Photo by Shannon Wilson / Tyler Morning Telegraph Seth Cooke (33), left, and Clay Emge (29) pose for a photo. Mr. Cooke and Mr. Emge will be competing in the Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii on October 12th, 2013.

By TRAVIS YOESTING

tyoesting@tylerpaper.com

 

It starts small — it’s gotta start small. When you go as big as they do, small is the only place to start.

An interest is piqued. An addiction grows. An obsession cultivates.

Then it’s never ending.

“It started small, getting beat by somebody, and saying, ‘Well, I never want that to happen again,'” Seth Cooke said.

What starts as running cross country in high school or a Komen Race for the Cure 5K develops into the reason to wake up each morning. Now it’s 25 hours a week, $2,000 bikes and a new set of friends.

For Tylerites Cooke and Clay Emge, it’s the life on an Ironman.

An Ironman triathlon may be the most demanding competition in the world.

The numbers are staggering, enough to take your breath away.

A 2.4-mile swim, more than 144 laps at the local YMCA.

A 112-mile bike ride, the distance from Tyler to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

And, as if that weren’t enough, a 26.2-mile run — otherwise known as a marathon — you know, the one where legend has it the first runner dropped dead after completing his messenger mission from Marathon to Athens, Greece.

Just completing an Ironman race is a massive accomplishment, earning a bragging rights trump card. For the truly competitive, Kona is the goal.

The Ironman World Championship, held each year in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, is the apex of the sport. Only the select few who qualify will race at the prestigious contest in October.

Two such athletes just happen to be Tyler born and bred.

Emge, 28, finished as the second-fastest amateur at Ironman Texas in The Woodlands on May 18. He was first in his age group and 12th overall, ahead of 10 professionals.

Cooke, 33, had the fastest bike split among amateurs on the way to finishing 26th overall and fifth in his age group.

Both qualified for the world championships, together accomplishing a goal the two set more than a year ago.

“It’s one of the greatest moments I’ve ever experienced,” Emge said.

 

MIND OVER MATTER

Ironman participants are impressive physical specimens. Training each day for long distances, you’d sooner find a penguin on a beach than a shred of fat on Emge or Cooke.

But the story of an Ironman doesn’t begin with athletic talents but with strength of will.

The mostly naturally gifted athlete with the best equipment and the best coaches has no chance to finish an Ironman race without the dedication and mental fortitude to work exorbitant hours.

“Doing all this is so mental; it’s going out there and doing the training,” Cooke said. “You never really know what you can do, how fast you can go, how far you can go, what you can accomplish in life until you do it.”

The work ethic and discipline necessary to complete — not to mention compete — an Ironman race immediately set these athletes apart. Ironmen aren’t the 7-footers destined to play basketball or the 300-pound linemen forced into football; Ironmen are most often forged later in life, based entirely on an individual’s desire to push his or herself further.

Part of the allure of the sport is recognizing this aspect — that everything is earned and nothing given.

“Seeing your hard work pay off with a good time and knowing that it was your hard work that got you there and not your natural ability, it’s a pretty good feeling,” Emge said.

 

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

An Ironman doesn’t do it all alone.

Training 20 to 30 hours a week on top of a full-time job requires patience and understanding from friends and family.

A support group, Emge said, is critical, whether it’s Emge’s parents letting him stop in for water during a run or Cooke’s family tolerating when he’s a little late coming over on Thanksgiving because of a ride.

One of the main priorities for Emge, with buoyant blonde hair that changes shape with each stroke of his hand, and Cooke, always quick with a laugh and a smile, are their girlfriends, both named Kimberly.

Quality time is at a premium for the couples, something they must all work through.

They can’t stay up late for a night out on the town because there’s an early morning workout looming. They can’t have a leisurely breakfast and enjoy a Saturday morning together because Cooke and Emge are getting ready for a 100-mile bike ride.

“You do miss out on that quality time,” Cooke said.

Training instead becomes a primary source for social interaction.

Cooke and Emge often ride with the Tyler Bicycle Club and run with East Texas Striders.

“You’ve got to enjoy it and you’ve got to keep it social,” said Emge, a Grace Community School and Texas A&M graduate.

The power of support from family and friends during a race is undeniable.

Emge’s Kimberly is the ultimate cheerleader, creating banners and posters for races. Cooke’s Kimberly is a photographer who loves to take pictures on race day. Both have become experts at mapping out the best way to maximize cheering for their beaus.

The Tyler duo had about two dozen supporters during their qualifying race in The Woodlands.

“You see a familiar face when you’re suffering. … You can push a little harder because you definitely don’t want to look like you’re dying in front of your friends,” said Cooke, who was home-schooled and went to Tyler Junior College.

Perhaps the most important relationship throughout the training has been with each other.

Brought together by their shared passion for Ironman, the camaraderie of suffering together toward a common goal has built a lasting friendship.

“I doubt either of us would’ve qualified for Kona without having the other,” Emge said.

Added Cooke: “You gotta have somebody to suffer with. Misery loves company.”

 

TRAINING DAY

Training for an Ironman doesn’t begin overnight. It’s something the men worked up to, racing in events of ever-increasing length.

“We put in long miles training in biking and running and Ironman is the best stage to show off the time we put into it,” Emge said. “The Ironman awards the people who work out the hardest and longest.”

That certainly describes Cooke and Emge.

