People are what make sport and triathlon is no different. Whether elite or amateur, the myriad of interesting and diverse personalities are perhaps one of the sport's greatest assets.
Jonathan Barber embodies this description. Well known in South African triathlon circles in the early 1990s, Barber competed successfully as a professional triathlete in the United States for many years. But that is only one facet of a full life immersed in the most diverse of occupations. From working on the streets of Hillbrow with the Red Cross to owning and running the largest truck dealership group in Northern California; whether selling tanker trailers in Montana or opening his own bike shop in California and coaching other athletes: the well-travelled and articulate Barber certainly gives new meaning to the phrase 'seen and done it all.'
It is therefore no surprise to learn of Barber's latest quest. Nearing the age of fifty, the Port Elizabeth-native is intent on earning back his USAT professional triathlon license, thus becoming possibly the world's oldest registered professional triathlete.
Nature Gym: Tell us about this new goal you have set for yourself?
Jonathan Barber: My goal is pretty straight forward – I want to earn a professional license and be eligible to compete in distance triathlon events in the professional category. I held a pro license for 13 years before I stopped racing at the end of 2004 - so actually I'm trying to re-earn a professional license.
NG: As you mentioned you've competed in triathlons before – how long has it been and what have you been doing since then?
JB: I have not competed in a triathlon for 11 years! I was 37 when I stopped racing and I turn 48 this month! At first I made an attempt to stay active after quitting racing but that soon became difficult in the new career I was in. I quickly lost all fitness and ballooned to 115 kg! In 2012 I got back into the bicycle and triathlon business and began to get more regular exercise. I've been working my way back to fitness since then.
NG: You clearly feel that this goal is achievable. What is your motivation for pursuing this goal now?
JB: At first my motivation in training was simply to get back into shape. Soon I became motivated to get back into competition. My personality is such that if I'm going to be involved in something I want to be at the very pointy end of whatever I do. I also really enjoy a good challenge and this seems like a great challenge to set for myself. With age comes wisdom – sometimes – and I am fascinated to see if a wiser and more mature approach to training and racing can outperform what youth and exuberance were able to produce for me previously.
Another consideration is, given how rife doping is within endurance sports and considering the resulting scepticism of the athletic population, I really want to subject myself to and be a part of a systematic and structured doping control program. I have registered with a great organization called Clean Protocol who test athletes on a volunteer basis and I hope to be tested in Hawaii in October but I need to be part of a greater doping control program as well. Amateur triathletes are not routinely tested as professional athletes are.
It is very important to me that this process is both legitimate and authentic. I don’t want to simply be granted the license on the basis of a having a compelling human interest story. It is important to me that I legitimately earn the license by fulfilling the requirements of my National Federation so that if I do eventually toe the line in the pro field at an Ironman I have just as much right to be there as any of the other athletes.
NG: Tell us about your preparation so far. How has your training been going?
JB: After an almost complete 7 year hiatus from exercise I began riding my bike again about 3 years ago. For months I was absolutely pathetic on the bike. I also tried some running and swimming and was equally pathetic.
Slowly but surely I began to build some strength and endurance. Last year I rode about 20,000km in an effort to establish a good aerobic base – mostly solo and mostly pretty slowly. I included a lot of hill work to build strength and resilience. I also visited the gym 3 times a week and followed a pretty comprehensive strength training program. I began swimming consistently about 8 months ago and have been running consistently for about 3 months.
Typically I've been training between 20 and 23 hours a week for the past few months. That will increase to 25 to 30 hours a week for the next 3 months.
So far I'm very satisfied with my progress. Improvements have been slow in coming and I can tell I have lost some top end speed but I have already made big gains in endurance and every few weeks I show an improvement in being able to maintain my target race pace in my key workouts.
NG: Performance wise, what do you think it’s going to take to achieve your goal?
JB: To be sure I'm going to have to race a lot faster than I ever did before! The standard of competition has improved dramatically and the qualification criteria for a professional license have become a lot more stringent.
