ATHLETE PROFILE:- Leslie Bartoshesky
DOB: May 12, 1957
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 133
Hometown: Salisbury, Maryland
Occupation: Wife, mother of three, Health education teacher, grades 6-8, cross country coach, certified athletic trainer, American Red Cross CPR and First Aid Instructor
Focus for 2008: Eagleman Half-Ironman, Buffalo Springs Half-Ironman, IMLouisville
Athletic Achievements: 4 time qualifier and 3 time participant in the Boston Marathon,
19 marathons, most challenging and inspirational marathon-Pikes Peak, CO., finishing the Chesapeake Bay 4.4 mile swim, and completing my first Ironman-Nov. 2007.
Why I compete in triathlons: Ever since I was young, I had a competitive spirit. I played basketball and ran track, both in high school and college. I always swam, but not competitively (no swim teams). I strove to be better than my brother and sister even though I was the youngest.
Growing up in Massachusetts and a stone's throw from Hopkinton, MA., the start of the Boston Marathon, my goal after college became to gain an entry slot in the qualify only marathon. Twenty years later, the dream became a reality. Many more challenging marathons followed, but then I felt that it was time to move onto another challenge.
I began to compete in triathlons, with success in the sprint distances, but never seriously trained until I decided a coach would help me progress faster and further to my goal to reach Kona. With Troy's guidance, I am hoping that it won't take me 20 years to get there. I don't have a lot of patience and expect results immediately, but with Coach T, he has helped me see that good things happen with time, perseverance and mental focus.
How hard is it to train for a full Ironman event: As a mother and full-time teacher, it definitely takes time management skills and discipline. I utilize whatever free time I have in a day wisely, so as to balance my time in the areas of my life that are most important. I schedule my workouts at times that interfere the least to my family's schedule of events and I get out of bed early. Being a teacher affords me a summer time of total focus training, therefore peak races in the late summer or fall are best for me. Of course, having a coach, like Troy, writing my workouts relieves me of another time consuming task-what should I do for a workout today? Now if I could just have a full time masseuse and chef, life would be golden!
Athletic Goals: The ultimate test, to qualify and participate in the big race in Kona. Along the way to this goal I must: develop and perfect my nutrition strategy and mental focus and increase my "suffering" capacity. A full Ironman takes more mental focus than I ever realized. I learned that the "real" race starts after T2. If I want to get to Kona, it will all have to come together for me. Practice-perseverence-patience-keep an open mind and enjoy what you are doing.
Favorite workouts: Any brick workouts, track workouts and the ultra-conditioning spinerval series
|
About Coach Troy
