TrainingPeaks member profile: Mark Triebwasser, XTERRA triathlete

Mark Triebwasser rode his bike a lot when he was younger, but then he went to college. "I began mountain biking when I was 13 years old. As time went on I got more into racing and got picked up by a sponsored junior team... When I went to college in 1998, I stopped cycling, partied and never got back on a bike until 2006."

After college, the partying stopped and the riding started again - and the swimming and the running. "I started riding again for fun and everybody kept encouraging me to come back to racing, so I rode more and more and the more I rode the faster I went... Then I started riding with triathletes and they encouraged me to do a tri. So I said ok. In Sept of 2007 I entered my 1^st tri without ever swimming a single yard. The last time I ran was really during track in high school. I ended up getting 3^rd place. So from there I thought hey, if I can just learn to swim and start running more I could do this triathlon thing."

Shortly after racing in his first triathlon, Mark happened to watch the XTERRA USA National Championship. "I didn’t even know what XTERRA was, I just knew it was a triathlon and I got invited by a friend to tag along and watch. Well come to find out it was off-road tri with mountain biking and trail running - that sparked my interested since mountain biking is what I do. So after watching the race I believed I had found my niche and what I wanted to focus on."

Unfortunately, a tragic accident kept Mark from getting started with XTERRA right away. "2 days after I came home and got back to training after watching the XTERAA National Championship in Tahoe I got t-boned by a mini van while on my bike, on the American river bike trail in Sacramento. The least likely place to get hit! I spent 12 days in the hospital and suffered fractured pelvis, sacrum, 8 broken ribs, reconstructive surgery on my elbow, a chunk was missing and still is, and a punctured lung."

Despite the severity of his injuries, Mark refused to stay away from training for long, coming back to race in over 30 events during 2008. "When I was released I was instructed to be in a wheelchair for 8 weeks. 2 weeks after I left the hospital I kicked the chair out from underneath me and did a 5k run a month later before getting cleared of my injuries. 2 days later I got cleared and started training with my goals focused on coming back stronger then before and the main focus, XTERRA. The rest is history really. For the 2008 season I raced over 30 races. All of them were top 10 finishes except for 3. 13 of them were podium finishes and 4 of them were podium wins. And all in my 1^st year racing in the sport of triathlon."

Mark attributes much of his success to a serious training schedule, assisted by his coach and TrainingPeaks. "I normally train alone... I’ve always said you have to be selfish if you want to get done what you need to get done. I started using TrainingPeaks because my coach Jack Powless uses it to send me workouts. Before, I was recording information down on a spreadsheet that I had created."

TrainingPeaks is an important tool for helping Mark to achieve his goals. "One of my outcome goals is to continue racing the XTERRA Cup circuit and turn elite sometime in the 2009 season. Some of my process goals are to increase my speed in swimming biking and running. TrainingPeaks will help me achieve that by being able to record all my data and being able to reflect on that data to make changes in my overall training plan to accomplish my goals. TrainingPeaks is so user-friendly it makes recording all the data easy. And if you need to go back in time to review certain areas in past, that is very easy to do as well. I would recommend TrainingPeaks to everyone! I think almost everyone is already using it. Many people I know use it, and if you're not using it, it's time to jump into today's generation of data entry and maximize all the wonderful benefits that TrainingPeaks offers. There is so much that the site does and can do for your training and racing, its unbelievable. So many options with literally endless possibilities."

Reflecting back on his accident and the changes his life has gone through since then, Mark is happy with his new direction. "When I got in the accident I really had some time to think. I read Lance Armstrong’s book, It's Not About the Bike. And that is what really started making me think. Before the accident I was working on a multi-million dollar expansion plan for my theatrical contractor company and I basically walked away from it to pursue a career in racing XTERRA triathlons. Crazy I know, I think the accident knocked a few screws loose in my head. But I’m happy with my decision and I’m sticken' to it!"

Mark summarizes his philosophy up in one of his favorite quotes: "Its not about how you get hit, its about how much you can keep getting hit and keep picking yourself up after you keep getting hit. That’s how winning is done!" If you would like to follow Mark's progress and reports, visit his blog at www.marktracer.blogspot.com