Olympic Rower Takes on the Challenge of Triathlon With the Assistance of Powerbar By Ben Rutlege

Jul 20, 2009

After ripping the tab off my Strawberry banana PowerBar Gel and squirting the sweet goodness in my mouth, I finished my last act before pushing off the dock to the Men's 8+ rowing final of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. After a brisk warm-up and an all out exertion for five minutes and twenty three seconds we had gold medals around our necks.   The lead up to this event was stressful, exciting, and a little bit surreal, but worth its weight in….gold. The eight guys plus one loud coxswain poured their best into our training for the better part of 8 years and we finally had what we had touted for so long. And since then a new and wonderful journey has begun.  I have taken a break form competitive rowing and embarked on a new training regime that involves 3 sports instead of one. Triathlons have always been a curiosity for me and the reason is this, I have never been an exceptional athlete in any sport.

Now one could argue that winning an Olympic Gold medal in Rowing would constitute exceptional, however, my body was made for rowing, I am 6'5" 210 lbs and a possess a big set of lungs. And to add to that if it were not for the cute girl who approached me to try out for the rowing team whilst paying for tuition at University, I would have probably never tried the sport. So by  never really achieving in any sport that I had heard of until the age of 19 I still consider myself a mediocre athlete…with an Olympic Gold medal. 

And now my gears have changed and I have entered a world of sport partaken by thousands more than my previous sport. To this day, I have yet run into a group of people whereby no one has either competed in a triathlon themselves or know of someone very close to them who has competed. Such a community is a wonderful achievement and now I am finding it very fun to be apart of. 

The rowing community is small, albeit dedicated and passionate. However, if I wanted to train with someone for rowing I could call up 10-20 athletes in all of Canada who would be able to counter my strength in men's pair. Triathlons are a different story. I can pick and choose for all levels of my ability. And with the exception of the occasional running workout or bike ride, any level of athlete can train beside any level of athlete. Now this is probably not news to most triathletes, but what a great sport whereby everyone has a chance to compete together.

These types of training/completion environments are great to get the best out of everyone. The weekend warrior can line up beside nationally ranked athlete and give it their best to keep up and for the national level athlete has to fight for pride chance to destroy everyone in their wake. It's beautiful really.  After winning my gold medal I had the opportunity to meet one of triathlons best, Simon Whitfield Olympic Gold and silver medalist. I asked him if he would put me through the paces along side his training group.  I wanted to see how I stacked up in this sport and he gratefully obliged to let me join in. In the pool he was doing 3 laps to my 2, on the bike I rarely got out of his slipstream, and on the 1 mile run intervals he would blow by me like I was standing still. It was one of the best days of training I have had in a long time. To see the effort and ability he and his training group had was awesome.  I say this because I am very certain I will never be as good at any of the disciplines as they are. Tough to take, but a realization that I'm sure many rowers realize when they attempt to make the jump from University sport to the National level. So I am not jaded by my realization, but instead I have a higher respect for them. Something which they would probably understand if I sit them down on a rowing machine and let my 6'5" frame visually explain the physics of work=force x distance.

This is what is has excited me about triathlons, I am now apart of something bigger/better than myself. If I can try and draw a parallel here, it feels like I'm one of a thousand guys in a room with Heidi Klum exciting, but probably not going to happen. 

There is one part of the sport which I am familiar with though, the long training sessions. Rowing and Triathlons are mostly cardiovascular sports and 2 hour steady workouts at near maximal heart rates are what I have been doing 3 x a day for the past 6 years. Unfortunately for me I am unable to harness this fitness especially with swimming as I am still working on not letting my legs sink to the bottom of the pool as I power and froth my way down the course.
However, once again I find a positive attribute to triathlons and that is the ability to  refuel/hydrate while going, unlike rowing which requires you to keep moving with both hands on the oar at all times. Stopping to grab a drink or gel usually results in losing an insurmountable of distance, or an oar in your back from the guy behind you wondering why you need a break while he keep on working.

So far my favourite products have been the new PowerBar gel with electrolytes, and the recovery protein powder. PowerBar has been right there for me helping me be my best as a 210 lb 6'5" triathlete and rower for the past 6 years. I still have a ways to go and will need to work on my swimming to really get myself to feel like I am a somewhere competitive triathlete, but I hear there is such a thing as a Clydesdale event so I might have to search one of those out.  Until then I will continue my plight as mediocre athlete with an Olympic gold medal.

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