Pain. Extreme pain. No, not the screaming headache you
had at brunch last weekend after a late night of drinking and debauchery. The
kind of pain I'm talking about comes after swimming 2.4 miles, biking another
112 miles, and finishing with a 26.2-mile run. While you were popping Advils
and putting away the beer-pong table, two Yale undergrads were pushing their
bodies to the limit in what is widely considered to be the world's most
difficult physical endurance test: the Ironman triathlon.
When you think of the word "ironman," Christopher Con-nelly, TC '06, and Peter
Chiu, SY '07, may not be the first athletes to come to mind. Maybe that
300-pound lineman from your Spanish class would qualify—but two pre-med guys
who shave their legs before each of their major races? Unlikely. Although
Connelly and Chiu may not garner the same accolades and attention as their
varsity peers, few would disagree with the Ironman's status as the most
strenuous one-day athletic event in the world. Participants must swim what
amounts to 175 laps in a regulation pool, bike the distance between New Haven
and Newark, NJ, and run the equivalent of a marathon—all in fewer than 17
excruciating hours.
17: THAT MAGICAL NUMBER was the only thing on the minds of Connelly and Chiu
when they joined 2,074 athletes from around the world at the starting line of
the 2005 Wisconsin Ironman triathlon on Sun., Sept. 11. With less than ideal
conditions—91-degree heat and unusually high winds—the two Yalies knew that
the day ahead would be challenging, but they never imagined just how difficult
the task ahead would prove to be.
Connelly, who began training for the race over eight months ago, had set his
sights on finishing the event in under 12 hours, but was slowed down by the
day's torturous conditions. Finishing in 12 hours, 30 minutes—good enough to
place him in the fastest fifth of all participants—the freshman counselor and
biking enthusiats was thrilled just to finish among the elite performers in his
age group. "That day at that course was not the right day to set one of your
best times," Connelly said. "I questioned my reasoning to do the Ironman
multiple times during the race, but after finishing I felt great."
Chiu, an Ironman veteran who began training for the Wisconsin race in December
2004, was determined to finish under 11 hour—a three-hour improvement over his
previous time of 14 hours, 38 minutes set in August 2003. Although the extreme
heat and harsh winds ultimately thwarted Chiu's attempt to break the 11-hour
mark, he still managed to break his personal Ironman bests in each of the three
disciplines: He crossed the finish line in 12 hours, 23 minutes and lifted the
Yale duo to a combined fifth-place finish in the event's collegiate division.
Not bad for two full-time college students, right? Just don't tell that to
Peter Chiu. A self-described "compulsive overtrainer," Chiu wasted no time
resuming his rigorous workout routine after his most recent super-human feat.
He has been swimming since the day after the Wisconsin triathlon and soon plans
to resume his biking workouts. "I'm definitely going to train harder this
year," Chiu said. "600 miles of biking per week? No problem."
So what makes these masochists submit themselves to such voluntary torture?
Connelly explained that the challenge of maximizing his body's potential
motivates him and claimed that his experiences on the race course pale in
comparison to the academic rigors he has faced at Yale. "I felt more confident
in my ability to complete the Ironman than I did with the MCAT exam," he
said.
For Chiu, on the other hand, an intrinsic lust for competition drives him to
challenge the limits of physical endurance. "I've always wanted to train harder
than anyone else and take harder courses than anyone else. It's kind of a
sickness," he said. Indeed, despite facing painful cramps and nearly vomiting
several times during last weekend's event, Chiu claims he will keep coming back
for more and is looking forward to returning to the Midwest for next year's
Ironman Wisconsin on Sept. 10, 2006.
IF THIS YEAR'S WORKOUT regimen serves as any indication of the rigors Chiu
would face while making his third Ironman appearance, the Yale junior certainly
has a long road ahead of him. Chiu and Connelly began their preparation for
last weekend's race roughly 10 months ago, enlisting the help of training coach
Matt Clancy while most of their classmates were busy stuffing themselves with
turkey and pumpkin pie.
"Simply put, I bike a lot, run a lot, and swim a lot," Connelly said. He
estimated that his average training commitment amounts to 25 hours per week.
Connelly started his Ironman training by doing longer and only mildly strenuous
workouts, which became progressively shorter and more physically strenuous.
Then, a few days before the triathlon, his workouts sharply tapered off. "You
lose a bit of fitness this way, but you're fully recovered from all the wear
and tear that you've been doing to yourself," Connelly said.
Both Yalies-cum-Ironmen also carefully monitored their diets in preparation
for the big race. They consumed high protein, high carbohydrate, and low-fat
diets, and Chiu went a step further by going strictly vegan. Nevertheless, both
Connelly and Chiu believe that the occasional piece of chocolate cake won't
cause one's fitness to spiral downward. "Once you've worked out for so long, it
takes a total lifestyle change to get out of shape because your body gets
pretty resilient," Connelly said.
Diet was also an important factor during the race itself. To properly
fuel their bodies, Chiu and Connelly munched on energy bars and packets of a
high-carb jelly during the race, while also making sure to keep themselves
properly hydrated in the unexpectedly intense heat. Though Connelly didn't
deviate far from his plan to ingest 300 to 500 calories during biking and 300
calories during the marathon, he drank nearly twice as much as he had planned,
imbibing nearly 350 oz. of water, Gatorade, and watered-down flat soda.
Chiu and Connelly also stressed the importance of paying attention to their
bodies during the race. "When should I eat another half of an energy bar?
Should I increase or decrease my water intake? These were the kinds of thoughts
that entered my mind," Chiu said. He was right to be concerned: During his
first Ironman, he learned the hard way what a salt deficiency can do to a
highly fatigued body. "My entire body cramped up," Chiu said. "I didn't know
that my cheeks were even capable of cramping."
Even with adequate food and liquid intake, much of last weekend's race is
now nothing but a blur in the minds of Chiu and Connelly. "[During the race] my
senses dulled to a lot of the things around me," Connelly said. "But there were
moments of clarity: I'd see someone sitting in pain under the shade and feel
bad for them." Indeed, over 400 of the athletes who began last weekend's
grueling race relented to the extreme conditions and failed to finish in the 17
allocated hours.
Despite confessing to having competitive natures, both Chiu and
Connelly claim that the Ironman atmosphere is anything but hostile. "There's a
lot of mutual respect among most of the participants," Connelly said. "Although
other people are trying to beat you, the race is really a matter of meeting or
exceeding your own expectations." And though Chiu was kicked in the face "four
or five times" during the swimming portion of the triathlon, he also enjoyed
the words of encouragement and support from fellow competitors and sidewalk
observers alike.
AS FOUNDING MEMBERS OF THE YALE TRIATHLON club, Connelly and Chiu are looking
to extend such support to friends a little closer to home this year. After
starting out with only three members, the club has grown significantly and now
has close to 100 students on its mailing list. According to club president
Freddie Lee, TC '06, Yale is one of only two Ivy League schools—Harvard being
the other—to offer an organization specifically dedicated to triathlon
training. "The club's role is to offer a uniquely structured activity," Lee
said. He also noted that most of the club's workouts are fairly individualized
for its members, most of whom are novices looking for a new challenge—a
challenge that, as Chiu and Connelly have proven, extends far beyond the limits
of the typical Yalie.
Jessica Bialecki contributed to this article.
