The Coast News (Page 1)

B10 THE COAST NEWS
SEPT. 28, 2012
Solana Beach woman set to compete in 11th Ironman
By Bianca Kaplanek
SOLANA BEACH —
Few people wake up one day
and decide to compete in an
ironman triathlon, a 2.4-mile
swim, 112-mile bike ride and
26.2-mile run that can take
18 hours to complete.
But that comes fairly
close to explaining how
Solana Beach resident and
business owner Leslie Myers
took up the sport.
“I heard about an ironman
that was across the big
lake from me and I said, ‘I
want to do that next year,’”
said Myers, who was living in
Vermont at the time. “It
sounded kind of interesting
so I signed up for it.
“I’ve never been on a
bike but I was doing a little
recreational running,” she
said. “I had a swimming
background as a kid but didn’t
do it for a while. It just
sounded like fun.”
Living in the northeast
didn’t make preparing for
the race easy. In Southern
California, triathlons and
training opportunities are
more frequent. “But in
Vermont there are two seasons
— winter and Fourth of
July,” she said. “I kind of
taught myself and then I
started doing the shorter
races.”
And in 2002, on her 35th
birthday, Myers competed in
the Lake Placid Ironman, finishing
her first full event in
12 hours and four minutes.
The following year she qualified
for the Ironman World
Championship in Hawaii.
“That was pretty special,”
she said.
Next month she will
return to The Big Island for
her fourth appearance in
that premier event and her
11th full ironman in 10 years.
She qualified on Sept. 9 by
finishing seventh in her division
— women aged 45 to 49
— in the Las Vegas Ironman
World Championship 70.3 on
a 110-degree course.
“I was pretty surprised
with that,” she said. “I just
happened to fare better than
most people in the heat.”
Born in Monterey, Calif.,
Myers grew up partially in
San Diego because her
father was in the Navy. She
swam for Coronado High
School and played water polo
with the boys junior varsity
team because it wasn’t yet an
established sport for girls.
Her aquatics activities
ended for about 20 years
after her family moved to
Rhode Island following her
sophomore year.
Myers is a 1989 graduate
of James Madison University
and 1991 graduate of the
Culinary Institute of
America. She lived in Napa
Valley for five years, working
as a pastry chef and restaurant
manager, then opened
two restaurants in Northern
California.
In 1996 Myers relocated
to Burlington, Vt. She taught
at the New England Culinary
Institute for one year before
opening another restaurant.
About five years later, she
competed in the Lake Placid
Solana Beach resident and business owner Leslie Myers competes in a
56-mile bike ride, the second leg of the Las Vegas Ironman World
Championship 70.3 earlier this month. Her seventh-place finish in her
division qualifies her to return to Hawaii next month for her fourth
appearance in the Ironman World Championship. Photo courtesy of
FinisherPix.com
Ironman.
In 2009 she returned to
San Diego and settled in
Solana Beach, where she
started Foodsense, Now!, a
business she describes as
“devoted to the education
and production of healthy
whole-foods eating.”
Myers is also an instructor
at Sur La Table in
Carlsbad and teaches culinary
classes privately and at
the Center for a Healthy
Lifestyle in Solana Beach.
She recently taught
about 400 corporate employees
how to incorporate more
fruits and vegetables into
their diet during a one-hour
hands-on class.
The move and opening
her businesses forced Myers
to put her triathlon career on
hold for about five years.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately,
there’s a time commitment
associated with being
able to execute an ironman
the way that I’d want to execute
one,” she said. “The
training hours can be lengthy
and I didn’t have the time for
that. But I’m back. It’s so
great.”
Living in San Diego has
made training a bit easier,
although Myers said she generally
doesn’t swim, bike and
run every day.
She trains about 12 to 18
hours a week. “On average I
TURN TO IRONMAN ON B11