Wednesday, February 28, 2001
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Wednesday, February 28, 2001 |
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Whitewater ironman prepares to compete Teacher by day, racer by night, Ken Thorsen of Whitewater Middle School is working hard to prepare for the sporting event of a lifetime. All of his life he has dreamed of competing in the Ironman California triathlon, and his dream is about to come true this spring. After many long hours of training and preparation, Thorsen says he is ready for the grueling competition. "I used to dream about doing the Ironman as a little kid. It's something I have been thinking about doing for awhile now, so this year I decided to go for it because there will never be a perfect time," Thorsen comments. In order to make it to the finish line, Thorsen will have to complete a 2.4-mile swim in the Pacific Ocean, a 112-mile bike race, and a marathon run. In all, the race will take about nine hours to finish. Thorsen became interested in running track while in high school. He joined the cross-country team and won almost every award he went after. While attending college at Auburn University, he continued to wow his coaches with is running ability. Thorsen was headed for a professional career in track and field when a motorcycle accident his junior year at Auburn suddenly ended it all. After the accident, Thorsen concentrated on graduating from college and starting a career. After graduation, he began working with people who suffered from alcohol and substance abuse. He also got married and started a family. After some time away from racing, Thorsen caught the competitive bug again and started training for competition in 1999. He says he competed in 17 races in 2000, reaching the top 10 in 14 of them. His success landed him on the cover of the February issue of Atlanta Sports and Fitness magazine as one of the publication's athletes of the year. "I am very pleased with my comeback performance. I feel I have been very successful my first year back," Thorsen says. Thorsen, who acts as his own trainer, manages to get in about 30-40 hours of training per week. He stretches, lifts weights, rides a bike and swims to prepare for his competitions. While Thorsen is a serious competitor, it is important for him to have a healthy balance between work, family and training. He says he gets a tremendous amount of support from his wife and children, which enables him to put the time he needs into his training. "I get as many hours on the road on my bike as I can," Thorsen says. "Often my 6-year-old son rides with me. This is something he wants to do, so I let him and this gives us time together." Thorsen, who is in his first year of teaching at Whitewater, says training for the Ironman is helping him to become a better teacher. "To do this type of training, you have to be very disciplined. I have learned a lot about discipline in the past couple of years and that knowledge is helping me with my job," he says. Thorsen also talks to his sixth, seventh and eighth graders about the Ironman competition and finds ways to work it into their daily lessons. If Thorsen does well in the Ironman competition in May, he will have a shot at earning a spot in the World Championship Ironman in Kona, Hawaii in November. "My goal is to finish the Ironman competition in California," he says. "If I perform well enough for the world championship that will be great, but if I don't it will still be a dream come true."
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