Anybody can race a triathlon, says Norm Coleman, a 63-year-old cancer researcher from Chevy Chase. But what got him hooked on the grueling sport was one of his patients.
After competing in his first Lake Placid Ironman triathlon in 2001 – he will run in his second July 20 — Coleman put off racing in another, he said.
But then he treated a patient who had developed cancer in his foot, brain and skin, and had recently completed Ironman Wisconsin.
“I said, ‘If you’re in remission I’ll come out and do Ironman Wisconsin with you,’” Coleman told him.
So three years ago, “he sent me an e-mail that said he was in remission and I came out. So I ended up doing Ironman Wisconsin in 2005 because of him.”
Coleman is one of the oldest of dozens of Washington-area residents training to compete in next Sunday’s Lake Placid Ironman.
Ironman races entail a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles),and are much more difficult than shorter versions, such as the Olympic-distance race consisting of a one-mile swim, 25-mile bike and six-mile run.
Coleman’s first triathlon came at the age of 51 at the Esprit in Montreal, the result of a memorable quote by writer Scott Tinley in “Triathlete” magazine.
“Scott Tinley was right — once you do an Ironman, just in terms of a physical event, it gives you tremendous confidence in your physical and mental abilities,” Coleman said. “He was in the original group. The first Ironman was maybe 25 years ago and these people were considered lunatics, before they had all this equipment, and you had a regular road bike.”
It defies explanation how a 63-year-old doctor working 70 hours a week finds the inclination — let alone the time — to train for the Ironman.
But Coleman found part of his inspiration for arduous challenges some 30 years ago with his wife at the base camp of Mount Everest.
“Our first trek in Nepal we were 30 and we thought, ‘We’d better do this now, because once you’re past 30 you can’t do this stuff anymore.’ And at the base camp of Everest there was one guy who was 72, another guy in his 60s, so you get into the mindset that, in fact, you can do this your whole life.
“You know you’re in shape when you’re in an Ironman and you get off the bike and say, ‘No problem. All I have left is a marathon,'” he continued. “And you’re really thinking that, too: ‘I just did a couple marathons this year. No worries. I can knock this thing off.'”
Box1 (This box can be cut for space, if needed)
At a glance
What: Lake Placid Ironman
Distances:
• 2.4-mile swim
• 112-mile bike
• 26.2-mile run
• Athletes have 17 hours to finish all three
History: Fifteen competitors raced in the first Ironman Feb. 18, 1978, in Hawaii. The race was created after a group of Navy Seals stationed in Hawaii discussed who were the fittest athletes in the world — swimmers, cyclists or runners? Navy commander John Collins decided the only way to find out was to combine all three.
Source: Ironman USA
