MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphian Laura Mathews doesn’t have your typical day job.
“Since I was 6 years old I wanted to be an olympic swimmer. And I wasn’t that good at swimming but found I was much better at triathlons. And I had the opportunity to be a professional and really be one of the top athletes in the world so, I’m just taking advantage of that,” said Laura Mathews.
That’s right, so for 20-25 hours a week, year round Laura trains in order to compete in half iron mans. And for those of you who don’t know what that means, I’ll break it down for you. Half irons consist of running 13.1 miles, swimming for 1.2 miles and biking for another 56 miles.
“There is a lot of mental strength involved because it is 4 and a half hours and you are pretty much hurting the whole time,” said Mathews.
Since November, Laura’s been recovering from a pair of leg injuries and was scheduled to race a few weeks ago in Texas but that event and her next several events have been canceled due to the coronavirus.
“It makes me really nervous because there are a lot of unknowns right now, as to when we can get back to racing, how qualifications for different championship events are going to go. But I’m just focusing on what I can do and maintain normal training as much as I possibly can,” said Mathews.
You heard the woman, virus or no virus, she’s got to keep working no matter what the environment.
“The biggest thing is swimming because all the pools are closed. I am lucky enough that my neighbor and sponsor has a pool in their backyard. And they’ve been letting me do stationary swimming. So I have a tether and swim. It’s almost like a treadmill I guess, for swimming,” said Mathews.
So even with the unpredictable April temps for up to an hour and a half you can find Laura, right here, at the neighbors.
“I do all the strokes too, and kicking and pulling. Pretty much the same thing I would do in a pool. We’re keeping it as close to normal training as possible, just a little different,” said Mathews.
So when races do finally start up again, Laura, oh she’ll be ready.
“I definitely think you can always learn from difficult situations. And just being able to have the flexibility to rearrange things and make the most out of your situation, is something you can always take away from this,” said Mathews.
The heart, the mentality and the creativity. The tri-fecta for any good triathlete.
