Q&A with Rebeccah Wassner
Rebeccah Wassner may have been a relatively stealth professional triathlete before Sunday, when she won $10,000 and the acclaim that goes to the person who beats the traditionally high quality international competition at the 26th St. Anthony’s Triathlon. But after she topped a field which included former winners Becky Lavelle and Joanna Zeiger, top swimmer-biker Sara McLarty, two-time Under 23 World Champion Jasmine Oeinck, 6-time Ironman New Zealand winner Joanna Lawn, and the top American woman in the 2008 ITU World Cup series Sarah Groff, Wassner has taken her game to a new level. Wassner has now entered a rather select group of pros who can say they can compete with the best in the world.
This is not to say she has come from nowhere. But it’s been a long steady climb. After graduating from Mt. St. Mary’s College where she held four school records in track, she spent four years as a CPA before returning to serious athletic competition in running. She was the 2001 New York Road Runners Age Group Runner of the Year and ran a 2:55 marathon best in New York. After switching from road running to triathlon in 2002, Wassner scored 2nd at the New York City Triathlon in 2002 and 2003 and took third overall and first in the women’s 25-29 at the 2003 USA Triathlon age group nationals in Shreveport, making Sports Illustrated’s Faces in the Crowd.
In 2004, she was voted USA Triathlon Elite Rookie of the Year, taking third overall at the New York City and Chicago Triathlons. After sitting out 2005 with a pelvis stress fracture, Wassner came back in 2006 with a second at the Westchester ITU Continental Cup, third at the New York City Triathlon and the Pan American Regional Championships, 9th at Edmonton, 21st at Cancun, and 23rd at the Hamburg World Cups. In 2007, she had breakthrough wins at the ITU Isla Margarita Pan Am Cup, the Philadelphia Triathlon, the Westchester Triathlon and the Ryka Iron Girl Triathlon. In 2008, she won The Columbia Triathlon and defended her Philadelphia Triathlon title. Against tougher opposition, she made a big splash with her close second place finish at St. Anthony’s to 2008 ITU World Championship silver medalist Sarah Haskins. That day, Wassner had a better bike than Haskins and her second-best run was just 11 seconds slower than the winner. And she beat the likes of Mirinda Carfrae, Samantha McGlone, Becky Lavelle, and Julie Dibens.
At the end of 2008, Wassner took some time off to marry long time beau John Heppolette at their newly renovated country home in New Paltz, New York. Starting the 2009 season with renewed purpose, she made great strides working with coach Cliff English, highlighted by a long February session at English’s base in Tucson, Arizona. This February she placed second at the Desert Classic Duathlon to Kim Loeffler, then won the Playas ITU Pan American Cup by over 2 minutes. In her win at St. Anthony’s, Wassner showed grit by posting a 5th best 20:29 swim in nasty choppy water, a 4th best 1:01:18 bike that left her second in T2. With a 1:55 deficit to Sara McLarty to erase, Wassner flew to a race-best 35:38 10k run, 17 seconds faster than rising ITU World Cup star Sarah Groff. Perhaps more pertinent, despite a much slower swim, Wassner’s bike and run splits were both faster than Haskins’ 2008 marks.
Slowtwitch: How hard was it working your way to the front at St. Anthony’s?
Rebeccah Wassner I came out of the water 5th and I had to pass Jasmine Oeinck and Joanna Zeiger and Sarah Groff. I was surprised I caught Sarah and Jasmine so early on the bike. They were very strong. But I had new aero bike, a Cervelo P3. I had been riding a road bike previously, so I had to get a new cassette the day before the race. I’m glad the switch went without a problem.
ST: How hard was it catching Sara McLarty?:
Rebeccah: Once I broke into second, I looked for Sara. She had a great ride and came into the run about 2 minutes ahead. When I heard how far ahead she was, I thought ‘Oh well, it will be a hard run.’ Once on the run course I thought if I ran my pace and ran my own race I’d be able to pass her.
