TJ Fry is heavily involved in the swim and triathlon community in Texas, and we had a chat with this former pro triathlete about racing, swimming, traveling and more. At the Gamagori, Japan World Cup in 1997 he crushed the field in the opening swim wearing a one-piece race suit, something that is now a common practice, and a clip from that swim can be found on YouTube.
Slowtwitch: Thanks for your time TJ.
TJ Fry: Anytime. I enjoy ST, so happy to contribute.
ST: You are a triathlete, but your background is swimming. Was that something your parents were passionate about?
TJ: They didn't grow up swimming, but became passionate about swimming as us kids got more involved. My parents grew up in rural Ohio, so team sports were more the norm. Swimming ended up just being a good fit at the time, but grew to more as we got older.
ST: Do you recall when you started and how often you went to the pool during a given week?
TJ: I started swimming at a young age as a matter of convenience. My sister was swimming and my mom was working at the local YMCA at the time, so it just made sense for me to swim, too. I spent endless days at the Y in the summer while my mom worked, so I was always in the pool. I started with the team there and they stuck me in the first lane and just told me to keep trying to swim across without stopping. Took a while but I finally swam a length and then learned the other strokes. My first swim meet was at age 6.
ST: You swam competitively both in high school and later in college at Clemson. Was that considered a good thing for the other students or were they all about football, baseball, and basketball where you grew up?
TJ: In junior high and high school I did both swim and triathlon. On countless occasions I was made fun of for having shaved legs and body, and of course because of the Lycra and Speedos, but it didn't bother me, and for most part it was lighthearted anyway. I grew up in The Woodlands, TX and that region is one of the most concentrated areas in the country for swimming, so the sport was well received. College was different as I was a scholarship athlete. Football was definitely king there, but swimmers were treated very, very well at Clemson. If we were treated any better it would have been a NCAA violation.
ST: Why triathlon?
TJ: When I was 12 a swim friend invited me to do a local kids' race with him. I've always dabbled in running, so it seemed like a fit. I borrowed my mom's 10-speed and got 2nd. A couple months later I saw Ironman and Nice on TV. The challenge of it all really intrigued me and I got hooked. Mowed enough lawns to buy the Dave Scott Centurion bike and started racing as often as I could.
ST: Do you still have that Centurion in a corner of your garage?
TJ: I had it for many years, but had to let it go a few years back. I was forced to reduce it down to 6 bikes in the garage.
ST: Would you mind naming those 6 bikes?
TJ: Specialized Shiv Tri, Specialized Festina road, Quintana Roo Lucero, Aegis handmade carbon, Gary Fisher mountain bike, and a Trek OCLV road.
ST: How long did you compete professionally?
TJ: Not very long - only 4 seasons. I got an exemption from USA Triathlon that waived my qualifying criteria because of my past performances and I got my pro card a couple weeks after college graduation.
ST: When compared to now, how different was it then?
TJ: Most everyone raced all the distances. You had a small group that did exclusively ITU because they were trying to get to the Olympics, but there was just a lot more variety of races with money. So I would bounce around from a draft legal, to a half, to an Olympic non-draft, and back to a half or a full. Conversely, it's so much easier to make a name and make money now. Coaching was non-existent and the internet was in its infancy, so creating job related work such as triathlon coaching and clinics, etc. didn't exist. So we would get off-season jobs anywhere we could. I worked as a courier at a law firm one winter, and a laboratory technician another.
ST: Did these side jobs also help you decide what you wanted to do later?
TJ: In some ways. My degree is in Biology and I ruled out med school early on, and the lab work was boring as hell. But the analytical side of me landed me in banking. I was a commercial lender before I bought a business.
ST: The Gamagori 1997 WC really put you in the limelight, as your lead was huge over some of the best athletes in the world. Were you surprised by how large your advantage was?
TJ: I was. I started in the back row at the [dive] start and used some underwater kicking underneath the field for the first 10 meters or so to avoid the violence. I still had to swim through some of it when I came up but once I did, I backed off a bit because it was so stinking hot. We started sometime after lunch and it was about 95 degrees. When I rounded the first set of buoys I realized that I had gapped the field so I just held the pace and let the gap widen. I ended up stretching the field to a point that some of the players got dumped and dropped out. I guess I was just a disruption that day. Ha!
ST: You wore a one-piece suit in that race. What brand was it and why did you opt to wear it?
TJ: The suit was made by Nike, and it was a loaned to me by my friend and training partner Nick Radkewich. I used it because the rule was that the chest must be covered by the mount line of the bike. We knew there would be no wetsuits, and I didn't have a top that would roll down into my Speedo, so I went that route. Guess I was an early adopter of what's become the norm, and I didn't even realize it.
