Two people, two training programs, one goal

UW employees prepare to compete in upcoming triathlon

Well before dawn on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 7, Nancy Wiegand and John Curtin will begin preparing for one of the most grueling days of their lives.

Around the time that some people are just getting out of bed, they will have already finished a 2.4-mile swim in Lake Monona and will be changing for a 112-mile bike ride through the hills of Dane County.

By mid-afternoon, they’ll have switched to running shoes to tackle another 26.2 miles — a full-length marathon. It’s all part of the second annual Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon, taking place in and around the city and the UW–Madison campus.

Though Wiegand, a scientist with the Land Information and Computer Graphics Facility in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, and Curtin, an assistant professor of psychology, have never met, they share a common goal: to finish one of the most difficult and prestigious athletic competitions in the world.

More than 1,800 triathletes competed in last year’s race, with an astonishing 93 percent of contestants crossing the finish line before the midnight cutoff, 17 hours after the race began.

Wiegand and Curtin have taken different paths to the starting line.

Wiegand, who researches database systems and does environmental problem solving using Geographic Information Systems, has participated in marathons and shorter triathlons throughout her life. While competing in an Ironman event had always been a life goal, Wiegand wondered if she had already missed her window of opportunity. After becoming a mother in 1990, it became harder for her to get back in shape and compete at a high level. After volunteering at an aid station last year, though, she figured the time was right to try again.

Despite juggling the demands of work and motherhood, her yearlong training program, consisting of high doses of swimming and biking, has progressed well.

Although confident that she’ll complete the entire event in the total time allotted, Wiegand worries that she won’t be quick enough to make the mandatory cutoff times for participants to complete various sections of the race.

“A triathlon is so much more fun than just running a marathon because of all the different muscles you get to use,” she says.

Even with his psychology background, Curtin won’t be using any special mental technique to motivate him through the toughest hours of the race. He’s a specialist on alcohol, drug and nicotine addiction, and their effects on emotion and behavior.

Another first-time participant like Wiegand, he also gained the confidence to enter the competition after watching last year’s race.

“It’s always been a goal of mine,” says Curtin, a former collegiate wrestler at Johns Hopkins University. “After being here last year, there was no way I would miss it. I hate sitting on the sidelines.”

Despite summer trips to New York, Finland and Russia, Curtin says he’s been remarkably faithful to his training schedule of 15-25 hours per week, even when it requires long hours biking through the countryside.

In addition, spending the spring semester on a research project made it easier to ride or run during the day while working in the lab during the evening. However, the hardest part has always been making time for three- or four-hour training sessions, especially when the weather is hot or rainy.

“Especially when (the long run or ride) is so far in advance of the competition, you start to ask yourself, “Do I really need to do this today?'” he says, adding that training with the Madison Headhunters Triathlon Club has also made the parts of the process “more like a social event than a chore.”

Students in Curtin’s Experimental Psychology 225 class shouldn’t expect to get a day off the Tuesday after the race.

“I’ll be there, hobbling,” he laughs.