Q: What is your name and where do you live?
A: Bob Stocks and I am from Binghamton, NY.
Q: What is your age?
A: 42
Q: What is your occupation?
A: I work in a hospital as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Q: How long have you been participating in triathlons?
A: I did a sprint triathlon back in 1985 and participated
as a swimmer on some team triathlons but consider the Mini-Musselman in
2005 as my first triathlon. In 2005 I did 3 sprint triathlons and got
hooked on the sport and the people involved in the sport. I signed up for
the Musselman ½ IM in 2006 and in training for that race I over trained and ended
up with a femoral stress fracture and could not run for most of the
2006 season. (A great reason to hire a coach!!) Fortunately I was able to
bike and swim and took a 1st Place overall in the Aquabike division. I did
the swim and bike legs in a couple other triathlons that year and signed up
for the 2007 IMWI in Sept of 2006. In 2007 I did my first marathon, first olympic
tri, first ½ IM and first IM and I have signed up for 2 IM races in 2008
as well as many races of all different lengths.
Q: What is your favorite race, and why?
A: My favorite race is the Musselman ½ Ironman
in Geneva, NY. I have raced this
venue for the past 3 years, the mini-mussel sprint
in 2005, the Aquabike ½
IM in 2006 and the ½ IM in 2007. The race director,
Jeff Henderson, puts on
a spectacular weekend with the sprint and a professional
ITU race being held
on Saturday and the ½ IM on Sunday. It's a
weekend made for triathletes!
Q: What is your favorite piece of triathlon equipment?
A: I would probably say my NeverReach
hydration system on my bike or my Polar 625X Heart
Rate Monitor. The NeverReach holds 64 oz of fluid
and I generally keep water in there and Gatorade and
gels in my other water bottles. The Polar is a great
training tool if you like gadgets. I use it on every
run and every ride and find myself looking down to
check my HR and pace constantly.
Q: What are some of your career highlights as an
athlete (not necessarily triathlon)?
A: I have been a competitive swimmer
all of my life and have many highlights that involve
swimming but I think my ½ Ironman at Musselman
in 2007 would have to be my career highlight. It was
my first race at that distance and ended up with a
PR ½ marathon time and an 8th place overall
in the race.
Q: What are your triathlon goals for the 2008 season?
A: I have set my goals for the 2008
season pretty high. Musselman and IMKY are my 2 big
races and my goals are a top 3 overall at Musselman
with a time of under 4:20 and a top 10 in my AG at
IMKY with a time under 9:45. My main goal in any race
is to have as much fun as I can though.
Q: What is your long-term goal in the sport of triathlon?
A: My long-term goal is to keep triathlon
as a big part of my life and get as many people involved
in the sport as I can.
Q: What are 3 foods someone would always find in
your refrigerator/cupboards?
A: Peanut butter, PowerGel and chocolate
milk. Each morning I eat a PB and granola sandwich
on wheat bread on the way to work. I go through 3
gels per hour running and biking and always buy boxes
of PowerGel Vanilla and Strawberry Banana when it
is on sale. My favorite recovery drink is a chocolate
milk, peanut butter and banana smoothie in a blender.
Q: Do you specialize in a particular triathlon distance?
If so, why that
distance?
A: I have always been a distance
swimmer and the longer the distance the better. The
same follows with triathlon, I have only done one
iron distance race but am hooked. I like the fact
that strategy and nutrition play a huge part in the
outcome of the race. It's not just an all out effort
that the fastest person wins, the person who follows
his or her plan and is able to adapt that plan if
something doesn't go right will come out ahead. That
being said, it's unrealistic to specialize in Ironman
as the training is very time consuming. If I had to
choose a distance to specialize in it would probably
be the ½ Iron distance.
Q: What advice would you give to a 'newbie' in the
sport?
A: Have fun! Triathlon should be
about a healthy lifestyle first then about competing.
Train smart and don't go overboard, try to look at
the sport as a lifelong activity and be careful not
to over train, rest is part of training and should
not be ignored and finally do what you can do when
you can do it. Don't get too stressed out if you miss
a workout, it's not the end of the world.
Q: Do you have any secret training tips? (Not really
secret if you share, huh?)
A: Try to find a training partner
or training group to do some of your training with.
My best workouts and hardest training sessions are
the ones that I am alone but the most memorable and
enjoyable training sessions are the ones that I am
doing with a friend. The other tip is to keep a training
log. I use www.beginnertriathlete.com and have made
the site a big part of my training. It's a great logging
program that has some great training plans and allows
me to enter my workouts from T3 as well as track my
equipment, nutrition, mileage, weight, etc.
Q: Please list your favorite workout:
A: My favorite workouts are undoubtedly
my long rides. Being on the bike in upstate NY for
four to six hours is an awesome experience. No kids
fighting, no horse stalls to clean, no worries other
than if I remembered to put a new tube in the tool
bag after my last flat. The workouts I don't like
to do but I feel that I benefit the most from are
the track workouts. Specifically the 400 repeats or
800 repeats. I would rather run a marathon than do
these workouts but after I am done and recovered I
know that I had a great workout.
Q: Any thoughts you want to share?
A: T3 coaching has been such a huge part of the success
I had in 2007 that I can't say enough about the value of hiring a coach.
Having a coach that you trust to keep an eye on my training takes a load of
stress off my shoulders. With a wife, 3 kids and all of their activities,
job, etc. it is so much easier to try to plan training around workouts
from T3 than always being stressed about whether or not I got enough hours
of training in for the week or if I spread my hard days out enough so
I don't injure myself (Like 2006).
August 2008: Patrick O’Keeffe
July 2008: Jason Chlopecki
June 2008: Mara Fronhofer
May 2008: Pat Grasso
April 2008: Tami Olheiser
March 2008: Michael Robinson
February 2008: Bob Stocks
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