ST: When were you caught on the bike?
TJ: Very early. The course wasn't technical and it was windy so it didn't play to a solo break. So I sat up and waited for the first pack, which caught me in the first lap. About two laps later my front wheel broke.
ST: What was the highlight of your pro career?
TJ: I was racing at a really young age, so I was excited to see top 10, then top 5 results, but as a fast swimmer I could usually pull a check with a fast swim, and that would get me some press which quickly translated into sponsorships. So I had some great moments, like swim course records, and of course leading Kona for a while, but really the highlight was the places I saw, the people I got to know and the stories that came from that.
ST: I think Hunter Kemper worked you over in a non-athletic event. Is that true?
TJ: Ha! Yes. I had finished at Clemson, and he was currently running at Wake Forest, so trash talk would come up from time to time in training. If anyone has competed in college sports, they know the reputation swimmers have, so we started talking up dollar beer night at some hole-in-the-wall. Weekend came and I figured I'd make short work of him. Well he took me to task and sent me under the table. Who knew?
ST: Are you still in touch with him and have you challenged him to a rematch?
TJ: Not really. We exchange emails from time to time and I've followed his career and cheer him on from afar, but haven't seen him in years. Based on his attempt at another Olympics and my love for craft beer, I'm pretty sure a rematch would put me as the favorite.
ST: After you stopped racing as a pro, did you take some time off?
TJ: I did. I got an infection in the lining of my heart, and while that healed just fine, it ruined my motivation to train at such a high level as I was worried about what I was doing to my body. So I took a few years off and toyed around with some short adventure races for fun. In hindsight I should have stuck with it.
ST: I think you signed up for Ironman Frankfurt next year. Why that race?
TJ: Something different. I enjoy traveling so last year we got a group to do Ironman Zurich and had a blast. So we looked at the European options that worked with our schedule and picked Frankfurt. The race looks to be a great experience and we're hoping to catch a stage of the Tour afterwards.
ST: Do you have a specific goal for that race?
TJ: Whether I take the slot or not, my measuring stick is always Kona qualifying. My schedule doesn't allow for nearly enough training, so a great day puts me on the fringe, an average day and I'm way off. Being the European Championships though, it's likely even a great day would leave me a zip code away, so I really am going for another great experience.
ST: Many folks prefer to race in their own backyard, but you have travelled far to races early on.
TJ: I got to go to Avignon France in '89 for the first ITU World Champs when I was 15. That was the first time I traveled abroad and it was a great experience. So when given the option, I'll try a new experience. We have an amazing race one mile from my house in Ironman Texas, and I've done it twice, but that's a blessing and a curse. It's great to have it close because you can train the course and race in your backyard, but tough because it's hard to come up with good excuses to your wife to do a different one!
ST: Talk about your day job.
TJ: I have two, really. I own Swim Shops of the Southwest, which is a chain of retail stores here in Texas that specialize in aquatic sports like swimming. Right now we have 5 locations (hopefully soon to be 6), so I spend most of my time running around managing those. I'm also the owner of South Coast Endurance, a tri/endurance team. So I will put on swim clinics, give talks, help other coaches and race directors if I can, and with the help of our other coaches, coach a number of athletes and of course organize Hippy Hollow at Ironman Texas. We've been able to put up some nice results, but we don't take ourselves very seriously, which seems to be rare with tri teams. Which lends to pretty large turnouts with our social events. We have a good time.
ST: Are these shops purely swimming stores, or do some of them have a triathlon section?
TJ: It's a bit of a mix. We keep the triathlon stuff mostly swim-centric. So wetsuits, wetsuit rentals, skins, race kits, and some accessories. We are also the go-to spot for swim training equipment. The bulk of the business is competitive swimming, though.
ST: What do you do and your peers in your community do to get younger kids interested in the sport?
TJ: On a number of occasions I've gone out to speak to some of the youth groups in the area, about my experiences growing up through Ironkids, and advice on progressing to the next level. We've also run some draft legal specific workouts for the older kids that are torn from the pages of my experiences. More times than you would think, though, I'm sitting down with parents who need help combining high school sports with triathlons. In this environment, the HS coaches want no part of another sport, something I have intimate experience with. Other than that, I usually help when asked. My kids just did their first triathlon and loved it, so it looks like the tradition might just carry on.
ST: Is there anything else we should know?
TJ: Possibly, but I could ramble on for days, and some of the stories might not be fit to print! Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate it.
TJ Fry writes a blog called badig.com
