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Page Turning: Going Pro....

Tuesday, 04 December 2018 23:10

By Ted Treise (venturetri.com)

It’s crazy to type this out and has been a long time coming, but in 2019, I will be a professional triathlete. This post will give you a little backstory and why I’m turning the page to the next chapter of racing pro.  To fill those in on how I received my pro qualification, I won an Ironman 70.3 event. Two actually, but the criteria states that one must finish in the top three at one major race. We did that twice, booya! A few things will change when I go pro and they are outlined below. Most things, though, will remain the same. I’ll still contest my 5am alarm, go to work from 9-5, and even get judged for round 2 at the Trader Joe’s sample station.
 
The backstory on me…. I started out this journey in 2012. During my first race after being inspired by my mom to sign up for a triathlon, I made it about 30 yards into the swim before having something just shy of a panic attack causing me to stop. Then I realized that not only would I get swam over by the men’s field, but the women’s field was about to do the same if I did not restart (they still did successfully). From this race, the sport grabbed me and I have loved every second of it. The training, the dorky equipment, the competitive nature of lining up for each race ready to give everything you have once the horn sounds– I love it all. Going pro seemed like a way to explore triathlon more and I made it my goal around 2015 to reach the top level. At the time, I didn’t have a clue what that meant to win at a high level. ...

I was doing bike workouts I could find online, running whatever I felt like that day, and 1,000 yards in the pool was a decent day. It wasn’t until I got a coach, Nate Dicks, that I realized the process of becoming world class at triathlon.

Nate and I started working together in 2017. During that year, to be honest, I struggled. He took me up around late spring after I grenaded myself into an injury by coming on full gas into 2017. It was a tougher year emotionally too. I didn’t understand how I could go 4:36 in my first 70.3 with essentially coming off the couch during the spring of 2016 then proceed to struggle as I matched that initial time (Madison, Worlds, Miami). Everything I had was getting poured into this sport and it wasn’t working. Like, was this pro dream just a great insta post and when the rubber met the road, maybe I was better off to enjoy life in other facets while collecting finisher metals on the side here and there. I didn’t like it and am sure 99% of people can relate. READ MORE