In October, after 14 hours, 49 minutes and 49 seconds, Julie ‘JP’ Palmer-Schuyler crossed the finish line of her 17th Ironman, the GoPro World Championship in Hawaii.
Completing even one Ironman Triathlon, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim in open water, a 112-mile bicycle ride and a 26.2-mile run (a marathon), is a feat to be proud of. Palmer-Schuyler’s first competition was in Canada in 2000, and remains to this day one of her most memorable races. “It was such an unknown; I didn’t know what to expect,” she says. “I had never done that distance, I had never been on my feet for 13 hours before.”
The Ironman World Championship in Hawaii was another memorable race, the associate professor of management at Webster University says. “Anyone can sign up for an ordinary Ironman,” she says. “For the World Championship, you have to qualify or be selected as one of 100 in a lottery; that’s how I got in.” To be eligible for the lottery, athletes have to compete in 12 Ironman competitions.
Palmer-Schuyler first became interested in triathlons after watching her brother compete in one. Her love affair with racing has always extended beyond the physical challenge. “I like the camaraderie,” she says. “Because triathlons require so many disciplines, everyone is usually bad at one of them, so everyone has one thing they’re not good at.”
Of the three disciplines, swimming is Palmer-Schuyler’s weakest. “When I started training in 1996, I couldn’t even swim from one end of the pool to the other,” she says.
Passion is a necessary ingredient in Ironman athletes, and something Palmer-Schuyler has in spades. “I’m so passionate about it because I have lived in multiple cities and have been involved with triathlons the whole time,” she says. “Many of my friends do the sport. Some people go out to the bars or go to games for fun. I like to travel and do these races.”
For those interested in getting involved in triathlons, Palmer-Schuyler suggests checking out the St. Louis Triathlon Club. “I serve on the board and it’s a great organization,” she says. “It’s a resource for people in the community who want to get started in the sport or who want to learn how to swim or do the group workouts.”
[the routine]
warm-up and cooldown
I do a lot of stretching, plyometrics, CrossFit and yoga.
routine
It varies depending on where I am in my training, but an average week is about three hours of swimming, eight to 12 hours of biking, and six to eight hours of running. Sometimes I’ll do a three-hour run on the weekend and run twice a day during the week, with a 45-minute run in the morning and at night. I also run intervals and hills. Usually, I take one day off.
Photo by Charles Barnes
Pictured: Julie ‘JP’ Palmer-Schuyler
