Heath Thurston: Interview

Heath Thurston

Age:33

Orem, Utah

Pro Triathlete/Coach

Husband, father

Sponsors: Fezzari Bicycle, PowerTri.com, Altra Running, Xterra Wetsuits, H2O overdrive, Rokit Fuel, Skin Strong, Extreme Endurance, Dub Nutrition,
Website: http://www.heaththurston.com/
Number of Triathlons: 40-50
Number of Marathons/Ultras: 10 marathons & 2 ultras
Strongest Sport: Swim
PR 2.4 mi Ironman Swim:47min
PR Marathon:2:53 just barely on Oct. 1st 2011
PR 50mi: 7:24
PR Ironman: 9hrs 26min
Weekly Hours or Miles Base Training :  12-16hrs
Weekly Hours or Miles Peak Training: 20-26hrs
Current Goal:  Kona Qualification through points at 5 key triathlons, "pro points" system
2012 Key Events:: US Pro 70.3 champs in April, Ironman St. George in May, 70.3 Boise in June, Ironman Couer D'Alene in June, Ironman Pro Champs New York in August

Heath Thurston is one of the most passionate athletes I have ever met. Just mentioning the name, "Thurston" in the state of Utah is likely to get a response from someone who knows Heath or is inspired by his passion for endurance sports. Heath and his brother Jarom, an ultrarunner and 2x Badwater finisher, leave their mark on Utah endurance sports year after year. But there is more than meets the eye...in this interview, I talk with Heath about true life grind of being a professional endurance athlete. Far from the big money of the NFL or other "games", professional endurance athletes like Heath struggle to balance passion, life, family, and racing in spite of its financial challenges. I hope you will enjoy this conversation with Heath Thurston.

Q: Please tell me about your background in endurance sports...

A: My Background is really in a lot of sports but mostly in swimming. As a young child growing up in Payson Utah there wasn't much else to do than play sports or farm and we were not farmers. So I did most all sports from baseball to soccer. But the biggest and most important sport was swimming. My whole family swam all growing up. I started when I was 5 and started directly on the big kids swim team. I was fortunate enough to be whats called a "natural" at swimming. So I competed heavily in swimming all year around from the age of 5 till I graduated High School then I stopped swimming for years until I started triathlons.

Q: Tell us a little about what it's like to compete in an Ironman at the professional level...How is it different than amateur ranks? What perspective did you gain the first time you lined up as a pro triathlete in a big Ironman race?


A: Competing as a professional in Ironman is very, very different than what it is like as an amateur. As a pro when you toe the line at a race it is you against the other pro's and the clock. I am racing for my family and to try to put food on the table and make myself go harder and faster than I have before. As an amateur you are able to race with people already in front of you and you are more racing just the others in your age group even though a lot of elite amateurs are racing to win the overall amateur. The pressure is very different as a pro. The pressure of succeeding and preforming to the best for you and your sponsors is always on my mind when I race. So when bad races happen it is sometimes hard to forget about those and move on there sometimes is a lot of feelings of failure in way that isn't just about me. I have gotten better at not dealing with bad races this way.


The first time I toed the line was at Ironman Arizona in 2006 and I just remember feeling so anxious and nervous yet somewhat important and powerful in a way that I have made a dream of mine come true in my life. It was such a great feeling to be on the front line with some of the best in the sport that I had read and watched for so many years. That race was one of those that did not turn out the best and I ended up in the med tent and out of the race in the end due to some sort of asthma attack.

Q: Please talk about your training. How do you break up the year in preparation for events... and how do you focus your training on key events?


A: Usually my season of training is broken up into about a 9-10 month block. I start in November and start my base building and aerobic training, for a few months then go into my tempo and strength period then into speed taper time. So as April and May come around, I am peaked and ready to go for the summer and the season. I will take a break in about mid summer to give my body a little break then I will do a little rebuild period and fine tuning for the second part of the season.


Q: What does a monster training session look like for Heath Thurston?

A: A monster session during my Ironman build would look like this...wake up and swim 3500-4500 meters, then head out on the bike for somwhere between 6-8hrs on the bike with about 4-5 spurts from 20-30min above race pace.  Then I would get off for an immediate brick run for about 90min to 2hr run.






Q: Yes! That is such a tasty workout.  I see pain threshold all over that.  What drives you to push through pain?

A: Pain can be the worst and best thing for athletes. If I let pain get into my head sometimes I end up letting it get the better of me and thats when the negative talk comes in and it can make you miserable and defeat anyone. But I have been to places of such pain, yet such pleasure its crazy. I always try to find the quiet place in my mind and find the place between the pain and the pleasure to race at then the body will do whatever you want it to do.

Q: Who or what inspires you?

Heath and his Family

A: My Daughter Kida inspires me the most. My daughter Kida has Cerebral Palsy and is the most inspiring person I know. She is the strongest and most hard working kid and person I know. She will work and work at something until she gets it. I think that is why I still am sticking to this Pro Triathlon career even though it does not pay the bills the best. Just like my daughter, I will work as hard as I can to make it work and succeed to the best of my ability. My daughter has the most amazing spirit and brings a smile to everyone she meets and people are just drawn to her like a magnet. I like and hope what I do as a pro and as a coach that I can draw people into the sport and help them enjoy life as much as I do but more so as much as Kida does. Whenever I am in a tough painful spot in an ironman or a race I just try and think about Kida and the pain she goes through everyday especially when she had to learn how to walk all over again when she went through many surgeries to help fix some of her Cerebral Palsy problems in her body.




Q: Are there any products, techniques, or equipment you stand by? What products do you use that aren't necessarily the main-stream?

A: Of course all of my sponsors make amazing products. I don't just go with companies that will give me free stuff or help, I really research products out and I like to build relationships with my sponsors. This is why most of my sponsors are local Utah companies, so that I can be a part of them and help them build even better products.

One of my all time favorite products is the Finis Tempo Trainer.  It is a little metronome devise that you can use swimming or running. I mostly use this for running to help my run tempo and cadence.

Q: That's cool... never heard of it. Toys like that can really help keep training fun.  Tell me Heath, what motivates you to train on a crappy day when you have absolutely no motivation?


A:I've tried to come to take the good and the bad days. I've learned to take the emotion out of the workouts. If you take too much emotion into each workout those workouts will take more out of you than just the workout did. When I go out and just do the workout at hand good or bad things go better in the end. And I end up having more good days than bad. But even the bad days aren't so bad.



Q: You are a gifted swimmer, but that skill doesn't come naturally. It takes years of development and hardwork. Most often, there is a coach or coaches that help someone learn the details of stroke development. To whom or what do you give credit for your efficient swimming?

A: There are two people I owe the most to in my swimming and those are my swim coach as a kid: Sheri Skabelund she was so instrumental in building my base and framework in swimming. The second and most important one is my mother...she was the one that made me swim mostly because she wanted to wear me out and make me tired, that didn't last long. But it did teach me how to have hard work ethic and be dedicated to swim.


Q: I understand you are also a coach. Can you talk about your experience and passion for coaching others?

A: Second to being an pro athlete, my other passion is coaching. I love taking someone that doesn't know anything about triathlon or swimming and teach them how to do it and watch them get better and go faster. Especially with swimming, I do not want anyone to not know how to swim or to hate the swim. I love nothing more than to help people enjoy the swim as much as I do.

Q: Many people wrongly assume that being a "pro athlete" is the greatest thing in the world. They think about professional baseball players or football players, and all the money and notoriety that comes with those big money sports. So, tell us the "truth" about living in this challenging economy as a professional endurance athlete. What real-life challenges do you face as a husband...a father, and lastly, an athlete?

A: Those of us that are able and fortunate enough to be a pro triathlete is not all that stellar. Most triathletes that become pro quickly see how hard it is to make a living at it due to the money in the sport does not go to the pro's racing. The prize purse's at races are not very good in the sport, especially in Ironman. So those of us that do it, it is all about the love of the sport. It angers me to watch these baseball, basketball and football players go on strike and get mad about the millions of dollars they say they need more of. I would love nothing more than to earn a moderate living of 50-100k a year at this sport that I love so much. And I tell you we train and work ten times harder than any of those team sports pro athletes. I hope over the next few years the WTC and other triathlon race organizations can start to put more money into helping the pro's to make a little better living for there families.

Q: I can't agree with you more.  If we could quantify passion and pay accordingly, you and other endurance athletes would be living quite well.  On the subject of passion, please tell me more about the Kida Relay. How did this event come about and what does it mean to you?

A: The Kida Relay first came about when both me and my brother and a sponsor of mine Joe Morton got to talking about long distance races that were starting up all over the place. We wanted to create our own race of some kind and my wife and I had been wanting to do a charity type race especially for our daughter Kida and Cerebral Palsy or something like that. So the first year of the Kida Relay we did a race that involved teams of 4 doing a 24 hour race of biking for 12hrs switching off people after every 25 mile loop then doing 12hrs of running on a 6 mile route. The second year of the race we had to stop the race early due to weather reasons. This year we went to a race where it was more of a training day for fun with athletes and friends. Each year we have been able to use this race as a way to raise and donate money to an organization that is dear to us called Kids on the Move, they helped us a lot with Kida as a young child. We will go into next season as doing this race as a 5k and kids race. It will be called Kida's Run and we are excited to again reinvent this race and raise money for this Kids on the Move organization again. We are trying to make this race more for and about kids with disabilities.

Q: I really had a great time participating in the Kida Relay that first year. Your passion for this sport was evident, throughout.   Heath, thank you for your time...I really enjoyed hearing about your training and motivations.   Endurance athletes all over the world will read this interview.... what do you want to say to those athletes who are about to lace up their shoes and head out on a long run or ride?


A:Thank you for this opportunity to express some of my frustrations, but mostly, my pleasures and happiness in this great sport and lifestyle. I love what I do and wouldn't change any of the hardships I've had in my races or in our lives. For those reading this and getting into the sport or anything.... Just keep things easy and have fun. Thats what this is all about and thats why I love it all. Because I enjoy what I do and I enjoy pushing myself to be better. So get out there and Swim, bike and run. Thanks Jerry.