ST:When did you catch her?
Rebeccah: On that course you cannot see very far ahead. Different people were yelling how far she was in the lead. I think it was 45 seconds at halfway. I finally saw her at 5 miles, where she was 20 seconds ahead. I regrouped at that point, then surged. But I didn't catch her until ¾ of a mile to go and didn’t gap her until half a mile to go. Sara McLarty looked strong and she definitely gave it her all.
ST:You’ve come a long way since the 2003 USAT Nationals where you came third overall and won 25-29. Then your run was 39:12, your bike was 3 minutes slower than overall winner Sabine Bildstein.
Rebeccah: I’m glad somebody noticed I won my age group. All different age groups take off and you don’t know where you stand.
ST: How does it feel to win a big one like St. Anthony’s?
Rebeccah: It was my biggest win. Definitely. It is a huge accomplishment. And it feels great to know all the hard work paid off.
ST: Will this win get you more respect and attention?
Rebeccah: A lot of people were surprised I won. But this is my fourth year racing pro, and I feel I know what I’m doing. I trained hard for it and I feel like I deserve to win. Before, people in the sport often didn’t know when I was in a race. That’s fine. Today I was number 80, but next year that should be lower.
ST: What difference will this race make to your confidence?
Rebeccah: I feel like I’m ready to go and be a world class athlete. Now I have confidence that I can run that fast off the bike. I had some fast runs before, but now I feel like I can count on it.
ST: You have gone well before, but had always been just a shade away from combining a great swim, bike and run in one race. What are some of the elements that have resulted in your improvement?
Rebeccah: It was motivating last year to try to qualify for the Olympic Trials. And I felt really lucky I got to do a lot of training with Julie Ertel. We worked well together and that brought me to a new level. (While her training went well, Wassner’s had a bad day at her only US Olympic Trials event, a 10th place at Tuscaloosa.) Also, the experience of going to a lot of big international races a second time around helped. When I knew the courses, I was able to focus my training better and that brought me up.
ST: What have been your biggest recent improvements?
Rebeccah: Much of my recent development is due to more hard runs off the bike and a lot of time trial workouts followed by hard intervals. I think that really helped and brought me to another level. A lot of thanks must go to the work I did with coach Cliff English this February in Arizona where I got used to running hard off the bike. It didn’t seem possible before, but I’ve recently set PRs in running – my fastest times in 20 years. And training on the bike with Sam McGlone helped, too. We went out for some four hour rides.
ST: How has your home life helped your racing?
Rebeccah: This year I had a nice long off season after getting married in our back yard in New Paltz, New York. My husband is John Heppolette. He works in finance on Wall Street and he survived the Wall Street downturn. He also trains in his spare time. Now I am 34, I’m a CPA and I work at that in the off season for a local farm that grows organic vegetables. I guess you could say I work for food. So we live quite a bit near my husband’s work in New York City and I train part time in New Paltz. Now that we have we finished work on our house there, I have a good place to stay. New Paltz has good hills for bike and run training. I also spent a lot of hours in the pool there. For a change, I could drive to the pool and not have to walk through snow on freezing cold days as I did in New York City.
ST: Still it’s cold in the winter in New Paltz. What do you do to keep up your bike fitness there?
Rebeccah: I do some long, hard treadmill runs. I think I scare the some of the women around me in the gym when I do crank up the speed in my treadmill workouts.
ST: What are your goals this year?
Rebeccah: I’ve had some struggles with ITU World Cup racing. I've had good and bad races. My best was 9th place at the 2006 ITU World Cup in Edmonton. I do well in non drafting races but I will not abandon draft legal racing. I know if I swim and run strong I can do well. I’ve won one ITU race this year in Ecuador. So I will go to Korea this week. There I will try to qualify for the big ITU World Championship series race in Washington D.C.. And I might try one 70.3 this year. Last year it was pouring cold rain at Muskoka. I’d like to try one when it's warm.
