My name is Mike Scheetz. I am 40 years old, live in Portland with my wife, Leshia, and kids– Mikayla, 11, and Luke, 8. I have been working for NES as a cable splicer for 11 years.About 8 years ago, as an overweight couch potato, I knew I needed to make a change in my life. I started running and soon after signed up for my first 5k, then immediately a half marathon. My daughter, Mikayla, has spina bifida which has taken the use of her legs. We started running together a few years ago, Mikayla using me as her legs. We have ran several half marathons together and one full marathon. I truly love having the ability to be her running legs. After running for a while, a friend talked me into trying out Tri and I was immediately hooked. Having a full time job, 2 busy kids, a wife training for her own races, finding time to train can be a challenge but we make it work. I will be the HEAT president for 2019. I am open to ideas for making this a fantastic year, your input and ideas are welcome.
1. How many years have you been in triathlon?
5
2. How many years have you been a part of HEAT?
5
3. How did you get started in triathlon?
I had been running for a few years. Carrie Haapalo talked me into giving tri a shot. Bought a cheap, used tri bike off Craigslist, and have been hooked since.
4. What is your favorite discipline?
- Bike
5. What distances have you competed in?
- Sprint
- Olympic
- 70.3
- 140.6
6. What has been your favorite race?
Chattanooga 70.3
7. What is your go-to nutritional product for training/racing?
8. What serves as your motivation to keep going when the training or the race seems too hard?
How lucky I am to be able to swim, bike, and run. There are people, like Mikayla, who would give anything to do what I’m doing. I will never give up thinking about that.
9. What does your normal training week look like?
3 swim, 3 bike, 3 run
10. What is your first thought after finishing a triathlon?
Where did I place? (anyone surprised?)