After a decade of 70.3s and Ironman tries, Steven Keller found his metier in ultra distance. In 2019, Keller placed second at Ultraman Florida to veteran Ironman pro Chris McDonald who was making his Ultraman debut. In the competitive terms of Ultraman, Keller did well. He was 55:46 behind McDonald’s winning 21:32:54 time. The next year, at age 35, Keller dominated the Ultraman Florida men’s overall. He finished in 21:49:16 – 1:14:48 ahead of 44-year-old runner-up Jeff Fefjar. Still, Keller did not make headlines. They went to Dede Grieabauer who, at age 49, smashed the Ultraman women’s race record with a 22:48:31 time. Keller’s otherwise notable performance was just 59:25 ahead of Griesbauer.

After two years lost to the Covid pandemic, Keller topped Ultraman Arizona runner-up Matt Barcus by 1:48:47. But because the swim leg was cancelled due to bad weather, his 18:41:54 time could not be directly compared to his own previous Ultraman performances. If Keller’s 2:59 swim on Day One in 2020 was included in his 2022 mark, his time would have been 21:41:59. Very consistent, and 8 minutes better than his previous Ultraman personal best. And, considering that the Arizona course had many challenging hills and Ultraman Florida was flat, Keller had made a considerable improvement.

ST: Tell us about your home and family.

Steven Keller My wife is Ally and we have 2 daughters. Maddy is 6 and Isabelle is 2. We live in Virginia Beach, VA. I was born and raised in that general area of Tidewater Virginia.

ST: What college did you attend and what did you study?

Steven I received a BS in Biology from James Madison University.

ST: Did you play sports there?

Steven I played 2 years of Division 3 soccer at Christopher Newport University before transferring to JMU.

ST: You are a veterinarian? What led you to that career?

Steven: My wife Ally and I are both veterinarians. We don’t practice together but work in the same town. I was fortunate to find a fascination with biology early into my undergraduate studies, so I followed that with the intent of going into veterinary medicine.

ST: What led you to triathlon?

Steven I started down the triathlon journey as an endeavor to stay active after getting out of veterinary school. It started with running marathons, then picking up cycling, then learning how to swim in a lap pool. All around 27-28 years old.

ST: Prior to Ultraman, what are triathlon highlights?

Steven I got 2nd at UMFL 2019 and first in 2020. Prior to that I’d done 6 or 7 IMs and a similar number of 70.3s over the past 7-8 years. I qualified for Kona after my first IM at Chattanooga in 2014. Kona 2015 didn’t go so swell. I’ve got a ton of excuses, but really I was just too much of a novice and under prepared.

ST: How did you stay in shape during the Pandemic?

Steven I really enjoy training, so it wasn’t difficult for me to stay active. Of course it was challenging because we didn’t have day care and schools were virtual, so it was challenging to carve out time to train. But I’m fairly consistent with using the 4am-6am window for training while the rest of the house sleeps.

ST: Was Arizona your best race ever? Why?

Steven I’d say the UMAZ race had components of my best performances. The Day 1 bike went as expected. I think I made some hydration and nutrition errors on Day 2 that took a bit out of me. But that led to a best possible outcome for the Day 3 run. With Ultraman being a 3-day stage race, each day hinges on how well you can recover from the previous day. Maybe my Day 3 run was better because I underperformed in Day 2

ST: How tough was the canceled swim on you?

Steven I was pulled from the swim after 2k. The conditions were definitely getting rough. I think most athletes who were coming around the 2nd lap were beginning to accept that it was going to be a long hard day. It wasn’t until I came out of the water and felt the air temperature that I started to get extremely cold. Then we watched from our car for the next hour as the wind and swells started to get worse. It was definitely the right call to cancel the swim. They couldn’t keep any safety boats out on the water and you could barely see the next boat that was less than 200 meters away.

ST: How tough were the Day One winds?

Steven The winds were whipping on Day 1 & 2. I decided to keep my deep front and disc wheels on, which was a really dicey move. At one point I was descending at 50+ mph leaning into a side wind and was seriously questioning if I was going to keep the bike upright. Fortunately, on Day 1, we turned out of the cross winds and it was mostly a tail until we circled back for the last 20 miles. It was a nice glass of humility to finish Day 1 with an hour of head winds.

On Day 2, we started the first 20 miles with a block head wind and then it mostly stayed cross-head for most of the first half of the race. I think it took me 1:03 to get to the first 20-mile mark and I was holding around 70.3 effort. Then around mile 65-75 and then 100-109 there were more headwind sections that chopped me down to around 16-17 mph.

ST: How challenging were the climbs? Day One - 3008 feet? Day Two 8,252 feet?

Steven The Day 1 climbing came mostly at the beginning and end of the day, but nothing too long or too steep. Day 2 had a long section of climbing from miles 125-153. I think it was close to 3500 ft of climbing through that section. It wasn’t terribly steep, but much more challenging after more than half the day with your nose in the wind.

ST: Day three was 2446 feet of climbing. How do you handle hills? Is climbing a strong point for you? Love them? Hate them?

Steven I live on the East coast where the only hills are overpasses, so I don’t have any experience in hills. When your 40+ miles into the race, it’s all about staying within your limits and not getting behind on hydration/nutrition for the next mile.

The climbs on the run were no joke. It had a little bit of everything. First 20 miles with the same head wind as the day before. The final climb over the last 10 miles is steep. It’s got to be one of the most beautiful areas to run, but with grades over 10% it makes it hard to appreciate the beauty.

ST: Did you have a moment where you faced a competitive challenge?

Steven After the final climb at the 44 mile turn around, I saw the second-place runner coming up the hill. At that point I just let go and bombed the descent as fast as my legs could hold. Nothing like sailing down a double-digit descent at sub-7minute pace, 46 miles into the race.

ST: Now you have qualified, will you race Ultraman Hawaii this year?

If offered, I would love to go to UMWC. I don’t see my life getting any less busy so I’d like to experience the Big Island once more while I have some descent fitness.

ST: Who was your toughest rival this past weekend?

Steven I never looked at any of the athletes as rivals, but each day had athletes who were strong in the individual disciplines. Bill Owsley turned out to be a phenomenal cyclist. Every time I had a lull or a traffic light, he was right behind me. On the run, I knew James Scanlan was a seasoned ultra runner with the ability to negative split the double marathon. He was the reason I ran the last 8 miles with ‘no brakes.’

ST: What did this victory mean to you?

Steven The Ultraman journey is so much more than a race result. The experiences with your crew and other athletes and their crews are life long memories. It’s the most welcoming triathlon community I’ve ever experienced. Some of the athletes competing have mind blowing race resumes, but they are all humble and gracious. Overall, we’re all there to test our limits. The crews, volunteers and race staff are there to pick us up and put is back together. Without the entire team, none of us would be able to compete and that’s what makes this race special.

Ultraman Arizona
March 11-13, 2022
Day One – Bike 90 miles
Day Two – Bike 171.4 mile
Day Three – 52.4 miles

Men

1 Steven Keller, 37. Bike Day 1 3:54:11 Bike Day 2 8:16:36 Run Day 3 6:31:87 Final 18:41:54
2 Matt Barcus, 41. Bike Day 1 4:15:49 Bike Day 2 8:38:32 Run Day 3 7:36:20 Final 20:30:41
3 James Scanlan, 53. Day 1 Bike 4:33:19 Day 2 Bike 9:44:41 Run Day 3 6:42:04 Final 21:00:04
4 Bill Owsley, 55. Day 1 Bike 3:57:16 Day 2 Bike 8:29:58 Run Day 3 8:55:09 Final 21:22:15