Profile of an Ironman – Intro and Bios

Starting from it's beginnings as a friendly competition in Hawaii, the Ironman has emerged to be the pinnacle of many triathletes goals. It's the golden ring many attempt, or aspire to attempt once hooked on the sport.

Completing an Ironman is a remarkable accomplishment for any individual. There are months of training, requiring long hours and steady dedication to a singular goal. Friends and even family may not understand this driving force, adding more rigor to an already difficult challenge.

The distances are well known to those involved: a 2.4 mile swim, then a 112 mile ride, and a 26.2 mile run to the finish. However, it's not often we get to meet the athletes who attempt this mountain of a challenge.

In that light, we're going to be covering two recent Ironman from our athletes, James Martin and Mike Galante in this year-end blog series. We'll start with some background on their transition to triathlons in general.

James Martin

When was your first Triathlon?

I did my first triathlon in May of 2009, it's a local sprint called Crawfishman, I try to do it each year. It is a 1000 yard swim, 18 mile bike and a 4 mile run.

That first year was humbling, but man was it fun; it obviously hooked me.

What motivated you the first time?

My motivations were a bit random. After 5 years of marriage, on 1/18/2008, I found myself 50 pounds over weight. I decided to address it the day we got back from our anniversary trip. I joined a gym and tried the things I was comfortable with until I got bored (elliptical machine, swimming pool, stationary bike, weight machines).

Then I tried everything in the gym that I was uncomfortable width (step classes, free weights, balance balls, rowing machines, etc).

Once I got bored again, I tried the treadmill. I was one of those guys that said "I can't run." I said it my whole life, so I was petrified of the idea.

I started with a 1 min jog and 4 min walk, repeat until I reached a half hour. I gradually turned it into a 30 min jog.

When I got bored again, I signed up for a 10k with the goal of breaking an hour.

Like most new runners, I got injured, so I bought a bike on craigslist for $600 that barely fit me and was barely functional (I got swindled). I rode it around to try and keep in shape for my 10k until I was able to run again.

At this point, I realized that I knew how to run a few miles, I owned a bike and that I used to swim a lot, so the next logical step was to sign up for Crawfish.

By that time I had lost almost all of the weight, but by then, I had basically forgotten about that and began to enjoy the fruits of my new healthy lifestyle.

Do you have any triathletes who are role models you look up to?

It will probably sound odd to select a female athlete, but I tend to follow Mirinda Carfrae more than any others. I love the fact that she is a terminator on the run and I have been lucky enough to exchange words with her a couple of times and she has always been pleasant and friendly.

Mike Galante

When was your first Triathlon? What motivated you the first time?

My first tri was The Rookie Tri, here in Austin. It's targeted at first-timers, with shorter distances and a "rookie" division to ease any worries that people may have in their first multisport event. I had recently moved to Austin and the big tri community piqued my interest in trying it myself. The Rookie Tri was the perfect way to see what it was all about.

Are there other sports you participate in?

I entered the triathlon world after a few years of running marathons. And as much as I loved actually participating and completing the actual triathlon races, I've found that I don't really enjoy the swim and bike training as much as I do running, so I find myself planning on only running in the future.

Do you have any triathletes who are role models you look up to?

Nope :) Although I'm incredibly impressed by what all the top athletes are able to do, such as finish the marathon of an Ironman faster than I can run a fresh marathon.

Next

We'll be looking at their training plans to complete this event.