As the rest of us go about our regular Saturday routines tomorrow, local athletes Jason Straile and Chad Trumbley will be swimming 1.5 km in icy Lake Michigan, biking 40 km and running 10 km through the streets of downtown Chicago.
Oh, and they’ll do it all at top speed.
This weekend, Straile and Trumbley are representing Canada in the ITU Age Group World Championships, a world-class triathlon.
Triathletes qualify for the race by winning, or ranking highly, in a qualifying race in their country. Each age group includes about 100 triathletes, Straile explains, and the four-day ITU event, which also includes an elite series of Olympic qualifier races, will include about 6,500 international athletes.
While the race itself will be punishing, it’s the training that really tests a racer’s limits, says Straile. “Training is the toughest part—it’s more of a mental thing, being able to go day after day.”
Straile designs the workouts that he and Trumbley follow six days a week in the lead-up to a race, including 7 to 13 hours of training per week. The two swim, run and bike two to four times a week, varying times and distances and frequently combining sports in one workout to get the body accustomed to the intensity of a triathlon.
While today both Straile and Trumbley are in top form, both of them started right at the bottom.
“I literally couldn’t run a block,” recalls Straile, of his first run about a decade ago. Straile worked his way up to running a half-marathon, then starting racing regularly. He switched to triathlons about six years ago, finding the combination of swimming, biking and running more interesting, and less taxing on muscles and bones, than just running.
Now 43, Straile is in better shape than most of the teenagers he sees each day as principal of Creighton Community School.
Trumbley, a 38-year-old financial planner, started his triathlon journey about six years ago.
“I was 230 pounds and my fitness level was sub-par,” he recalls.
A series of health problems prompted Trumbley to get off the couch and start running. With Straile’s encouragement, Trumbley ran his first triathlon four years ago, then tried an Ironman (a long-distance triathlon) last year in Whistler.
Having each other as training partners has been key to their success, say the two triathletes.
“Really the only limits you have, you place on yourself,” Straile says. “And Chad and I have broken through many of those throughout this. Without each other, I don’t think we’d break through half of those.”
For both Trumbley and Straile, the support of their families has been crucial as well. “It can be taxing on our families,” says Trumbley, who explains that when he is training or running triathlons, his wife Jodi is effectively a single parent to their two kids. Straile also sings the praises of his wife, Stephanie, for encouraging him to pursue his passion. “It’s like a team sport—we race as individuals, but it doesn’t happen without that support at home.”
While the intense training schedule, and travelling for races, can put a strain on family life, Trumbley and Straile have seen positive impacts of their healthy lifestyles on their families.
“We go through a ton of spinach and quinoa,” Trumbley laughs. “Before I started this, that stuff didn’t exist in my house. My kids are learning to eat properly.”
While training, the two triathletes plan meals carefully to pack a lot of calories and provide a high level of nutrition with whole, natural foods: lots of salads, chicken, and starches like rice or potatoes.
“Your body craves the good food,” Trumbley adds, noting that he has been impressed to see how much faster his body recovers from the aches and pains of training when it is fuelled properly—and how much of a negative impact a late-night bag of chips can have when that 6 am bike ride comes around.
As Trumbley and Straile prepare for the opportunity to race with the maple leaf on their backs – a dream for both of them - they say they have learned a lot about their own fortitude.
“I talk to people who say ‘I can’t do that’. I was one of those people, and Chad was one of those people who couldn’t do that,” says Straile. “If you want to do it, you can.”
