Randy Stueve of Durango, known for his day job as the pharmacy operations manager at Mercy Regional Medical Center, is the local triathlon “iron man.”
A dazzling performance two weeks ago at the Arizona Triathlon earned Stueve a coveted qualifying mark to compete in the fabled Hawaii Ironman, the ultimate triathlon test, next fall.
p>Stueve transformed from his mild-mannered manager’s mission at Mercy to triathlon super hero when he smashed the Hawaii qualifying barrier and achieved a longtime goal.
“This was a goal my coach and I set in January of ’06 a five-year goal,” Stueve said in an interview with The Herald.
Stueve credited his performance improvement with the guidance he received from OnForLife.
May 6, 2008
By Dale Strode | Herald Sports Editor
This man is no Tony Stark.
YODIT GIDEY/Herald
Triathlete Randy Stueve of Durango gets in a running workout in downtown Durango recently. Stueve qualified for the prestigious Hawaii Ironman with his recent performance at the Arizona Triathlon in Tempe.
Stueve blasts along during the bike section of the Arizona Triathlon in Tempe two weeks ago.
And he’s certainly no Robert Downey Jr.
But he is an iron man.
And Durango’s newest iron man is headed to Hawaii for the ultimate iron man competition – something Tony Stark and Robert Downey Jr. have yet to reach.
Randy Stueve of Durango, known for his day job as the pharmacy operations manager at Mercy Regional Medical Center, is the local triathlon “iron man.”
A dazzling performance two weeks ago at the Arizona Triathlon earned Stueve a coveted qualifying mark to compete in the fabled Hawaii Ironman, the ultimate triathlon test, next fall.
Stueve transformed from his mild-mannered manager’s mission at Mercy to triathlon super hero when he smashed the Hawaii qualifying barrier and achieved a longtime goal.
“This was a goal my coach and I set in January of ’06 a five-year goal,” Stueve said in an interview with The Herald.
After doing competitive triathlons for several years, Stueve started working with a coach back in 2006. They set up one-year, three-year and five-year benchmarks.
The trip to Hawaii was targeted for Year 5 – iron man Stueve is well ahead of schedule. He’ll race in Hawaii in October of 2008.
It’s all possible, Stueve said, because of his training schedule, his training opportunities in Durango and the professional guidance of his coach and a sportsnutritionist.
“This year, I signed with a sports nutritionist,” Stueve said, adding that he followed a 12-week nutrition plan for the three months leading up to the triathlon in Arizona.
Ilana Katzof of Atlanta, widely known for her sports nutrition work, developed the program for him. And Stueve endorsed it fully.
“Keeping track of everything I ate refocused my training,” said the 36-year-old Stueve. Able to train harder and longer, his work with coach Mike Urquhart of Tucson and his nutritionist paid off in time and distance in Tempe, Ariz.
Stueve completed the iron-man distance triathlon in 9 hours, 33 minutes, more than 45 minutes faster than his previous best.
He finished second in his age group of 350 triathletes. And he was 25th overall out of 2,000 participants in Arizona, earning a bid to Hawaii.
“Apparently my training was better than I thought and nothing went wrong. No flats,” Stueve said, adding that his transitions also went smoothly in Arizona.
And after his rapid ride on the bike, Stueve said he was able to make great time on the run.
“I was able to run uncomfortably fast,” said the triathlete, who is sponsored by trisports.com, a Tucson-based triathlon support organization.
Now he’ll continue training for Hawaii and it’s 2-plus mile rough water ocean swim, followed by a 112-mile bike ride around Oahu and the 26.2-mile Honolulu Marathon.
“I felt so much better with the diet before, during and after the (Tempe) triathlon,” Stueve said. “My recovery was much faster.”
Stueve’s quest to reach Hawaii actually started back in his native Midwest.
He discovered the triathlon on television, he said, watching an exhausted competitor crawl across the finish line in Hawaii.
Stueve, who came from a traditional football-basketball Midwestern home, was intrigued by the triathletes.
Soon after, a group of nurses where he worked in Michigan opted to enter a local short-course triathlon.
“So I said I’ll do it too,” Stueve said, chuckling as he looked back on his inauspicious beginning as a triathlete.
“I finished it, but it was a disaster,” he said, adding that he had a flat tire on the bike ride and he had never changed a bike tire before.
He finished the race, riding on a rim.
“I immediately wanted to do another one and do it right,” Stueve said.
First things first, he tackled the pool.
“I learned to swim,” he said.
And he fell in love with triathlons and training for triathlons.
From his home in Michigan, he journeyed west to Tucson and a triathlon camp.
“It was great; everyone I met was just like me,” he said, knowing immediately that he needed to relocate in the West where triathlon training opportunities proliferated.
His online search led to a job and three months later, Randy Stueve moved to Durango.
“I was lucky. It’s an active, healthy community. The support here is amazing. The cycling here is phenomenal plus there’s the altitude,” Stueve said.
His training here helped prepare him to meet his goal of qualifying for Hawaii, Stueve said.
And that wouldn’t be possible without his cooperative staff at Mercy Regional Medical Center.
“My staff here has been great. They are very understanding of my (training and competition) needs,” Stueve said.
“And they tolerate my diet.”
The Hawaii Ironman 2008 is scheduled for Oct. 11.