To earn a professional license today National Federations require an athlete to consistently finish within 8 to 10% of the winners time in major events such as Ironman or Challenge Family races. For example, under normal conditions, I’d have to do about a 9hr15 at Ironman South Africa to be within the qualification criteria.
Given that my fastest Ironman was a 9hr55 I have my work cut out for me! But I'm confident I can do it – I never focused on Ironman distance racing before so I was always severely under-trained, ill prepared and had a poor race plan and nutrition strategy when I did race them.
NG: What adjustments have you made to your training to compensate for your age and to close this 40 minute gap in performance?
JB: I have made some dramatic changes across the board.
I have completely reworked my swim stroke with a new focus on efficiency. I'm prepared to give up 3 or 4 minutes in the swim in favour of exiting the water fresh and ready to push the bike and run. I've also modified my training to include distance sets that are more geared to Ironman race swims. I manage a Facebook page called The Thoughtful Athlete and I post some of the more interesting workouts on that page.
The biggest change to my cycling training has been in volume. I've increased my weekly volume to around 430 km a week from the 270 km a week I did previously. I've also included a lot more time riding at my target race pace in my training – and I've learnt to keep my easy days easy to allow for proper recovery which is important at my age.
On the run I began by changing my running gait to reduce the pounding effects of running on my legs as much as possible. Like in swimming I'm focused on efficiency of movement. Every step I take in my running training is 100% geared toward a well-paced and efficient Ironman run. I don’t need to be fast – I just need to maintain a decent steady pace.
Lastly I have done a lot more strength training in preparation for the volume phase of my training. I don’t need explosive power so my training has been geared toward gaining some strength and a lot of resilience. It’s all about injury prevention and being able to handle the volume of training required. I now include a lot of core, stability and balance training into my routine – something I did very little of before.
Along with the changes in training I have completely changed my eating habits and include less carbohydrates and more fat in my diet. I also make sure I'm eating a lot of fruit and vegetables, berries and nuts – and a lot of fish!
NG: If you are successful in achieving your goal – what then?
JB: I love the process of getting in shape, and I love the challenge of setting a goal and then going about doing the work to achieve it – so I'm already having a great time with this process. That being said, I am very goal orientated and I am totally committed achieving my goal of earning that professional license.
A dream would be to qualify as a professional for Ironman Hawaii. That would be incredible and as far as I know I would be the oldest athlete to achieve that. But that is a dream. The qualification criteria are now incredibly difficult. I’d need a lot of guys to take a wrong turn in front of me at a big race in order to earn the points required to race in Kona – so Ironman Hawaii remains a dream at this point.
Legitimately earning a professional license in 2015, and competing as a professional in my 49th and 50th years is what I am focusing on accomplishing.
NG: What support system do you have in place now and how do you see yourself involved in the triathlon community throughout this process?
JB: I have not yet made any real attempts to get any outside support. To be honest the few people I have shared this goal with have all thought I'm a few links short of a full bicycle chain. And I can understand that – what I am trying to do is unproven, not only from an age perspective but also from a personal athletic achievement perspective.
But if I am able to demonstrate that what I'm trying to do is feasible I would hope to get some industry support to help me achieve it - possibly from companies who wish to target a portion of their marketing to 45+ year old age group athletes.
On a more personal note it would be great if through this process I was able to encourage other ‘older’ athletes to step out and go for it – and not just in sport but in whatever area of their lives they are holding back. The pace of change is so incredibly fast today and there is the potential for people to get left behind. The last thing we 45+ year-olds can do is to get overwhelmed by the new and to ‘step off the bus', effectively resigning ourselves to a position of irrelevance. It would be great if I could be an encouragement to people of my generation to stay in the game – to regroup, to re-strategise, to reinvent themselves and to get back out there and go for it – using everything they have learnt in the past and making sure they learn everything they need to learn now to enjoy a successful future.
