2015 Tri Talk of the Year
Some pictures are worth a thousand words. But the best words can lower that ratio and approach the sublime, touch the heart and soul, and give events and ideas lasting meaning. Some of Timothy Carlson’s favorite quotes from the triathlon world on this trip around the sun.
THE SOUL OF WIT
When asked what she would have done if her flat tire had occurred with 10km to go to the Ironman World Championship bike-to-run transition rather than the 2km that allowed her to limp into T2 with the lead, Daniela Ryf said: “I don’t know. Lucky for me the Ironman [bike] is 180 and not 190k.”
“Dreams are for sleep! I'm more of a goal-girl than a dreamer ;)” – Emma Pooley when asked ‘What are your dreams in triathlon?’
FAMILY MATTERS
“Having two older brothers meant I was more often than not the goalkeeper in their soccer games. Let’s face it, who wants their sister around when you’re trying to impress playing soccer? Per [Helle’s brother] especially was tough on me in all the right aspects. I'm not so coordinated when it comes to sports that involve a ball and many a time I caught the ball in my face. Per taught me to suck it up and get on with it.” – Helle Frederiksen
NEVER QUIT
“I once did two Ironmans in a row, but I was by far more tired and sore at Denali. On the second summit try, we woke up at midnight and I peed. Of course when I check my pee before the Ironman, it is clear and perfect. This time, after turning back a few hundred feet from the summit the day before, I was depleted by lack of food and water. I urinated when I got up and it was dark yellow – as when you finish the Ironman. So I started the day feeling very bad, with a lot of pain in the nails and hamstrings and the calves. At the end of the day I was amazed, destroyed, depleted and sore – but we did it. This shows us that the human being is one of the most extraordinary creatures on Earth. We force our body to do it, and we did it. With a smile!” – Luis Alvarez, triathlete who earned 120 Ironman finishes and mountain climber who has summited the tallest mountains on six of the seven continents.
“Last year [2014] I debated quitting the sport after my race in Auckland. I thought I didn’t belong. At the time, [her coach] Jamie [Turner] and [then fiancé, now husband] Patrick [Lemieux] told me to take a week and just think about it and reflect on what I wanted out of the sport – and if I wanted to continue. It was a rough time for me; but ultimately, I decided to continue…. I would never have ever imagined I would go undefeated this year and it is strange to sit here and find words to describe it. I don’t think it is something I will be able to grasp until my career in triathlon is over. Often Patrick and I will say to each other, ‘Can you believe this?’ and the response is always a laugh…and a ‘no!’” – Gwen Jorgensen two-time ITU World Triathlon Series World Champion, writing on her blog about her undefeated 2015 season.
IN A FORMER LIFE
“Of course I watched it. He played well, but Novak is the best at this moment. It would have been his 8th title in Wimbledon. My wife said, ‘OK now. Roger didn’t make it so you have to do it.’ (- : By the way I do not compare Wimbledon with Zurich, but I thought it was funny.” – Ronnie Schildknecht, former pro tennis player who once lost to Roger Federer 6-4 6-4, and now has as many Ironman Switzerland wins as Federer has Wimbledon championships, who watched Federer lose to Djokovic in the 2015 Wimbledon final.
FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
“Asics Australia did a promotion where they gave a free pair of shoes to the age grouper who ran the fastest split from 40-41 km. I had planned on picking it up there, but I was already full on when I hit that point. It was crazy watching the video of me coming down the finish line because I remember running perfectly straight! It was kind of like that scene from The Wolf of Wall Street where he crashes his Ferrari.” – Jeff Symonds on his extremely wobbly running style at the finish of Ironman Canada.
WHO’S AFRAID?
“Everybody is scared of the Energy Lab. I love it. I did my tempo work training there. You start with a light downhill and you can let it roll. And once you are down there it is 1k to the turnaround. Do one more k then you come back. That is it. So why does it have to take energy? It can give it too.” – Jan Frodeno on why he wasn't scared when Tim O’Donnell reduced his lead to 1:05 coming to the Natural Energy Lab of Hawaii.
INTIMATIONS OF MORTALITY
“I felt a huge sense of responsibility on the final lap to provide a fitting tribute to my friend Edith [Niederfriniger], to honour [Edith’s love] Linda [Scatollini, who died when hit by a bus a few days before the race] and to do my preparation justice. I thought of Linda and Edith a lot during the final ten kilometres. I thought about pain, about injustice and about strength.
“When the final kilometre came into view the victory seemed secured. I apologize for giving no high-fives on the red carpet but I was consumed by emotion. It didn’t seem a time for celebration or indulgence – it felt like a time to hold James close and sob and be grateful for our health, for our love and for the opportunity that our bodies have offered us.
