Posted: January 10, 2005

Multisport: EnduranceRadio.com Interview with Sheila Isaacs

From: EnduranceRadio.com

Tim Bourquin: “Welcome back to www.EnduranceRadio.com. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Tim Bourquin.

We’re going to be speaking with Sheila Isaacs. She’s the first person to accomplish the feat of running in a triathlon in all 50 states, and 100 triathlons actually, so we’re going to be speaking with Sheila about how she accomplished that and her background in the sport, and oh yeah, she’s 67 years old, so that makes her a little bit unique as well, so we’re going to be speaking to her about her background.

Make sure you sign up for our monthly audio newsletter because we’re giving away some great gear and providing exclusive interviews to our newsletter subscribers, and so you won’t want to miss those. Make sure you get your email signed up in the box to the left side of our website, and make sure you leave us a comment on our comment board over at www.trinewbies.com. Tell us how we’re doing and people we should be talking to in the future. So we’re going to be right back to speak with Sheila Isaacs in about 30 seconds.”

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Tim Bourquin: “Sheila thank you very much for taking time to talk to us today at www.EnduranceRadio.com, I appreciate it.”

Sheila Isaacs: “You’re welcome Tim, it’s a pleasure.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well we’ve talked a little bit before we started recording here that when you first starting doing this there didn’t exist a triathlon in all 50 states. At what point did you decide that you were going to do this in every state? Was it when you’d already accomplished a few, or did you start from the very beginning knowing you were going to do this?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Oh no. From the very beginning I didn’t even know if I was going to do a second one, let alone one in every state. I got kind of carried away. Living in New York I had available to me all those New England states that are easily accessed so I went and did triathlons that I could drive to, and in a couple of years I had about 15 states under my belt, and then decided it would be cool to see the whole country, that’s really what motivated me, the travel.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now you first did your first one because of basically a dare you said from someone that you worked with?”

Sheila Isaacs: “It was a challenge. Somebody said, ‘Come do it, we’ll do it together,’ somebody that I was working with, and he was a cyclist and a runner, but not much of a swimmer, and the only thing I could do was swim, and that wasn’t really much of a talent, but my daughter bought me a bicycle, so I did possess a bicycle, and so I started to train for it.”

Tim Bourquin: “Did it get easier as time went on to do each triathlon? Talk about how you trained for each one.”

Sheila Isaacs: “I certainly improved as the years went by because in the beginning I had no idea what I was doing. Transitions were ridiculous, ten minutes for a transition to change into biking shorts and shoes. I learned a lot, I really did. I joined the Masters Swim Team, and that definitely improved my swimming enormously.

Tim Bourquin: “Had you been physically active and working out prior to this, or did this launch your whole working out career?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Oh, it was the beginning from nothing. I was 50 years old before I came to anything at all. I’d never run. I didn’t run in school. I didn’t participate in any sport at all. I was totally academic, not interested in sport, so it came as a complete surprise.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now I would imagine that most people are supportive, especially within the triathlon community, but in those early days did people look at you like, ‘What in the world, she must have lost her mind.’”

Sheila Isaacs: “Yes, the people that I knew did think that I was going a little crazy, but that I started to meet more and more people who were involved in it and they knew where I was coming from, and I said that I can’t stand to spend a day without at least some training, to do some workout in it. Yes, I met people who had that same philosophy. Now there are lots of us.”

Tim Bourquin: “Right. There can’t be any doubters now after they’ve seen what you’ve done. Was this most recent Hawaii Ironman championships, was that the pinnacle of this, or did you feel better about other races that you’ve done?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Oh, this one was definitely the biggest challenge of all because I’d never done the distance before. I qualified in a half Iron, so I’d never done a full Ironman. I found that the training was extremely time consuming. I loved it, I loved every minute of it, but it did kind of eliminate the rest of one’s life for a few months. It was very absorbing.”

Tim Bourquin: “Did you have the help of a coach?”

Sheila Isaacs: “No. Other than the fact that I swam with the Masters Swim Team, I didn’t directly have a coach. I did go to a tri-camp in March, and the race was in October, and that really helped enormously, especially with biking. There was a lot of technical information that I picked up, and techniques that I learned in camp. That was enormously helpful. I followed a program that I actually got off the internet because I knew one of the coaches involved in that program.”

Tim Bourquin: “How much training did you do, hours wise, leading up to the race?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Well it varied week by week, because I followed a very specific program, but it built up to a good, I don’t know, 20 to 30 hours a week, but that’s because to get in those distances, to get in that volume takes me longer than it takes most athletes, the younger ones that are training for an Ironman. If I have to do a 70, 80 mile bike ride it takes me many more hours than it takes someone else.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well I want to ask you a little bit more about this race in particular, and then some of your favorite races that you’ve accomplished, but we need to take a quick break. We’re going to be right back to speak with Sheila Isaacs.”

