Chalking Up The IronDebs in 2017

The #IronDeb 50/50 Proposition

The story behind Deborah Battaglia’s quest to perform 50 full distance triathlons during the year she turns 50.

Endurance Matter
Aug 28, 2017 · 7 min read

Deborah Battaglia turns 50 in October of 2017. To put it bluntly, the approaching five-zero number has been hard to process. In part, it’s a bit of a reality check to just acknowledge.

“I’ve been alive for 50 years! What? I wasn’t comfortable turning 30, then 40, and now here I am: 50! It’s a number that doesn’t correlate to who I am. What have I done? What have I achieved? I don’t know how to deal with this. You only live once. I’ve got to push life to the extreme, to the max. I’ve got to do something … crazy!”

Oh. You mean, like decide to run FIFTY FULL DISTANCE TRIATHLONS IN ONE YEAR!? Okay. That’s only one per week. To just about every other person on the planet, one triathlon counts as the “max.” To Deborah Battalgia, age 50, who wakes up every morning ready to run a full triathlon, one tri a week seems completely reasonable, attainable, doable.

Deb ran her first triathlon 20 years ago, at age 30. She’s run dozens and dozens since and finished first in multiple events over those years. In fact, Deb finished first in the Michigan Titanium event just days ago, on August 19, 2017. It was her 33rd full distance triathlon of the year. She has 17 to go, to make her goal. She’s nearly 100% confident that she’ll achieve her 50/50 objective. As long as she stays healthy. There is no question Deb is mentally poised to deliver. Let there be no question on this point either: Deb is competitive. Her primary competition: herself. Could she be a Jedi Tri Master?

There is no try. There is only Tri.

Deciding to tackle 50 full distance triathlons in a year required a big commitment, to say the least. But for Deb, the obstacle isn’t commitment. It’s logistics. That’s essentially one per week. Few, if any of us, could afford to participate in formal events, even if there were one per week somewhere. So Deb puts together her own events.

Mentally, she could do a tri almost any day. But she looks at each week, reviews her schedule, selects a day (often done spontaneously), sometimes invites a running or biking or swimming companion, tracks her distances and times and makes certain she completes the three legs within 17 hours (never an issue). Swimming in a pool? 4221 yards. Bike? Odometer. Running? GPS. One. Two. Three. Done. Chalk up another one.

5 x 10 in 5 x 10. Deb donned a t-shirt from one of her fave events for #IronDeb #10 of her #50.

In The Beginning

To what can we attribute the daring to tackle the IronDeb 50/50? Consider how Deb sees her mother: “She never looks at life as a glass that is anything but completely full.” Deb explains that her mother was a huge influence on her. Sports and activity were part of the daily routine in her household. Deb grew up on a farm and her mother would run 6 miles before the kids got up. An example set.

While Deb is pursuing her 50/50, her mom’s goal is swimming 80 laps a week. And her husband Chuck has elevated his swimming and biking regimen. There is solidarity here. While Deb considers herself something of a loner, she’s got a team supporting her. Which is motivating on the very rare day a moment of doubt surfaces.

Calling Dr. Battalgia. Calling Dr. Battalgia.

In case you were wondering what she does when she isn’t TRIing … Deb’s an ER Doctor. Yeah. Emergency Room Doctor. She’s seen it all. She’s seen a lot of “50s” rolled into the ER, which contributed in no small way to her freak out when she hit the 50 year mark.

She concentrates all her ER shifts in a 10 day window each month, which frees up 20 other days to devote to her goal. She has done one triathlon in one of her ten-day ER windows. To make up for the time crunch, she once did three IronDebs with only four days between each. That was a test. Which she passed, of course.

Stay young forever. Fit forever.

Deb has witnessed first-hand what people let happen to their bodies. What time does to bodies. What the unpredictable, irresistible forces around us do to our bodies. There was no way she was going to succumb to the vagaries of aging. So she fights it, not just every time she runs a triathlon, but every hour surrounding those intense, purposeful, body-pushing, mind-focusing triathlon hours.

Deb has always believed that you can do anything you set your mind to. As she watched that daunting 50 year mark approach, she resisted its truth. But then she wrapped her head around what it means to get older. Her truth: You recognize your body is changing, but you don’t have to let age be a limitation. You can do anything you want. Age isn’t a barrier. The only barriers are distance and time. And all it takes to overcome those hurdles are effort and will.

Mental-Hurdles. Close Encounters Every Time Out.

Deb is in shape. She’s constantly alert to her body, to the physical side of this challenge. After growing up as a gymnast and then dabbling in softball and basketball, sports in which she describes herself as a “benchwarmer,” Deb discovered that endurance was her forté. She accepts that some athletes just have the right genetics, which gives one a leg up. But finally, it just comes down to “being willing to push yourself pretty hard.”

“Pain is temporary. Elation. Well, that’s temporary, too. But having achieved your goal? That lasts longer. That lasts forever.”

She doesn’t have a strict training schedule or regimen. But when you “live the triathlon,” you live to be in condition. Few people can say, “I can wing a full distance triathlon. I can. It’s part of being physically fit, part of who I am.”

While she takes the physical in stride, Deb does have to own up to the mental stresses. “Mentally, you have to keep going when all you want to do is stop. When you want to sit down, you keep going. When your shoulder aches, you push through. When your legs ache at the 7 mile mark, with 42 to go, you go. You don’t let those physical hurdles become mental blocks.”

While Deb is always competing against her self, she is quick to respond when someone challenges her or passes her on the course. She takes it up a notch. But she also says emphatically, “I am competitive even when I’m on my own.” She watches her watch. She registers the laps. She counts the miles. If she’s getting close to five hours, she steps it up. She pushes to beat her self-defined limits. And when the mental stresses mount, it’s her body that responds.

Deb doesn’t consider herself to be a “spiritual” person. She’s more of a “realist.” For her, completing the triathlon takes her to a place that supersedes the mental and physical fatigue she’s battled all day.

“It’s like internal knowledge that you know you’re going to do it. All of a sudden, the heaviness in your legs, the mental fatigue, the stomach upset … it all disappears and you feel like you’re running a 6 minute mile and you know you’re going to be done in 10 minutes and you run as fast as you can and feel absolutely fantastic. I DID this! I achieved my goal.”

Training For Life.

She’s intent on living in the moment, living to the fullest, maximizing her potential. For her, it’s about being free. Free to be herself, to fulfill herself. For her, the triathlon is a lifestyle. A lifestyle that is always in training.

“I am training not just for the triathlon, but for life. This is my life. It’s part of my life everyday to go do some kind of physical activity. And whenever I can, that activity is the triathlon.”

Deb’s Faves.

Deb will post another triathlon this week. And the next. And the next, leading up to the Redman Full Distance Triathlon in Oklahoma City, which she has won three times. Even as triathlon events have multiplied across the country, and the number of participants has sky-rocketed, Deb still favors the smaller, more personal races. She values the camaraderie, the family feeling, the community presence and a true passion for achievement that matches her own.

Come watch her September 16, 2017. Or run along side her. Or chase her. And congratulate her as she chalks up another full distance triathlon in her quest for 50 at age 50.

#IronDeb. Swim. Ride. Run. She’s going all out to complete her mission: The 50/50 Proposition. You know she’ll finish.

NOTE: And finish she did! FIRST PLACE overall female winner in the 2017 Redman Full Distance Triathlon! Congrats are in order. Deb’s achievement on Saturday, 09/16/17, marked number 36 in her quest to do 50 triathlons in the year she turns 50! #redmantri

)

Endurance Matter

Written by

Fuel The Mind To Fuel The Body To Fuel The Spirit.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade