Random AG Nick Warren

Nick Warren is another age grouper we recently met in a random manner. Like many other age groupers he is very focused on family and job and works out when he finds time - but his day job is quite unique.

Slowtwitch: Thank you so much for your time.

Nick: My pleasure. I’m flattered that Slowtwitch would interview a slow guy like me

ST: Where in the world are you right now?

Nick: I just got back from a week or so in the Southeast and then was home in Virginia for a few days and am on my way to the South of France for a few weeks. All business in France though, with possibly a few days of riding in the Italian and French mountains and definitely some running along the coast.

ST: You seem to have quite a busy travel schedule, is that a fair description?

Nick: It is true; I am traveling quite a bit right now. It is exciting, but fairly unpredictable. I have a good idea that I’ll be traveling about 2 weeks ahead of time, but I often don’t find out where I’ll be traveling to until a day or two before I leave.

ST: Explain your day job for us.

Nick: That’s a tough one. I wear a few different hats right now. I’m employed as a helicopter pilot but I’ve been doing a lot less flying lately and a lot more traveling and coordinating logistics for the company I work for. I go ahead of time and set things up for the helicopters and their pilots to be able to come in and do their thing without skipping a beat once they get on the ground. I get to meet a lot of great folks and travel to a lot of really interesting places.

ST: Nick, that sounds very mysterious.

Nick: Yeah, there is a little bit of mystery to what I do. There is some stuff that is as out there and open to the public as it gets, then there is a large portion of it that is sneaky and cloaked in a bit of mystery.

ST: How do you manage your training and how many hours a week can you dedicate to it?

Nick: I train as much as I can wherever I can. It is really unpredictable when I’m on the road. Fortunately, I can usually bring a bike along with me, and you can run anywhere as long as where I’m going isn’t too high risk. I’ve run at every trip site I’ve been to, in the States as well as overseas, although I have been forced onto a treadmill in a couple fairly seedy places.

ST: So when did you do your most recent triathlon?

Nick: The last triathlon I did was the XTERRA in Richmond in 2010 and the last long course triathlon was the Ironman Arizona in the spring of 2008, right before my 3rd and final deployment to Iraq.

ST: You did an Ironman in 2000 and one in 2008, why the long break?

Nick: It wasn’t for lack of desire to keep racing at that distance. The usual excuses I suppose. I graduated college in May of 2001 and then started some military training and flight training pretty soon thereafter. I still raced marathons and all triathlon distance from sprint to half-Ironman during the years I was doing my military training, and then really started focusing on marathon and triathlon racing again when I got settled in Southern California in the fall of 2003. I went on my 1st deployment to Iraq that spring and let’s just say that the An Bar province of Iraq wasn’t exactly the haven for triathlons. We had to run in body armor while carrying weapons, so I wasn’t able to do the kind of training that I would have liked. That, combined with the oppressive heat, sand storms and folks shooting at us, all combined for a not-great training/racing environment. I continued to race in-between deployments and finally buckled down and trained and raced the Ironman Arizona in the spring of 2008, just a few days before I left on my last deployment. Things lightened up by the time I went on that last deployment though, and I had a boss who was into ultras and really wanted to run a marathon in Iraq, so we set out a course on the base we were on and did it. Pretty fun actually.

ST: So which one of these 2 Ironman starts did you enjoy more and why?

Nick: That’s tough to say. I really liked IM Florida because I was young and foolish and loved the newness of that kind of race and suffering. I loved IM Arizona because it was a pretty course and a nice release right before the stress of heading overseas for the better part of a year, that and my beautiful wife and family were able to be there for support.

ST: Well, which one of these 2 races did you have the faster time?

Nick: I had a faster time at IM Florida in 2000. I wasn't properly heat acclimated for IM Arizona and Tempe had near-record breaking heat the day of the race. The wheels really came off during the run in Tempe.

ST: But now it sounds like you have been inspired to do ultra distance running.

Nick: I’ve always loved running and really liked racing the marathon distance from midway through college on. I had always wondered about what my limits would be, so I’d go out for self-supported runs that were longer than 26 miles at a go, or I’d enter a marathon and run to the start line or continue running past the finish line. I didn’t sign up for an organized ultra until a few months before I moved from California to Virginia. It was a 50K and it was through some of the most beautiful California desert terrain I’ve ever seen. At about the 20-mile mark of that race, I got the same feeling of mental clarity that I’ve only ever gotten during Ironman, and I was pretty well hooked. I was pretty hooked on the feeling that comes when there is no more pain, just an intense focus that lets you see things so clearly that you know it HAS to be the way.

ST: What is next for you along those lines?

Nick: My wife Cheyanne, who is also a marathon runner, REALLY wants to throw down a good time this fall and qualify for Boston. She is a 3rd year dental student, and she is also getting her PhD in Microbiology at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, so she’s working through some pretty significant time management issues to get in the training she feels like she needs. I’ve also talked her, and by talk I mean I signed her up for the race without her knowing about it, the JFK 50 miler in Boonsboro, MD in November. She knows how to suffer and I think she is going to love JFK. Beyond that, I’m going to put in for the Western States lottery again this year and I’m also working on doing the RAAM this summer with a buddy of mine I work with. His wife works for Hope for the Warriors, an organization that does amazing things for wounded military veterans. It is an awesome organization and we are going to try and race RAAM as a two-man and raise money to support Hope for the Warriors along the way.

ST: Sounds like Cheyanne is in for real.

Nick: That is an understatement. Like I said, she has been a runner for as long as I’ve known her, and the only other ultra distance race she has done was a 50K I roped her into doing in Charlottesville, VA last spring. She crushed me, so I think she’ll do just fine at JFK.

ST: Does she have any interest in triathlon?

Nick: She has done a handful of shorter distance races and expressed a lot of interest in the half-Ironman distance, so yeah, she has an interest. She has some swimming in her background and can crush a lot of guys on the bike. I think, much like ultra running, I’ll probably get her hooked on the longer distances after I sign her up for one. She’ll do some wanking about me deceiving her, and then she’ll have a blast. It’s the way of things with her sometimes.

ST: How about you, any plans do jump back to a swim-bike-run event?

Nick: Absolutely. Depending on what the big event for me is this summer, whether its Western States or RAAM will kind of dictate what my fall looks like. If I end up doing Western States, then I’ll look for a spring Ironman. If I race RAAM, I think I’ll have decent mileage for a fall race, maybe IM Florida again.

ST: How many bikes do you have and what are they?

Nick: 5, but that includes a full suspension Gary Fisher Superfly that I do 24-Hour races on and a single speed Moots that doubles dog hauler. I also have a Cervelo P3 that I train and race in triathlons, a Roark road bike that I’ve had since college and a Gary Fisher Cronus that I bought last summer. I’m lucky in that I have a wife who understands that the answer to the question of “How many bikes is enough?” is “Just one more.”

ST: What about favorite foods?

Nick: Cheyanne’s apple pie. She’s from Vermont originally and serves her pie with a slice of extra sharp Cheddar cheese. You haven’t lived until you have had a really good apple pie with a piece of cheddar cheese, I’m telling you. Other than that, I got pretty spoiled in the Mexican food department when I lived in Southern California, so I’m a sucker for a good burrito.

ST: Anything else we should know?

Nick: When I’m in town, and my wife isn’t studying or running, we race around with our chocolate Lab named Moose. Moose is the most amazing dog ever and routinely wins his breed, age group, and the overall K9, in running races we do with him. He is the strong, silent type and he really gets me. We can have a conversation and connect on a level that I sometimes can’t get to with my wife. That’s normal right?

ST: Hmm, that is maybe for your wife to decide.

Nick: That’s for sure!