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Tim Bourquin: “Sheila, let’s talk about some of the races you’ve had. We’ll start with Hawaii in particular. Was it as difficult as you thought it would be or less so? How did it measure up to what you thought it would be like?”

Sheila Isaacs: “I thought the bike ride was more difficult than I expected it to be because I actually went to Hawaii three weeks before. The advantage of being retired, of course, is that you have the time to do these things. So I did check out, I trained on the whole bike course, in sections, but for the whole three weeks we never really had a day that was as windy as the day of the race. So I expected to be able to do that bike ride in eight hours, and it took me more like eight hours and 20 minutes, which was significant, since I was really cutting it very close to the cut off time. That made a big difference.”

Tim Bourquin: “You finished just about five minutes before the cut off time.”

Sheila Isaacs: “Just about five minutes, yes.”

Tim Bourquin: “What race did you have the most fun finishing out of the 50 states?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Not counting Hawaii because Hawaii has been just exceptional, that was beyond anything else. Other than that, finishing the first one was awesome. It had a four hour cut off and I did it in three hours and 16 minutes which amazed me. I had no idea I could do it in that time. But I’ve had some wonderful races. Those races that they organize that they let the older people start first are much more fun because then when you’re out on the course and when you finished you’re amongst other triathletes, you’re not like way after the whole thing is finished, and that helps. That actually helps and gives one a better performance as well because there are more athletes on the course, and there are more people around, that’s more fun, so I like those; when they do the national championship like that, or the world’s, that’s good.”

Tim Bourquin: “Do you have other people who are your age asking you questions and considering getting into that as well?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Well I’m definitely working on that. I’m involved with the Leukemia Society, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team in Training, and for one race I was an assistant coach, and we took a group of people to St. Anthony’s in Florida, and that was an excellent experience, to work with people who were doing their very first triathlon and who didn’t necessarily have any athletic background, because I kind of know where they’re coming from. It was wonderful, and I’m going back to them. I’m going to do a century bike ride with the Leukemia Society early next year, and continue to do fund raising for them.”

Tim Bourquin: “Now that you’ve accomplished the triathlon in every state, what’s next for you? Do you have any other goals that you’re going to be aspiring to?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Yes. Theres a bunch of specific races that I’ve wanted to do and haven’t had a chance to do; Escape from Alcatraz, races like that. There are a few half Ironmans that I’d like to do because I really enjoy that distance. That’s a good distance for me, and then of course there’s always the national championships and trying to qualify for the US team to go to the world championships.”

Tim Bourquin: “Do you see yourself going back and qualifying and going to Hawaii again?”

Sheila Isaacs: “I don’t really think that I’m going to do an Ironman, a full Ironman again. The training took away too much time from all the other things. I had no time to work with the Leukemia Society. I had to drop out for a year out of Team in Training. So I don’t think I’ll train for a full Ironman, half Ironman is kinder to an elderly body I think. Full Ironman is a bit harsh.”

Tim Bourquin: “Sheila, what do you get personally out of these endurance races for yourself? What is it that keeps you coming back?”

Sheila Isaacs: “Oh well, for me personally, I feel extremely well. It gives me a lot of energy. I enjoy training for them. I am very careful to try and avoid injuries. I’ve been healthy through the 14 years that I’ve been doing this. Other than the injury that I got doing the Ironman in Hawaii I don’t believe I’ve ever had an injury. This was the first one.”

Tim Bourquin: “What injury did you get there?”

Sheila Isaacs: “I fell at mile 17 of the marathon, off the edge of the road in the pitch dark. I just slipped off the edge of the road into the lava and broke my finger. I’ve just come out of the cast, but I’m now getting physical therapy, can you believe it, for one finger. But it is very crocked and I can’t bend it or straighten it properly. So that’s my first injury.”

Tim Bourquin: “Obviously that must have been pretty painful completing that marathon.”

Sheila Isaacs: “I would like to claim that it was very painful and slowed me down, but it really wasn’t. It was more painful afterwards, later, weeks later. It took a while for me to start feeling it.”

Tim Bourquin: “Well I guess you can be thankful that it wasn’t your ankle or something obviously.”

Sheila Isaacs: “Oh yes, it could have been much worse.”

Tim Bourquin: “Good. Well Sheila we’re already out of time, but I want to thank you for telling us about your inspirational story, and our listeners, I think, will get a lot out of learning what’s possible, and you kind of said it yourself before we started recording as well that you’re always amazed at what people can accomplish, and you’re certainly a testament to one of those things. So we wish you the best.”

Sheila Isaacs: “It’s been a pleasure meeting you Tim.”

Tim Bourquin: “Thanks very much Sheila.”

Sheila Isaacs: “Okay, take care.”

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