The Early Bird

Triathlete Jarrod Shoemaker 04 hoped to make the U.S. Olympic triathlon team by 2,012, but there's already a spot waiting for him in Beijing.

IF GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO WAIT, JARROD SHOEMAKER could make the argument that better things come to those who don't. After he won the 2005 Under-23 World Triathlon Championships Shoemaker became a likely candidate for a U.S. Olympic team. He had taken up the sport of triathlon full time in 2004, so conventional wisdom said he would need time to develop at the professional level. Most likely 2012, or maybe 2016, would be his best chance at going for the gold.

Shoemaker, however, eclipsed all expectations by being the first U.S. finisher at the 2007 Beijing BG Triathlon World Cup race, which earned him the first spot on the 2008 U.S. Olympic triathlon team. Along the way he beat two former U.S. Olympians and finished an impressive 11th overall against a deep international field.

It's been more than six months since Shoemaker made the Olympic team, and he's still letting it all sink in. "I still kind of can't believe it," he says. "We were running yesterday and I was talking to some of my training partners and I was like, 'Man, I can't believe that I'm going to the Olympics.' "

At Dartmouth Shoemaker was a standout runner. As a junior he won the Hep- tagonal Cross Country Championships. As a senior he finished 12th in the 5,000-meter at the NCAA Track and Field Championships. "I learned a ton," he says. "I had some bad injuries, so I learned the limits I could push myself to. But I also learned how to take care of myself. I now know exactly what my body feels like when its ready to go over the edge so I can pull back."

Shoemaker entered his first triathlon during the summer before his senior year to test his fitness for the upcoming cross-country season. He had the fastest swim and run splits of the day. He realized that while his running talent was not the stuff Olympic dreams are made of, in triathlon he could compete at a world-class level.

Shoemaker races according to International Triathlon Union Olympic distance standards: a 1,500-meter swim, 40-kilometer bike ride and 10-kilometer run. Despite the fact Shoemaker finishes races in around an hour and 50 minutes the term "endurance event" is somewhat of a misnomer. Races are filled with attacks and surges. Average bike speeds exceed 25 miles per hour (drafting is legal) and Shoemaker runs most of the 6.2-mile run in under five minutes per mile.

Physically, Shoemaker defies the wiry-thin, endurance-athlete stereotype. At 5-feet-io-inches and 148 pounds, he's never confused with an NFL linebacker, but he is unmistakably powerful. U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion Ryan Hall stands the same height but weighs some 18 pounds less. Shoemakers coach Tim Crowley calls Shoemaker s strength one of his biggest assets/allowing him to ride with the leaders on a hilly course in Beijing and still have the energy to run hard. "We like the fact the Olympics are in August because his getting stronger and being strong throughout the year has really helped him race well later in the season," says Crowley.

Shoemaker's other assets include his humility and professionalism when interacting with sponsors and the media. "They're both very humble," Crowley says of Shoemaker and his wife, Alicia, who is also a professional triathlete. "They workout at the club where I work and other members say, 'Oh, who's that?' When I tell them he's going to the Olympics, they're like, 'Really? He's just like a normal guy.'"

Shoemaker, who lives in Maynard, Massachusetts, also coaches swimming at his nearby alma mater, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, and this summer he's helping facilitate three youth triathlons in the Midwest.

He isn't putting any limits on what he can achieve at the Olympics. "It's all about putting yourself in a position to win," he says. "It's not like it's going to be an easy field. But I think that if things go well for me I definitely can be up there." Shoemaker moves swiftly and easily from thought to thought, as though they are events in a triathlon. "I mean you don't want to go into a race and say, 'Oh yeah, well, I'm hoping for sixth place.' You're expecting and hoping to win every time you race." While the Olyrtipics will serve up an atmosphere Shoemaker admits comes nothing close to what he's seen before, it's still all about the competition. "Once you get out there and start racing, it's still a race."

Hot Wheels Shoemaker'sstrength going uphills will be an advantage in Beijing,says his coach.

STEPHEN KOSNAR is a freelance writer. He lives in Billings, Montana.

Given the demands of Olympic-distance triathlon racing, Shoemaker trains for speed. Rather than logging a lot of high mileage his workouts are characterized by intensity and broken down into short intervals performed at race pace or faster. While he is not a strict calorie counter, Shoemaker figures he burns in the neighborhood of 3,500 to 4,000 calories per day. He makes sure to drink an energy drink, which contains carbohydrates and protein, within 30 minutes of finishing a workout. His favorite food after a long day of swimming, biking and running: a good burger. Here's a look at two days in the training life of the Olympic triathlete, along with a typical week's totals. Run: Four individual miles hard, with rest intervals after each Swim: 4,000-meter pool workout Bike: I hour, 10 minutes total (includes five three-minute sets hard) Run: 10 miles Bike: 2 hours steady pace (approximately 35 miles) Strength training: 30 minutes Swim: 20,000 meters Bike: 10-11 hours Run: 50-60 miles Strength training: two to three days