matthansontri wrote:
Hey Dev, thanks for the questions and kind words....and title changed.
- Did you enjoy this bike course more or less than the old one?
I enjoyed this one 1000x more than last years! LOL. I think the 2015 course suited me a bit better overall and would have broken up the pack a little bit more and separated the field. This course was very fast this year, but it could have been completely miserable if the wind would have came up earlier. This course made the ride it more about tactics which was actually pretty fun for me at the time. Prepping a strategy for this course with the athletes in the field was definitely a challenge.
- Where do you live and do you prep for the bike mainly on the trainer?
I live in Storm Lake, IA. I do pretty much all of my riding on the trainer from November through May (we got snow last week!) but looking forward to getting out for the summer training.
- How many hours per week do you train for biggest and average week?
Average is probably around 22 hours between S/B/R. Biggest weeks was 34 at a training camp early on, but a lot of that was technique work on the bike.
- How much swimming per week?
Swim 5-6 hours per week....maybe 15-25k yds. Whatever Coach Julie tells me to do :).
- Do you train with any others or mainly solo?
Mainly solo. I did a 2 week Arizona camp in January, a 2 week kona camp in February. I'm planning a trip to Boulder in June and from there we'll see. But when I am home, I do all training solo.
- Height, weight, body fat percent, age?
I turn 32 in a few weeks. I'm 5'10 and in the 150lb range...I honestly haven't stepped on a scale in 2017. I just don't care. As long as I am getting faster, I'll let my weight be wherever it wants to be. Last time I did a body comp test was summer of 2016 and I was 5% body fat.
- What was your sports background before tri?
I wrestled until I dislocated my hip. I ran in High School and a little in college after my wrestling career came to an abrupt end.
- How did you get into triathlon?
When I was 16, I had a mentor who challenged me to make a list of 50 goals for the next 10 years. One of those goals was to complete an IM...so I signed up for one IMCdA. I had to re-learn to swim, buy a bike ($600 ebay special and I ate Ramen for a month because of it!), and figure out how to put a training plan together. It was actually a good time to start being I was living alone while going to grad school so I had a decent amount of time to figure everything out. I planned on just doing one, marking it off my goal list and calling it good, but I ended up qualifying for Kona at CdA. After Kona, I was hooked on the sport.
- When did you realize you have the genetics and drive to compete as a pro?
I earned my elite license and qualified for Kona in 2013 at IMTX, but didn't really plan on taking my pro card. I ended up with 3 flats that year in Kona and was frustrated that I wasn't able to see where my fitness was. Because of that, I decided that if I took my pro card I could race at Arizona. I was 18th in Arizona and was thrilled about it...I had a 30 minute PR and I wasn't last! It wasn't until IMTX in 2014 where I ran a 2:41 that I actually started to wonder what I could do in the sport.
- What keeps you motivated daily, target race outcomes, or the daily process?
I love the process. I enjoy the preparation. I believe that for some reason I have been given a gift and have the responsibility to use it for the best of my ability. There have been times in my career when I've lost the focus on the process and raced for outcome, but I've found that I race much better and am a much happier human when I stick to the process. Obviously, I have outcomes and results that I want, and do set outcome goals...but the focus is on process.
Many thanks for sharing the detailed response to the zillion questions. It is pretty cool on the 16 year old "list" turning into a career and most importantly that the "process" makes you tick more than the outcomes. I THINK that to be good at any discipline in life, those who get to the ultimate outcomes are those that enjoy the day to day "grind" the most assuming that one has the requisite genetics on the physical side. But I also feel that the tolerance for repetition and monotony required to be awesome in any sport partial has some genetic DNA in the wiring. Having coached kids in 3 sports for 14ish years, I have literally seen that in action. I don't think the will to endure the process is "that easily trainable". The athlete, the pianist, the mathematician etc.....they need to thrive on that and extract a high from it. I THINK some are just wired better for that.