"Now, this is the life," PowerBar
® Team Elite™ member Ruthy Vesler thought as she manned her lifeguard tower at San Diego's Mission Beach. Just a few days into her new job, she was reflecting on the rigorous selection process she had endured to grab this piece of golden California sand when she was suddenly called into action. It wasn't her first rescue but it almost ended up being her last.
"One of my first days working on the beach, I made the mistake of getting too close to my victim," she recalls. "We were swimming in and all of a sudden my victim became really scared and confused and started to think I was pulling her farther out. What ensued was a full-on physical fight. She climbed all over me and grabbed on to my swimsuit with a death grip and started pulling me under."
Ruthy struggled with the victim beneath the waves. The reality that she could drown just a few dozen feet from shore suddenly washed over her, compelling her to act drastically.
"I'm not going to die with this lady. I ended up taking my swimsuit off and kicking her really hard and then pulling her in. I was totally naked. There were tons of people around and I didn't even care. I saw that this lady was safely ashore and that was the important part."
That kind of composure — and raw, physical strength — was the culmination of a lifetime of athletic pursuits by the Ohio native. Only 33, Ruthy has been an NCAA All-American swimmer, a pro
triathlete, a Masters rower and a pioneer in the movement to make stand-up paddleboard an Olympic sport.
"It's really been an amazing experience to have traveled all over the world to make friends in all kinds of places," she says. "I've really been living in a dream. If you'd asked me even five years ago if I'd be doing this kind of stuff, I'd have said no way."
Here, Ruthy discusses the breadth of her motley mix of sports and how her reliance on performance nutrition has played a critical part along the way.
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>> RECOVER RIGHT, NO MATTER THE SPORT
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RUTHY VESLER
Birthdate: December 16, 1977
Birthplace: Columbus, Ohio
Current Residence: Pacific Beach, Calif.
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 pounds
Occupation: Lifeguard, San Diego Fire-Rescue (Lifeguard Division)
Competition Highlights: 2011: Stand-Up Paddle, Hal Rosoff Classic, 12'6", 3rd; Stand-Up Paddle, Return to the Pier, 12'6", 5th. 2010: Triathlon, Ironman China (30–34), 5th; Swim/Run, Otillo Adventure Race, 2nd; Run, National Lifeguard Championships 2K Beach Run, 1st (30–34).
Website:
www.irondevilgirl.com
How did you end up making a career out of being physically fit? Where did that start?
Ruthy: It's a long story. I started swimming at six and I was on a club team year round at 10. I swam in high school and in college. At Ithaca College, my main stroke was the butterfly, where I was a five-time NCAA All-American. I was also in crew — I picked it up on the side for something to do when I wasn't swimming.
But you didn't pursue swimming after college. You had other ideas.
Ruthy: After college, I continued rowing for about a year. I moved to L.A., retired from swimming and rode crew with UCLA masters. Then I heard about this Los Angeles Triathlon, featured in
Competitor Magazine. I didn't know how to ride a bicycle, I didn't run but I thought I'd check it out so I went to buy a bike the week before the race and of course, I crashed day before. But I was okay and I did well in my age group. It was a neat experience, because I got to see pro triathletes. I didn't even know that this existed. Saw Barb Lindquist going through transitions and thought
I wanna do that. So I quit rowing a week later and started training for this cool sport called triathlon. I joined the L.A. Tri Club which was this great network of folks that taught me everything I needed to know about cycling and running and in 2004 I qualified to become a pro triathlete.
So once you turned pro, what did you think of the competition?
Ruthy: I wanted to do Olympic distance races but I found out I wasn't fast enough for that format. There's a big jump between being a top amateur racer and being successful at the professional level.
But you still decided you wanted to test the Ironman waters?
Ruthy: Yes, in December of 2005, I did the Ironman Western Australia and placed 10th. It wasn't pretty — I had the "Ironman Shuffle" at the end. It was a really good experience but I had tried to make the jump way too quickly. It's a lot on the body.
What made you think you were ready?
Ruthy: You don't know right away how much volume you need and what's going to work for you. I made plenty of mistakes. Everybody has a blog. You read that this person bikes 800 miles a week, this person runs so many miles a week, and figure you need to do all that to be successful. It took me a while to figure it out, the whole intensity versus volume thing.
Once you got it figured out, it would have made sense to take your training up a notch but you did something different.