“It has become very apparent to me that some things in life are beyond our control, can be taken away at any moment and that moments of achievement are sacred in this life.” – Jodie Swallow writing on her blog about her strong emotions about the death of fellow triathlete Linda Scattolin as she finished Ironman South Africa.
“It's no secret that Karen [Smyers] has faced more than her fair share of obstacles in her career. We were riding one day with a few other women, after my crash, and suddenly, it started to rain. I'd crashed on wet, rain soaked roads in Germany, and out of nowhere, I just pulled over on the side of the road in Massachusetts and started to cry. It was the first time I'd ridden in the rain since my Germany crash. Karen stopped, came back and didn't even have to ask what was the matter. She's had similar phobias after being run of the road by an 18-wheeler. Ultimately, you just have to come to the decision that your passion for the sport and your desire to compete are stronger than your fear and that it's worth it.” – Dede Griesbauer on how former neighbor and coach Karen Smyers comforted her during a post-traumatic stress episode which triggered memories of her career-threatening injuries at Roth.
HITTING BOTTOM AND RISING AGAIN
“I was going through depression. High levels of depression. Meb Keflezighi and I were on the team together. I could give Meb a run for his money in high school, but in college he was accelerating, I was decelerating. That was very depressing. I didn't know who to talk to. Didn't know how to come to terms with it. My sophomore year, the depression was so bad, I didn't want to be with anyone. The brain gets depressed enough, you lose your grip on reality. I tried to kill myself. I remember a paramedic asked me if I did this because my girlfriend broke up with me. Which just poured gas on the fire. A couple of days later, talking to a nurse, the only answer I could come up with was that I was gay. I remember her face, the expression said, ‘Damn, that's really a shame, it's not the first time I've heard that answer.’” – Brandon Del Campo, runner, triathlete and endurance sports coach.
“I have had a lot of stress fractures, somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-13 over the past 15 years. There are a couple of reasons why I have gotten so many. First of all I had an eating disorder for around 10 years starting during puberty. Because of my eating disorder I developed what is called ‘female triad.’ This is a syndrome that is diagnosed when an individual has an eating disorder, amenorrhea/oligomenorrhea, and osteoporosis/osteopenia all at the same time. I was diagnosed at 17, which I feel has contributed immensely to how many stress fractures I have had. It takes time to reverse the ‘female triad’ and improve your bone density. I also was very stubborn and naive. I would run through pain and would not miss a workout unless I literally could not walk. I am healthy now. I no longer have osteoporosis and I eat a well-balanced diet. I am also a lot smarter. I know if something is bothering me to shut it down right away. It is way better to take a couple days off then to lose 8 weeks of running.” – Pro triathlete Jennifer Spieldenner.
“In high school, I saw a marathon that started in my county and finished in another, and it inspired me to run to another county as well. One morning I started to run and just followed the road. Suddenly, I was hit from behind by a motorcycle and lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in the hospital and I couldn't move. The doctor said my left side was paralyzed but he was unsure if surgery would help. My family didn't have much money, so I was sent home without knowing whether or not I would recover. I was in darkness and I cried every day. I was only 17, and I thought I would have to sit in a wheelchair for the rest of my life… Every time I tried to move, pain would extend from my spine to my head and down to my feet, often bringing me to tears. My family could not afford professional rehab, so I started my own program. I was very depressed and helpless, but I didn't want to be trapped in a broken body in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. One day I realized that if I could feel the pain, it meant my nervous system was not totally broken… If I started moving my muscles, in time there maybe I could stand again. Crying and trying to move a little became my routine.” – Taiwanese Ironman winner Shiao-Yu Li on her fight to recover from paralysis.
“My wife Adelaide, then girlfriend, was hit by a car last October while training for a HITS full distance tri. The driver blew through a stop sign and she went through his side window and she literally severed her face clean off, which is termed “de-gloving.” I came upon the crash scene afterwards; luckily she’d been taken away in the ambulance by then. It took two surgeries and more are on the way to put her face back together. Almost every bone in her face had been shattered, and it required 700 stitches to sew her back up. She was in a coma for five days, breathing out of a tube, looking like a cute Frankenstein’s monster with all those stitches. I proposed to her that first night, and two or three times afterwards too. I didn’t want to live a life without her in it.” – Rookie pro triathlete Kennett Peterson.