Every weekday morning the two are at the Tyler YMCA swimming laps for nearly an hour before work. After work it’s either a bike ride or a run.

Emge, an engineer at XTO Energy, will squeeze in a workout at lunch when possible. Cooke, a sales consultant at Cobb Cycling, an internationally renowned bicycle seat company, can usually get in a run before his work day starts at 10 a.m., freeing himself up to ride in the evening.

Typically, Emge and Cooke will do at least two workouts a day, sometimes three and rarely one, which would be considered an off day. Emge said he peaks at training 25 hours a week while Cooke said he’ll go as high as 30 hours.

“For me it’s been a matter of just fitting in training whenever I don’t have anything else — prioritizing my relationships and my job, and then filling in the gaps with training,” Emge said.

Running as much as they do requires rotating through multiple pairs of shoes, three at any given time, that have to be replaced about as often as an oil change. Both sport pricey bikes featuring Cobb saddles, seats created by Cobb Cycling founder John Cobb.

Eating clean — avoiding processed and refined foods — is important while training, especially in the lead-up to a race, but that doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy the occasional beer after work. The guys feel it when they eat pizza the day before.

“You can definitely tell when you do a lot of working out, you get what you put in,” Cooke said.

But when you burn as many calories as they do, you can afford a cheat day or two. On long Saturday sessions, Emge and Cooke could eat 10,000 calories and still be at a deficit.

The long workouts aren’t just about improving fitness, but enjoyment of the activity itself and spending time outside.

“To see the sunrise while you’re running or swimming out at the lake, it’s beautiful,” Cooke said. “It’s peaceful.

“I’ve always thought that this is our peak in life and you’re not going to be able to perform at a certain level your whole life, so there will be a time for working out and there will be a time for sitting on the back porch on the swing.”

 

IRONS IN THE FIRE

The start of an Ironman is pure chaos.

Most triathlons start in waves, but for an Ironman everyone starts at the same time.

Once the gun sounds, thousands of swimmers begin jostling for position before settling into a rhythm that will set the tempo for the remainder of the swim.

After about an hour, competitors escape the drudgery of the water to climb onto their bikes, exchanging feet in the face for a welcomed breeze.

While mounted, bikers typically fuel themselves for the rest of the day, taking in as many as 2,000 calories in the form of sports drinks, gels and power bars.

Cooke, the better rider of the pair, shoots for 24 to 25 mph, while Emge targets 23 to 24 mph. Cooke’s time of 4 hours, 32 minutes at Ironman Texas was better than all but five professionals.

“By the time you get off the bike, you’re ready,” Cooke said. “By the time you’re halfway through your run you’re thinking, man, that bike wasn’t so bad after all.”

While you can lose an Ironman in the swim or bike segments, the marathon run is where the contests are won, with racers often saving themselves for the final leg.

Keeping cool is vital, as the paths of Emge and Cooke illustrated. Most marathons in Texas are run in the cooler months and in the morning, but on May 18, shortly following a heat wave, Ironman competitors faced searing heat.

Aches and pains are unavoidable, especially during the run. By the final few miles, every muscle in the body is tight and sore as lactic acid builds up.

“It’s fatigue that’s the painful part,” Emge said.

Emge, a runner before all else, tore through aid stations set up each mile to provide drinks and nutrients.

“I was like a wrecking ball going through those aid stations,” Emge said. “I was grabbing everything and leaving destruction in my wake.”

Cooke, perhaps emboldened by being the first amateur off the bike, took off at his usual marathon pace and a third of the way through realized he was in trouble when he began to get thirsty. His pace slowed, but he battled through to shave two hours off his previous time.

Emge went on to keep his pace and turn in his 12th-place finish while Cooke fell to 26th place and had to sweat it out until the next day to learn whether he qualified for Kona.

“It was a good lesson because Kona’s going to be hot and it’s going to be windy,” Cooke said. “It all worked out because I was still able to qualify.”

 

ALOHA

The day after a race, newly minted Ironmen are easy to spot. They’re burnt to a crisp with unflattering tan lines; they amble around awkwardly, limping like they forgot how to walk.

And yet the day after Ironman Texas, Emge and Cooke were signing up to do it all again. This time, it was for the World Championship, which, like the Boston Marathon, another event they’re scheduled for, only allows qualifiers.

“You’re shuffling to sign up for your next one, but that’s what the goal was,” Cooke said.

For some, just qualifying for Kona would be enough. But it didn’t take long for the duo to decide that they would go all out to improve their times.

Now they’re back in full training, preparing for 140.6 miles of brutal terrain: strong currents in the Kailua Bay, high winds on the Queen Ka’ahumana Highway and runs through dried lava fields.

“It’s going to be inspiring just to be there where all the greats have been and to be on the same course and to suffer like they’ve suffered,” Cooke said.

Both Cooke and Emge are looking forward to the atmosphere that surrounds Hawaii in the week leading up to the Ironman, where the race originated in 1978. While Emge considers making a vacation out of it, Cooke will be there on business with Cobb Cycling.

“It’ll be exciting to be down there but it will not be a vacation,” Cooke said. “You won’t be going to resorts, sitting in the lazy river sipping on a pina colada.”

There may not be time to smell the flowers on their leis in Hawaii, but for these Rose City natives, the small things can wait. It may have started small, but for Cooke and Emge, Kona is as big as it gets.