Skip to main content
Submitted by awahl@aaep.org on

AAEP News February 2019 VII
Making workouts a fun priority helps busy veterinarian reach apex of triathlon
What would
motivate someone
to swim 2.4 miles,
hop on a bike for
112 miles and
then run a 26.2-mile marathon—all in
less than half a day?
“I enjoy the challenge,” said Dr.
Diana Hassel, associate professor of
equine emergency surgery and critical
care at Colorado State University’s
College of Veterinary Medicine and
Biomedical Sciences.
Renowned for her work in equine
colic, Dr. Hassel is also among the
world’s most successful amateur tri-
athletes. She is a two-time age group
world champion and 15-time podium
finisher in the Ironman World
Championship in Kailua-Kona,
Hawaii, the sport’s pinnacle event to
which she first qualified and
competed in 2000. After winning her
age division in 2017, she finished
third last year, crossing the finish line
in 10 hours, 36 minutes.
Dr. Hassel’s workload prevents her
from training as much as other tri-
athletes, so her workouts are shorter
but more intense. She trains between
8 and 12 hours per week during the
winter offseason, and up to 15 hours
per week during race season. Training
occurs in the mornings before work
so that evenings are devoted to family
time with her husband, also a
triathlete, and teenage stepdaughter.
She undertakes longer training
sessions on weekends that she’s not
on call.
“The key is making it a priority,” she
said. “You have to be disciplined with
when you go to bed, when you get
up, and you generally aren’t going to
regret getting up early and doing
something for yourself before starting
the day.”
She swims between 2,500 and 3,500
yards per session three days per week
with her Masters Swimming group,
an organized program that helps
build endurance and speed. Other
mornings, she’s logging miles in either
her running or cycling shoes—
indoors during the winter months.
The training is strenuous so it’s
important that it be fun.
“My Masters workouts are a blast
because we’re a bunch of friends
working out together. Even my
indoor bike sessions—I use a
program in which I’m an online
avatar among a couple thousand
people around the world riding
simultaneously,” said Dr. Hassel, an
accomplished cyclist who competes
with a Fort Collins-based team in
half a dozen endurance cycling races
each spring. “I love my training. If I
don’t train, I get really grumpy!”
The grueling nature of triathlon has
instilled considerable mental strength,
but nutrition and recovery are also
integral to Dr. Hassel’s success. She
pays attention to the nutritional
habits of high-performance Ironman
competitors and marathoners,
especially when there is scientific
evidence that products might be
superior for optimizing calorie intake
and performance. Meanwhile, finding
ways to improve recovery—from both
the inside and outside—is key and,
according to Dr. Hassel, probably the
most important thing as you age. Because of the race’s toll on the body,
Dr. Hassel will skip the Ironman
World Championship this year and
instead focus on the 2019 Half-
Ironman World Championship in
Nice, France, in September. It will be
a family affair as both she and her
husband have qualified for the event.
Even though the race won’t be quite
as physically demanding as the
Ironman Hawaii, Dr. Hassel will
prepare just as much, and she would
have it no other way.
“I enjoy pushing myself to my limit,
getting better and performing at my
highest ability on race day,” she said.
“No matter what place I end up, if I
feel like I had a really good race
where I gave it my very all, I’m
happy with the result.”
For practitioners toying with the idea
of getting more physically active but
concerned about the demands of the
profession, Dr. Hassel encourages
establishing motivation and consis-
tency by finding a training partner,
setting a workout schedule and even
getting a coach.
“Just get serious about your goals
and start,” she said. “Prioritizing
yourself and your health will only
improve your productivity each day
at work and in life.”
WELLNESS
Dr. Hassel enjoys a long bike session
in the days prior to the 2018 Ironman
World Championship.
Dr. Hassel leaps across the finish line.
FinisherPix
®

Link
https://pubs.aaep.org/0A4370h/EVEFebruary2019/html/index.html?page=9