Alex Thomas joined the AO squad while racing for the N.C. State University Triathlon Club team. Alex is one of the younger members of the daily training squad and has a unique approach to his training. In addition to olympic and 70.3 distance racing, he's also an competitive eater....You read that right, the people who eat 50 hot dogs in 10 mins, that's Alex. It all started at the famous Krispy Kreme Challenge..run 2.5 miles, eat 12 donuts, run 2.5 miles back to the finish. He's been a fun addition to the team as he brings a very analytical viewpoint on training, gear, and most importantly nutrition. Have a fun read with this one, maybe you'll be motivated to go try a triathlon or maybe even the Krispy Kreme Challenge.
1. Being fairly new to triathlon having done it for less than 2 years, what motivated you to want to join the AO squad?
Never involved in athletics before, On a whim, I decided to try out the triathlon club at NC state. Brooks was there as the coach at the time and helped me quickly develop. In the spring of 2019, I missed Nationals because I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. After the diagnosis, I needed a full-time coach to help me further with triathlon. Initially I had hoped that Brooks would allow me to stay active and injury free, but I’ve really been able to excel and ended up joining the AO squad.
I have a bad habit of forgetting things or breaking my bike, so on a few occasions Brooks has had to come to the rescue. Once my bike broke the night of a race, so Brooks had me borrow his climbing bike so I could at least compete. Ended up hitting a major milestone on the 5k run gettin 19:00 that race. The next race, I forgot my wetsuit at home for a late season race, the temp was in the 30’s so Brooks was able to swing by my apartment the morning.
2. How motivating is it to compete as a collegiate triathlete in one of the stronger conferences in the country, Mid Atlantic against the likes of Queens University of Charlotte?
Queens college, Liberty University, and Navy are all tough schools to compete against. All are school funded teams, with coaches, trainers, equipment all supplied. All schools give athletes time in the day to train. Queens and Liberty both recruit top athletes from around the world to their triathlon program. There are also a lot of great athletes in the club programs as well (UNC, NC State, Duke, ect.)
As someone who never even dreamt of competing in Varsity sports in college, it’s incredible that I have the opportunity to compete against these varsity teams, often beating many of them. Being a strong biker (and relatively slower swimmer), I get to hunt down a lot teams on the bike. It’s definitely motivating to chase down one of the athletes from the top clubs on the bike, then try to jump a few more places on the run.
3. You've done summer internships at the Pentagon and living in D.C., what's that like from a training prospective?
Training in DC is definitely logistically challenging, but It’s actually a great place to train. There’s enough greenways and parks to safely bike and run in the “80% low effort” zone. You would be surprised the work it takes just to climb some of the hills in DC / Arlington.
My favorite workout to do in DC was to just run the national mall at a zone 1 pace on Sunday morning, stopping at the Monuments and for a nitro cold brew latte at ‘La Colombe’. If you don’t mind a “little” jogging in DC, there is free and available all/day parking 1/4 mile south of the Jefferson Monument. From there its maybe 5 minutes of jogging to MLK, then the Lincoln Memorial, then the White House, Washington Monument, National Mall, then US Capitol. By the time I get done, I could surprise myself with 10 miles just enjoying the atmosphere
Another workout is going on a long bike ride with the DC Tri Club. They bike from the capitol to Georgetown, then to Patomic, MD on Sat Mornings. It’s a great group of people and a no-drop ride (with strong bikers) so it keeps you motivated when going.
When it comes time to do interval training, Patomic Park is excellent. It is a 3 mile long stretch of road on the edge of the island just south of the city. There’s 2 lanes, one-way, very little traffic, and a 25 mph speed limit so it is incredibly popular with cyclists, runners, roller bladers, and a large amount of Veteran wheelchair racers.
4. People may or may not know that you are a competitive eating athlete, where did that idea come from?
I used to watch Man vs Food and the guy, Adam Richman, did a hotdog eating challenge downtown Raleigh at roast grill. There he ate 19 chili cheese hotdogs. I though I might be able to do that, and decided to check it out. Once I got there I found that it had changed to 27 hotdogs by a professional eater. That week, I decided to try to eat 28 chili cheese hot dogs in one hour, and barely got the last bite down before time ran out. Since then, I’ve done a few more challenges and competitions, usually I try to hide them from Brooks, but its had to hide sinking to the bottom of the pool the day after eating a giant pizza.
This spring I got invited to a few Major League Eating Events, to compete against Joey Chestnut. These have unfortunately gotten cancelled to COVID-19, but I think that it would be fun to get up there with the best in the world in this niche sport. Hopefully next summer, I can try to go to New York for the Nathans Hot Dog eating finals. Look for me on TV!
