Former vaulter now successful triathlete

[rainbowgirl28]

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story. ... 10/13/2005

Triathlete savors the effort
Ex-Averill Park runner thrives on challenges

By PETE IORIZZO, Staff writer
First published: Thursday, October 13, 2005
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- This is what Suzie Snyder does: She swims half a mile, then runs up to 400 yards along a beach, then swims another half mile. Barely breaking stride, she sheds her wet suit and goggles, climbs on her mountain bike and rides 22 miles. She dismounts, changes shoes and runs the remainder of the trail, up to 6 miles.
Advertisement

This is why she does it: "Because," she says, "it's fun ... I think ... in a way."

Snyder runs Xterra triathlons, which are similar to standard triathlons, except she mountain bikes instead of road bikes and runs through wooded trails instead of paved highways. For this she trains six days a week between graduate school classes at Springfield (Mass.) College, where she also serves as an assistant track coach.

In the two years since Snyder began competing in triathlons, the former Averill Park High track star has become one of the top amateur athletes in the 20-24 age bracket. She hopes to someday become a professional triathlete, maybe even try longer events.

Why? She loves the rush of emotion that accompanies finishing a race and reflecting on the three-plus hours of swimming, biking and running. She thinks about how much fun it was ... sort of ... maybe ... a little.

"It's fun in the sense that when it's over, you think you really did have some fun doing it," the 23-year-old Snyder says. "When you finish a race, you say, 'Wow, I just spent that much time running and swimming and biking? That was a lot of work."'

Since childhood, Snyder never shied from physical exertion. At age 4, she started running half a mile with her mother; at the end, she always wanted to keep going. She water skied on Crooked Lake. She joined a swim team. She learned gymnastics on a jungle gym her father built on the family's front lawn.

On the Averill Park track team, she competed in as many as six events, everything from hurdles to shot put. When Snyder was approached about pole vaulting, Averill Park coach Dick Abbatiello says, "She took to it like she'd been doing it her whole life." Snyder won a Section II championship in pole vault and competed in five indoor and outdoor state meets.

So why not triathlon?

Snyder was working as a lifeguard at Grafton Lakes State Park in the summer of 2003 when the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon came to town. Race director John Slyer watched Snyder jog the course and encouraged her to sign up. Slyer loaned Snyder his wife's mountain bike so she could practice.

"By the end of the second week with the bike, she was out there for an hour and a half every day," Slyer says. "Her dad worried she was going to wear it out."

Snyder not only finished the triathlon, she placed second. She went on to try several more the following year and qualified for nationals, though she didn't attend because of a prior commitment. She already boasts a handful of wins and routinely finishes toward the top of her age class. At the 2004 USA Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nev., she won her age group, a feat that sent her to the Xterra World Championships, where she finished 30th out of 107 women, including pros and amateurs.

Snyder competed in six triathlons this year and defended her age-group title at nationals. She plans to attend the world championships in Maui, Hawaii, on Oct. 23.

"I'm not at all surprised she wants to do this," says her mother, Cindy Hildenbrand. "Whatever she sets her mind to, she does."
That includes following a rigorous training regimen. Three days a week, she bikes as many as 40 or 50 miles and swims. Three other days, she runs up to 10 miles and lifts weights.

Off-road triathlon tests both conditioning and toughness. In the swimming segment, she sometimes contends with bitter cold and swallowing water. In biking, she says she usually falls at least once and worries about bent frames, flat tires and broken chains. By the running portion, she says, "You're just trying to pull yourself through."

But afterward Snyder returns to her training determined as ever. She hopes to turn professional. She wants to try longer-distance triathlons, including an Iron Man, an event that involves more than 2 miles of swimming, 100 miles of biking and a marathon -- all in the same day.

That could be fun, she thinks ... maybe ... kind of ... in a way.

"It is crazy," she says. "But ..."