Schitter completes Iron Man when 200 others fail
by Cheryl Y. Hurst, special from Ferdinand News
Joseph Schitter, of Jasper, made it a personal goal to take part in an Iron Man competition.
He dreamed of that goal over the last few years. What he didn’t know when he finally began training — the place and time of his selected competition would turn out to be the hottest Iron Man on record.
The event was held in Louisville, KY on August 24.
Schitter has run other marathons and pedaled through long-distance bicycle rides; however, he had never competed in something that added the two together, plus put swimming in the mix — all in one event.
“It’s one of those things where you add it all up in your head and say, ‘That’s like 140 miles! That is inconceivable!’ When the day comes, you can’t think of it like that or you would never be able to make it,” Schitter advises others who may want to take the challenge.
The Iron Man consists of 140.6 miles in the following disciplines, completed in this order: a 2.4 mile swim (Joe’s swim was in the middle of the Ohio River); a 112 mile bike ride; and a 26.2 mile run, the same as a full marathon.
The Louisville Iron Man takes advantage of it’s natural features. The swim is held in the Ohio River
“It was weird to be swimming in the middle of the Ohio River, it feels so huge.” Schitter said.
“Then you get out and run a couple hundred yards and get your bike. You can change if you want, but I just put on my cycling shoes and helmet and jumped on my bike. You ride half the miles then turn around and go back to where you started. The road is moderately hilly terrain, similar to that in Southern Indiana. You get back to the starting place and hand the bike off to a volunteer, then head to the changing tent to take off your biking shoes and helmet and put on your running shoes, then take off running through downtown Louisville. You make two 13-mile laps so you get the privilege of passing the finish line, then you have to do it all over again,” he laughs, remembering that feeling.”
“Each entrant has 17 hours to complete the event, which happens to be midnight,” he continued. “I finished in just over 13 hours and three minutes. The finish line is downtown Louisville in their 4th Street live entertainment district. Near midnight there is a huge party cheering on the finishers, people hanging from the balconies and windows yelling and screaming for you so loud you cannot hear anything else. It was cool to see thousands of people screaming at the top of their lungs for complete strangers to finish before the midnight cut off. One lady finished with two seconds to spare!”
Joe remembers how hot it was. He saw several people were carted away by ambulance from heat exhaustion. The heat index was 103° that day. “I was incredibly hot. I heard this one was the hottest Iron Man on record in Louisville!
“It was my first full Iron Man. I had done some shorter triathlon events earlier in the year to help prepare. I plan on doing more.”
Joe has always been a runner, but in 2006 he had to have knee surgery which stopped the running for a time. Then he became involved in cycling — at first to cross train and get back in shape for running.”
“Then I fell in love with cycling, including a week long cycling trip through Colorado and competed in RAIN (Ride Across IN) several times. As my cycle friends grew I got to know several local riders who also did multi-sport events. So I thought I would give it a try. In 2013, I started with the Christmas in June sprint triathlon at Lincoln State Park (400 meter swim, 10 mile bike ride and three mile run). I was the fastest first timer in that event. Then I completed a longer triathlon at Patoka Lake in August.”
“Then I hatched a plan to compete in an Iron Man as that is the ultimate triathlon experience. Iron Man competitions are held all over the world, but I picked Louisville due to its proximity and I knew people who were also going there to compete. I bought a training book and started training heavily beginning in November 2013. The training is intense! You train six days a week, with most days doing two or more workouts per day. With a family of five and a full-time job I would work out at crazy hours. I would swim at 5:15 a.m. or over lunch. I would cycle at 9 p.m. at night, and it was common on days when the weather did not cooperate to be on a bicycle trainer in my basement until 11 p.m.”
Joe determined the training was much harder than the actual event.
Joe completed the swimming segment in 01:10:03; the bicycle ride in 06:07:22 and the 26.2 mile run in 05:29:22.
Australian Chris McDonalds took first place in 08:40:51. He made it across the finish line, looked back, then passed out, face-first onto the pavement. Of 2,095 participants, over 200 people did not finish the race.
Joe works as a financial manager for National Office Furniture, a division of Kimball International. He and his wife, Angie, have three children – Mitch (17), Becca (13) and Ben (9). “I could not have done this without them,” Joe praises his family, “putting up with all the training as it pulled me away from home, especially the long rides and the runs on the weekends.”
In his spare time, which he has had very little of for the past year, Joe enjoys doing just about anything outdoors — camping, running and biking, and he is heavily involved in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. He is Cubmaster for local Pack 183. The Jasper native is a 1986 graduate of Jasper High School.
Joe has every intention of competing in another Iron Man, just in another place and time, somewhere that is not quite so hot.