Ruthy: I thought, triathlon is going well but I'm not making any money so I might as well get a job. So I applied to be a lifeguard. I thought, I'm a pro athlete, how hard can this be? I got destroyed. It's exhausting. It was a huge wake-up call. But I did all right and they offered me the job. I did one more Ironman after that but it's pretty hard to do both, balancing that training with a full time job, so one of 'em had to go.
Are you still planning on competing in triathlons?
Ruthy: I've still been out there racing. I did Ironman China last year racing as an age grouper. But I was losing my passion for the sport a little bit. It was the middle of the race, it was 106 degrees and windy and I decided I just wasn't having fun anymore. Lifeguarding is my passion. I became involved with the San Diego Canoe and Kayak team and they were starting a kids stand-up paddleboarding program. I met all the kids and told them that I hadn't ever done paddleboarding before, so I was going to be learning with them. I started learning it, started racing, and I've been getting better and better. Now, I'm racing professionally at stand-up paddleboarding. It's very cool. We're trying to get it made into an Olympic sport. We had a test event last year on the same course as U.S. National Team canoe and kayakers in the middle of their Olympic trials.
Okay, so... stand-up paddleboard? As a sport?
Ruthy: (Laughs) Yeah, the sport is pretty new. It's kind of like you're on a big, heavy surfboard. Board size determines how fast you're going to go. There are different classes based on board sizes. I compete in stock class — my board is 12'6" long. There are all different distances. Some races in Southern California are 4–6 miles but I'm starting to get into longer distance stuff. I did a 12.5 mile race in North Carolina and I'm currently preparing for a five-day stage race in Holland that's 200K over five days.
That's definitely off the beaten path. You do any other unconventional sports?
Ruthy: I have done an island to island, swim/run adventure race twice. It's a 10K swim and just over 60K of running, swimming between islands, then running over the islands to the next body of water. I've done that the past two years.
There really isn't a well-established set of nutrition guidelines for stand-up paddle. How have you chosen your fuel for this new sport?
Ruthy: It's something that I've just started to experiment with. I feel really privileged to have all this experience in triathlon. Now, I show up to the race and immediately I have the
Ironman PERFORM™ sports drink from PowerBar in my hand. I keep a
PowerBar® Energy Gel in my hand that I'm having 10 minutes before a race. It's fun, but I look around and I'm the only one doing this stuff. I don't think people realize how much nutrition factors into your performance. For my 12.5-mile race in North Carolina, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. But I had a camelback with Ironman PERFORM drink and some Energy Gels in my pocket. You're standing on a board and you're paddling, I figured calorically, I'd be burning somewhere in between what I would when I'm cycling and when I'm swimming. I felt like I could have gone a couple more hours when I crossed the finish line. I feel fortunate that I have a company like PowerBar
® in my corner.
So are there PowerBar products that you prefer for fueling?
Ruthy: I'm really digging the
Ironman PERFORM sports drink. That is like just deliciousness. Sometimes I drink it after being out. My favorite flavors are mixed berry and lemon lime. For the last race, I used the
PowerBar Protein Plus™ protein powder drink mix and I definitely use the
PowerBar Energy Gels. There are a lot of bars to choose from, and I carry some with me everywhere for snacks.
And what are you finding to work for you after a stand-up paddleboard race?
Ruthy: Well, it's similar to triathlon. You wanna replace fluids and electrolytes. For my 12.5-miler in North Carolina, I finished off the race and had the rest of the Ironman PERFORM sports drink in my camelback. I felt like I could have kept going! But then I like to have regular food as soon as I can.
You compete in so many different things and work on the beach for a living. Training-wise, what do you do to keep fit?
Ruthy: What seems to be working for me right now is running. I probably run 50 miles a week. I do easy runs 3–4 days a week and interval runs two days a week. I paddle three days a week, doing two 90-minute sessions where I focus on technique, taking consistent, strong strokes. I maybe do one other paddle that's a bit longer, sometimes easy, sometimes with some interval work. I also do some prone paddleboarding, swimming, and a little bit of gym work. Nothing super structured.
Why do you compete? Can't you just be happy being recreationally active? (loaded question)
Ruthy: I love pushing myself to the max. I don't really believe in limits. I like to see how much farther I can take things. That's what's kind of nice about stand-up paddleboarding. It's a new sport and I like to be able to see how far I can go with it. I don't enjoy recreational stuff. I'm just a competitive person. I just love it.
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