Community Notebook > Profile

The Good Race
By Jennifer Wai-Lan Huang . Photos by Megan McQuade

Where does one turn to quench an insatiable thirst for fitness, competition, and endorphin-induced euphoria? After 24 years of competitive running, including several marathons, Mark Wilson, who lives near Woodstock in Ulster County, picked up a copy of Triathlete magazine and found his answer. “The people in the magazine just all looked so fit. And tough people do triathlons. There’s satisfaction in running a marathon, but finishing a triathlon makes you feel like a warrior,” he explains.

Held all over the world, triathlons are considered an extreme sport—pushing the human body to its furthest limits. The race is divided into three legs: swimming, immediately followed by cycling, and then running. Specific distances and official cut-off times vary from event to event, but there are standards. The “Sprint” is a half-mile swim, 8- to 16-mile bike ride, and 3.1-mile run. The “Olympic” or “International” is a 0.9-mile swim, 24.8-mile bike ride, and 6.2-mile run. Finally, the famed and grueling “Ironman” consists of a 2.4-mile swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride, and a full marathon-length run. An Ironman race begins at seven in the morning and goes on all day. Competitors set their own pace. Some bring along ample food and water, taking rests and breaks throughout the day; others, like Wilson, never stop and rely solely on triathlon-specific formulas such as Endurolytes, taken every 20 minutes, to replenish electrolytes, fluids, and sugar without losing time. In order to complete the Ironman, athletes must finish by midnight that night. An excruciating day, to say the least.

Once you start, it seems there’s no going back. Wilson did his first triathlon, a half-Ironman, in 1997. At that time he didn’t even know how to swim. During the race, he had to do the entire swimming portion sidestroke. Nevertheless, he was hooked. After just one race, Wilson was committed to being a lifelong triathlete. He promptly went out and bought a Total Immersion swimming manual and taught himself how to swim. In four years, he had shaved his swimming times down by half. Now, seven years later, Mark has five Ironman races and over 50 triathlons under his belt—he’s the Director of Total Immersion’s Triathlon Camps, a Pose Tech (specialized running technique) and usa Triathlon Certified Coach, and the president of the Hudson Valley Triathlon Club.

Wilson founded the Hudson Valley Triathlon Club in 2000. He was responding to what he felt was the need for a good, local area triathlon club. Wilson runs the organization, which includes roughly 50 to 100 members each year. The annual membership dues are $100. This money pays for use of Williams Lake, a private resort area in Rosendale, New York. The club meets to train and socialize at Williams Lake every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30pm to 8:30pm. Against the idyllic setting, they swim in the lake, cycle a 12-mile bike course, and run on the surrounding trails. Taking turns rowing the safety boat, talking technique, exchanging tips, and sharing in the pain and gain of training, hvtc members support and compete with each other in this intensely competitive sport.

The people involved in the club, he says, are genuinely seeking happiness, joy, and challenge. It takes an all-or-nothing attitude to get into triathlons. The deep desire to push the envelope—physically, mentally, and emotionally—is what brings this group together.

There are no prerequisites to join, and the club includes total novices alongside serious and dedicated athletes. Members range between the ages of 23 years old to some in their mid-sixties. They’re mostly professionals, Wilson says, because triathlon racing can be a rather expensive sport. Entry fees cost anywhere from $60 to $400, plus traveling costs and gear. Each member has his or her own personal competing schedule, but the club trains three times a week at Williams Lake from May to September and holds a hvtc Summer Series of triathlon races in June, July, August, and September for members only. “It’s a nice way to compete,” Mark remarks, “because it’s among friends.” The hvtc throws its annual awards banquet in the fall when members come together to simply celebrate—all the season’s hard work, training, and competition behind them.

Eager to educate the public and to spread the good word of triathlon sport, Mark gives me a few pointers and tips on training. First off, one of the greatest challenges for triathletes is conditioning the nervous system. Most people tend to over-train for triathlons. Afraid they won’t be able to complete the race unless they’ve worked their body to its utmost capacity preceding the race, they end up fatiguing their muscles. When training, proper technique is far more important than mere volume or speed. An athlete in training should always be able to recover a heart rate of 120 beats per minute in under a minute. When running, always land on the ball of the foot and never on the heel. Keep the foot stride underneath the hips and never over-stride by stretching out in front of the body. Pull the feet from the ground as quickly as possible—do not allow the feet to land (that way you’ll fly, plus there’ll be less pounding on the bones and joints). When swimming, keep the head in line with the spine. Stay as long as possible for as long as possible in the water (a longer ship is a fast vessel). Pierce the water, swimming through the tiniest possible hole to reduce the friction of the water’s density. When cycling, train at cadences of 80 to 100rpm. Keep the body forward, allowing gravity to help push the pedals. Practice cycling fast and running fast off the bike to get used to that transition during the race. If you’re considering doing a triathlon, be sure to taper your training leading up to the race, sleep well the night before, and eat a big hearty breakfast the morning of the race.

Triathlons, Wilson warns, are a dangerously addictive enterprise. The sport does show all the signs. Triathletes can’t stop amping up the intensity. They’ve created double, triple, quintuple, and even deca Ironmans. hvtc’s monthly newsletter warns “CAUTION! Participating in the sport of triathlon may cause radiant health and spiritual well-being.” It seems a fair caveat. There are undeniable benefits to all this fitness. And it lasts a lifetime. Septuagenarians often finish the Ironman competition but, Mark tells me, no one over 80 has ever completed the race within official cut-off times. There’s a fiendish sparkle in his eye as he says it—surely he’s not the only triathlete with this challenge on the distant horizon.

For more information on the Hudson Valley Triathlon Club, contact Mark Wilson, marktriclub@hotmail.com.