By Jeremiah Stettler

MENDON -- Who would have thought that basic training would be like this -- especially for a mailman?

Although Mendon resident Chuck Wood may not be evading German shepherds as part of his occupation as a clerk for the U.S. Postal Service, he has kept his passion for personal fitness alive.

And with five Ironman triathlons and 26 marathons under his belt, Wood has redefined the meaning of personal fitness.

With a weekly average of 250 miles on bike, 45 miles on foot and 5 to 6 miles in the water, he explains that becoming an Ironman is more than exercise, it is a lifestyle.

"Ironman is not just a race, it is a way of life," said Wood. "You set goals that are difficult to achieve and find a way to get there. It's not about giving up. There have been times that I've wanted to quit, but I've got my sights set on competing in every Ironman in the world. That is how I like to live my life."

After qualifying for competition in Lake Placid, N.Y., Wood returned to Hawaii on Oct. 23 to compete as one of 1,600 athletes in the Ironman triathlon.

Although endorsement by Ironman would say enough, the prestige associated with Hawaii's competition was noteworthy in itself.

"This is something I've always wanted to do," said Wood. "There are 13 triathlons sanctioned by Ironman right now, but Hawaii is for the best of the best. Basically, you know you are one of the best 1,600 athletes on the planet."

To be sanctioned by Ironman, triathlons must consist of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile marathon. Only six sanctioned triathlons existed in 1989 with sites in New Zealand, Hawaii, Canada, Germany, the Canary Islands and Japan, but competition has spread across the globe to Switzerland, Austria and other locations.

Wood's debut on the Hawaiian scene arrived in 1994 after qualifying for competition with a time of 11:02 in Canada.

In contrast to recent qualification, however, only 4,000 athletes were vying for one of 1,500 slots.

In 1999, Wood was forced to battle against 62,000 athletes for qualification as one of 1,600 contestants to compete in Hawaii. The course was challenging, said Wood, but terrain wasn't the concern: it was the environment.

"Terrain-wise, it is simple," said Wood. "But the environment is so treacherous. I would say that most people go over a month early to train. When it's 95 degrees in town and you're riding on black asphalt with 65 miles of lava rock around you, the weather can be a little extreme. But then you've got to consider the headwind. A lot of times it is 40 mph, with gusts up to 60. Just to give you an idea of the difficulty, I usually average 19-21 mph on bike, but there were times that I dropped to 9 mph."

But biking and running were child's play in comparison to the swim.

"The swim was the tough part," said Wood. "Until last week I enjoyed swimming in sea water because of the additional buoyancy. That can really help when you are trying not to kick a lot so you can save your legs for the bikes. But in Hawaii, the waves were coming over my head. I ended up swallowing a lot of sea water and was sick for the rest of the race."

Unfortunately, bad turned to worse for Wood as excessive headwind and intense heat slowed his progress, but Wood managed to finish the race.

And the key: good, old-fashioned wheelpower and the desire to complete the race for his training partner Todd Miller, who had been injured in an automobile accident and remained in a coma at the time of the race.

"It was a death-only situation," said Wood. "I wasn't about to quit."

Although Hawaii was a nightmare time-wise, Wood hopes to turn the tides as push comes to shove in Panama City, Fla., during November 2000.

Wood plans to continue his Ironman tour in Swtzerland in 2001, then in the Canary Islands in 2002.

NW
MS

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