UB Degree in Exercise Science Helps "Ironman" Pursuing a Career as a Trainer of Elite Athletes

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- There isn't much in Doug Bush's humble, engaging and unassuming manner to indicate his dedication to one of the world's most extreme sports -- the triathlon. And when dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved plaid shirt instead of his workout gear, there isn't much at first glance that betrays the very high level of physical fitness this very non-traditional student maintains.

Like many triathletes, the 36-year-old Bush, a University at Buffalo student pursuing a graduate degree in biomechanics in the School of Health Related Professions, likely hasn't yet reached his peak performance in a sport whose champions often are in their mid-to late 30s -- unlike many other sports in which peak performance is reached during the 20s.

With five grueling Ironman competitions under his belt, Bush, a resident of Ellicottville, also has a bachelor's degree in exercise science from UB, which, he says, gave him an extensive base for understanding the physiology behind much of the body's processes and has allowed him to train more efficiently for competition. The knowledge he gained also is integral to his growing business as a trainer of triathlete and marathon competitors -- he currently has about six clients and hopes to grow the business slowly while attending graduate school.

Bush also has a degree in business and worked for more than 10 years in the marketing department for Bush Industries of Jamestown, a furniture company owned by his father. He worked his way up to become director of marketing before he left the company to pursue his dream of becoming a coach and trainer of elite athletes.

Bush says he didn't quite know what he was getting into when a friend, who also happened to sponsor Ironman competitions, asked him if he wanted to give it a try. "I thought 'sure, it sounds like a good idea,'" he says of his initial, perhaps somewhat naïve, response. But after five months of training 25-30 hours a week in the three sports that comprise the Ironman competition -- cycling, marathon running and swimming -- Bush entered Ironman Canada in 1998, the oldest and possibly most popular Ironman race held in North America.

"It's an incredible feeling," says Bush of finishing his first race. "I didn't do as well as I wanted, but you become so focused on the goal of just finishing. Really, just finishing for most people is a great goal, especially in your first one because so much can go wrong throughout the day with nutrition and weather conditions and mechanical problems with your bike."

Bush explained that while the body typically can only process about 300-400 calories per hour during regular exercise routines, the amount of calories required for an Ironman competition over what might be a nine-to-14-hour day for most competitors can reach 10,000 or more.

"You have to consume a lot of calories. If you don't drink enough and eat enough you won't finish, so learning about what your body can do is very important," he explains. Bush's first competition brought a few painful lessons as a result of not maintaining a high enough caloric intake. "I ended up walking most of the marathon with bad muscle cramps. I learned from that and have been able to adjust."

Bush's best race time thus far, achieved at Lake Placid's 2001 Ironman, is 10 hours and 15 minutes. Out of about 1,800 participants, he finished 89th overall. Not bad, he says, considering he came out of the swimming portion of the competition ranked 1,200th. "Swimming is my worst sport -- I'm a horrible swimmer," he says, and although swimming is the most difficult of the three sports to master, it's the least important in terms of time because precious minutes can be made up in either the cycling or running events. Bush has been a cyclist for 15 years and only in the past six years has he become a runner -- his strength in the triathlon.

This past summer, Bush served a 12-week internship with the Olympic Training Center (OTC) in Colorado Springs, Colo., to fulfill the requirements of his degree in exercise science. While there, he helped train 14 of the nation's best triathletes who are being prepared to compete in the Pan Am games and the Olympics. The triathlon became an Olympic sport at the games in Sydney, Australia, in 2001.

"The coach I worked for was awesome. It was a great experience. She was a professional athlete and the way she interacted with the athletes and designed the programs was excellent," Bush says.

"It's not an exact science," he says of training athletes. "The thing I really learned from her was to keep it interesting, especially for the elite athletes who are working out 35-40 hours a week, not including the psychological and nutritional meetings and everything else."

Bush says that while it's a diverse group with a broad range of personalities, people who typically participate in Ironman and similar competitions are very goal-driven and must be able to commit to achieving goals that might not be reached for six months or more, depending on the training time needed for an event.

"It's not so much a competition; it's changing your life to achieve a goal. Ninety-nine percent of the people who enter an Ironman competition have no chance of winning and they don't have any illusions about winning. Most of them don't have any chance of going to the world competition in Hawaii, but it really makes them develop healthier habits. If they're eating poorly they're not going to be able to do the training and stay fit. You can't go out drinking every Friday and Saturday night and expect to compete," he says. "Nutrition is very critical to the overall success of the athlete."

While the chances of winning a competition may be slim, the drop-out rate during the race is very low, according to Bush, who has finished all five of the Ironman competitions in which he has competed. During the most recent qualifying event in Kona, Hawaii, about 1,585 people entered the race and about 1,470 completed it.

Bush's next Ironman competition will be the Lake Placid 2003 event scheduled for late July, and although he tries to stay fit all year, he'll begin training for the race in mid-December.

The Ironman championship is a series of 21 qualifying events around the world, with both professional and amateur categories. About 45,000 people compete in the qualifiers, but only 1,000 are chosen to compete in the world championship, held each year in Hawaii. Bush -- who participated in 2000 -- is one of the fortunate ones chosen to participate in a world championship.

"I'm never going to win one of these races -- it's just being able to be part of it, being able to participate in a world championship race with elite athletes," says the realistic Bush. But, he adds, "If I'm not training, I don't feel like I'm doing anything. I don't feel good. It becomes a part of your life."