Call him the accidental Ironman.<\/p>\n
Eight years ago Aaron Springhetti \u201908 was in dental school when some friends\u2014 runners looking for a new challenge\u2014suggested a triathlon. He tagged along largely unaware of the challenge he was getting into.<\/p>\n
He finished second in his age group at that first triathlon in Lexington, KY\u2014the sprint-variety 400-yard swim, 12.6-mile bike ride, and 3-mile run. He\u2019s been hooked ever since.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really didn\u2019t know what a triathlon was,\u201d Aaron says. \u201cI just kind of fell in love with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Today the dentist is among the best triathletes in the world and will compete in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, HI, in October. Aaron faces a 2.4- mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a 26.2-mile run. He\u2019d better love it.<\/p>\n
Even as his competitiveness took him from those sprint distances to full Ironman, he was unaware of what the race in Kona was, or what it meant. Kona invites the best of the best. Competitors qualify for that event at other triathlons around the world.<\/p>\n
In his first attempt at the Ironman distance, he finished fourth in his age group, missing a qualifying spot by two places. Five attempts later, he earned his spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cKona became another challenge within the challenge of Ironman for me to pursue,\u201d he says. \u201cNot until I really started to pursue Kona did I begin structuring my life around my training plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron puts 16 hours per week into his training and ups that to 20 in the two to three months leading up to a race. Nearly every day is a two-a-day, meaning he\u2019ll train in two of the three disciplines. Weekdays usually find him swimming around 3,500 to 4,000 yards, biking 20 to 25 miles, and running four to eight miles. On the weekends, those workouts expand to 6,000 yards in the pool, 130 miles on the bike, and 20 miles on foot.<\/p>\n
The hard part, he says, is finding the balance in life: \u201cI\u2019m always on the go. I never sit down, I rarely watch TV, and when I do, it\u2019s when I\u2019m eating a meal.\u201d<\/p>\n
With more than 2,000 athletes set to start the Ironman World Championships, Aaron will be in motion for a good long while. He\u2019s set a goal of being the top-finishing amateur, which could place him in the top-30 finishers worldwide.<\/p>\n
Aaron has a secret to get him through the monotony of training, to push through at mile 20 on race day, to reach down deep and run a little faster in those last few miles before he breaks the tape along the legendary Ali\u2019i Drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Kona, I have about 30 family and friends going,\u201d he says, \u201cso every time I\u2019m out on a long run or ride, especially when things are getting harder, I envision them lining Ali\u2019i Drive and see them cheering.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014Richard Paige<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Call him the accidental Ironman. Eight years ago Aaron Springhetti \u201908 was in dental school when some friends\u2014 runners looking for a new challenge\u2014suggested a triathlon. He tagged along largely unaware of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":4048,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-videos"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2018\/05\/20180305_aaronspringhetti_0243-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4080"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4082,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4080\/revisions\/4082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}