Normally a private person, Jeff Bridgeman is more interested in his training than his public relations work. The training was for the World Triathlon event in Edmonton Bridgeman competed in last August.
Bridgeman says he qualified for this event the year prior to the world championship taking place. He actually missed qualifying by just a few seconds, but got into the race through a general registration process. He was able to secure a spot that was turned down by people who had initially qualified, but are unable to attend the world championship race.
He says training for triathlons - which is comprised of swimming, biking and running - never really ends.
"In the winter I concentrate on strength training with a program Keenan Lang made for me," says Bridgeman. "I also do three to four days with cardio to maintain a level of fitness that makes it easy to get back into hard cardio training in the spring. During the racing season I do some form of swim, bike and run training every day."
Bridgeman has now competed at two world championship triathlon races; the first time was in Auckland, New Zealand in 2012.
"Both Bill and I were so excited to go and support Jeff at worlds not once but twice," said Bridgeman's mother, Celeste, of his first race in New Zealand. "It was an unexpected blessing as we didn't think we'd be so lucky and have him race nearby in our own country. It was absolutely awesome to see 4000 athletes from all over the world parade in at the opening ceremonies and there aren't any words to describe how you feel when your son is one of those athletes! Our eyes were leaking with pride. Jeff is so dedicated and determined and in our eyes is a hero for first of all qualifying for World's Triathlon and for having the determination and strength to complete the race."
She added the family combined the race with a family visit to Auckland.
In 2011 and '12, Bridgeman was coached by Carly Preble of Transition Sport and Fitness in Saskatoon. Bridgeman still keeps in touch with her, but not on a full-time basis anymore. He attends a few clinics she puts on throughout the year and he hopes this winter to hopefully do a bit of swim technique with her group.
When asked what would draw an individual to a grueling event like triathlon, Bridgeman answered, "I started competing in triathlons about six years ago. I started swimming a lot while doing physiotherapy on my knee and just decided to get involved with triathlon. "
This recent World Triathlon event held in Edmonton involved around 3,000 athletes representing 73 different countries. Travis Eltom, also from Unity, was competing as well.
"He had a very good time in the standard distance race," says Bridgeman.
The whole event took place downtown at Hawrelak Park in Edmonton. Athletes swam in the man-made lake, cycled on the city streets nearby - mostly in Emily Murphy Park and Groat Road - and ran on the trail system in the park.
Bridgeman finished 71 out of 76 in his age group 35-39 with a time 1:20:25.
"It wasn't my fastest time but it was the best I could do that day," he says.
Bridgeman says he's done with triathlons for the year, but not finished racing.
"I'm going to be running in the Candace Heitt Memorial run and then on Thanksgiving weekend, I'll be in Kelowna running a full marathon."
Bridgeman acknowledges the tremendous support from his family. He had lots of family and friends at the events, including his wife Armina, his parents, Armina's parents, his sister and her whole family.
"It's great to have them all there watching. I could hear them cheering every time I went past them. It gives a real boost and you push a little harder every time you hear them. Without their support it would be very hard to put in the 20-30 hours of training each week, so I need to thank them all for that. Especially Armina who has to put up with my 8:30 p.m. bedtimes and 4 a.m. wake ups in order to do all the training."
Bridgeman says triathlon is a great sport and lifestyle as participants can make it as easy or as hard as they want to be.
"Most people think that the training is all super-fast and difficult but it's not. You have to give your body time to recover so there are plenty of easy workouts mixed in."
He says if anybody is interested in participating in a triathlon, they can call Bridgeman at 306-228-1333 or email me at [email protected] He will get them pointed in the right direction.