“This was a 4-hour easy ride on rolling terrain north of Toronto. I hit the 2-hour mark and turned around and was about half an hour homewards when I heard this huge crash, and I remember the sound of it more than anything. Just a really loud metallic type of sound and everything went black. According to bystanders I was pitched about 30 feet forward in the air and landed about that distance from my bicycle. I remember waking up on the pavement, surrounded by bystanders and cars that had stopped. Lying in sort of an unnaturally contorted position with my legs not completely being their own. I knew that I must have been hit by a car, was able to give them my wife’s name and phone number, and told them all about myself. So at that moment I knew that I did not suffer from a traumatic brain injury, but likely lost the use of my legs entirely. In hindsight the amount of pain in my legs was an indication that there was still some neural attachment. One of the bystanders was actually an emergency room doctor, and I was uncomfortable and wanted to be turned over, but thankfully this doctor did not let them. He stabilized my spine in the position it was until the ambulance arrived.” – Sjaan Gerth, top amateur at the 2015 New Orleans 70.3 Triathlon, on his narrow escape from paralysis when struck by a hit-and-run driver.
OUTRAGE
“The guy doesn’t deserve to ever drive again, yet he’s out there being a menace to society. It’s truly messed up, especially since before hitting Adelaide he had 18 other major traffic violations just within the state of Colorado, which include causing four other car crashes, driving while being impaired, driving the wrong way down one-way streets, a huge stack of speeding tickets, and losing his license for a seven year stretch. The fact that we can’t revoke someone’s license permanently with that sort of rap sheet, someone who has shown gross negligence and recklessness behind the wheel for decades, shows just how messed up our legal system is when it comes to driving. … I have this immense hate for the guy and people like him. Drivers like him play with our lives and the lives with those we love every day when we’re out riding and where’s our protection from these maniacs? The law simply does not care. It keeps me up at night. On the plus side, the anger has caused us, mainly just Adelaide, to become a cycling-rights advocate. She’s spoken to the state legislature, to the transportation board, and to Boulder city council. She has already used her tragedy to make the world a slightly better place.” – Kennett Peterson
WON’T TAKE THE BAIT
“For one, I don’t know him. Second, each race is a whole beast in itself, and everyone has strengths and weaknesses. When caught in the rollercoaster of emotions that is life, I like to remind myself the following: ‘Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on.’ – Davide Giardini on his reaction to critical remarks doubting the authenticity of his sub-2 hour bike split at Ironman 70.3 Texas.
LEVELS OF COURAGE
“I saw Byron was in a hole in the ice in open water and trying to climb out. He was crying and his paws just kept slipping on the ice. I was thinking, ‘Should I walk out there or crawl?’ Before I could formulate a plan, Siri was off and running and yelled, ‘Grab the leash! I’m going in!’ And she flew like Superwoman!” – Rebekah Keat on how Siri Lindley saved her dog from a freezing pond.
“I lived in South Africa from 1995 to 2000. At that time I wasn't a swimmer, I never went in the sea above my ankles because of the cold and because they have great white sharks. I pinched some swimming lessons off my youngest child when I was 41 and learned to front crawl then. I've always admired anyone who can swim properly and quietly yearned most of my life to be able to. There are Apex predators in the water including great whites and tiger sharks, and I'm hoping I won't see one. I feel more confident knowing I'm unlikely to be seen and mistaken for a seal. However, I also think sharks get a hard time – silly movies like Jaws don't help. Humans aren't part of a shark’s diet. [Sharks] have an important role in the ecosystem and don't belong in soup!” – British citizen Jane Hardy before doing the 7.5-kilometer Freedom Swim in shark-infested waters from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand in South Africa.
“We know we are exposed to viruses, maybe to health problems later, but in my case, I have invested so much to prepare myself for this and I want this to happen because I can't recuperate this investment any other way other than competing and winning the points that I need.” – Costa Rican triathlete Leonardo Chacon, who said he didn't do anything differently to protect his body before going into the polluted water in Rio in an attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympics.
A SPORT OF MANY CULTURES
“To be honest, it is extremely easy. As soon as you are in the Ramadan mood, the body adapts. You just have to adjust the timing and of course get the green light from your wife to train since most of the sessions are done by night during the weeks and in the afternoon and sunset during the weekends. During Ramadan Muslims must abstain from food, drink, gossip, cursing and other pleasures from dawn to dusk. Removing these comforts from daily routine is intended to focus the mind on prayer, spirituality and charity and to purify the body and mind. It definitely helps you to become a better athlete as well because it gives you strength.” – Muslim triathlete Christophe Sargis, a Frenchman living in Saudi Arabia.
DEDICATION
“I knew I had to finish for him. We started it together and I wanted to finish it.” Steve Bean, 58-year-old triathlete, who finished Ironman Chattanooga a few days after his son Cameron, a professional runner who urged him to train for the event, died when he was hit by a car while on a training run.
