect to go along with the training - plus some experienced triathletes to learn from. This was getting good, and becoming more integrated into my life.

Of course, I kept training more, learning more, and challenging myself more. I decided to take on my first Ironman Triathlon in the fall of 2004. It was the HFP "PINEMAN FULL IRON" race, at Deer Creek State Park in September. I remember getting off the bike after about 8 hours of racing, and thinking "Alright! I only have a 26.2 mile marathon left to run!!"... I actually stopped there in transition, and asked myself when things got so out of hand! I did 12H 18M, took 2nd in my age group, and really, really enjoyed the race! I had really fallen in love with the training that builds up to Ironman racing - the solitude, peace and sense of accomplishment.

I also really love the mental challenges and aspects of long course racing. It is so physical, that it really comes down to who can hold it together mentally. So exciting to get into the mind/body argument that comes when you are fully depleated and exhausted from 10+ hours of racing at your maximum - and your mind is willing your body to keep moving forward, while your body is sending every signal it can to stop! Somehow, you keep moving forward, until the job is done.

The past few years, I have learned more about training and racing and myself And I've made a lot of friends along the way, too. Physically, I'm in the best shape of my life at 39 years of age... and without question I have become a much "happier, more satisfied" person.

2010 was a great year and season for me. My first on the SnakeBite Racing team. My first with a full season Coach (Gregg Brekke).
I've gone from a near-3 hour Olympic Tri (2003) to a 2:10 PR (2010),
from a 3:49 marathon in Cleveland (2003), to a 3:08 in Boston on my 39th birthday (2011),
from a 12:18 Ironman in 2004, to a 10:40 Ironman in 2010

In 2011, I am going to race "Elite Open" because the last 3 years, I have won my age group in nearly every Olympic Triathlon race in the state of Ohio, and I've won the HFP Series three years in a row now. It is time to step up. Plus, I am going to compete in the USA Triathlon National Championships in Vermont in August. Head to head with the very best in the country to compete for a spot on the USA Worlds team.

This season will be a new set of challenges. More intense training (speed vs distance)... more competitive fields... faster racing... more drive to help others find their way into our sport, and train and compete with confidence.

Endurance sports have done so much for me. I can only say "Thank you" to the Doctor who prescribed physical activity instead of a pill - and got me jump-started!

You'll never know what potential is locked up inside you - until you explore it.

What's inside you?