5. What's the craziest training session or food you've eaten to prepare for a competitive eating contest?
I’ve spent a lot more time than Im proud to admit training to eat 12 doughnuts after running a strong pace in the first half of the Kreme Challenge. The challenge of eating doughnuts is that they are fried, and the layer of fat on the outside of the doughnut makes it hard to chew and swallow. My trick is to use water and small bites to finish in about 1 minute. I do all the eating on my own, but I’ve worked with Brooks to reduce my breathing while I'm downing doughnuts
The my other favorite challenge is the beer mile (Drink Beer, Run .25 x 4). There are two things to train for the beer mile: 1) Chugging soda water and 2) Burping. I like enjoying my alcohol (sours / seltzer) too much, so I like to practice the beer mile chugging soda water from a can.
6. How are you staying motivated while so many races are being postponed to likely fall time frame?
It’s tough, but I’ve found a lot of joy in riding my old road bike in florida at a focused Z1-2 effort. They do challenge Daytona down here and the quarantine has really cleared up a lot of the roads much like during a race. I got stung by a man-o-war jellyfish last week, but swimming in the ocean isn’t too bad.
7. What's your social media handles and anyone you want to point to that's helped you along in your triathlon career?
Instagram: @AlexTriesRacing
I’d like to give a shout out to Brooks for always being flexible and always keeping me engaged
My PT Trainer Michael Donatelli at NC State, he’s really gone above and beyond to help me stay injury free and strong.
My General Physician Michael Shannon took many many appointments with me to help me get a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. Now with a simple injection every other week, I no longer worry about being able to race.
1. Being fairly new to triathlon having done it for less than 2 years, what motivated you to want to join the AO squad?
Never involved in athletics before, On a whim, I decided to try out the triathlon club at NC state. Brooks was there as the coach at the time and helped me quickly develop. In the spring of 2019, I missed Nationals because I was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. After the diagnosis, I needed a full-time coach to help me further with triathlon. Initially I had hoped that Brooks would allow me to stay active and injury free, but I’ve really been able to excel and ended up joining the AO squad.
I have a bad habit of forgetting things or breaking my bike, so on a few occasions Brooks has had to come to the rescue. Once my bike broke the night of a race, so Brooks had me borrow his climbing bike so I could at least compete. Ended up hitting a major milestone on the 5k run gettin 19:00 that race. The next race, I forgot my wetsuit at home for a late season race, the temp was in the 30’s so Brooks was able to swing by my apartment the morning.
2. How motivating is it to compete as a collegiate triathlete in one of the stronger conferences in the country, Mid Atlantic against the likes of Queens University of Charlotte?
Queens college, Liberty University, and Navy are all tough schools to compete against. All are school funded teams, with coaches, trainers, equipment all supplied. All schools give athletes time in the day to train. Queens and Liberty both recruit top athletes from around the world to their triathlon program. There are also a lot of great athletes in the club programs as well (UNC, NC State, Duke, ect.)
As someone who never even dreamt of competing in Varsity sports in college, it’s incredible that I have the opportunity to compete against these varsity teams, often beating many of them. Being a strong biker (and relatively slower swimmer), I get to hunt down a lot teams on the bike. It’s definitely motivating to chase down one of the athletes from the top clubs on the bike, then try to jump a few more places on the run.
3. You've done summer internships at the Pentagon and living in D.C., what's that like from a training prospective?
Training in DC is definitely logistically challenging, but It’s actually a great place to train. There’s enough greenways and parks to safely bike and run in the “80% low effort” zone. You would be surprised the work it takes just to climb some of the hills in DC / Arlington.
My favorite workout to do in DC was to just run the national mall at a zone 1 pace on Sunday morning, stopping at the Monuments and for a nitro cold brew latte at ‘La Colombe’. If you don’t mind a “little” jogging in DC, there is free and available all/day parking 1/4 mile south of the Jefferson Monument. From there its maybe 5 minutes of jogging to MLK, then the Lincoln Memorial, then the White House, Washington Monument, National Mall, then US Capitol. By the time I get done, I could surprise myself with 10 miles just enjoying the atmosphere
Another workout is going on a long bike ride with the DC Tri Club. They bike from the capitol to Georgetown, then to Patomic, MD on Sat Mornings. It’s a great group of people and a no-drop ride (with strong bikers) so it keeps you motivated when going.
When it comes time to do interval training, Patomic Park is excellent. It is a 3 mile long stretch of road on the edge of the island just south of the city. There’s 2 lanes, one-way, very little traffic, and a 25 mph speed limit so it is incredibly popular with cyclists, runners, roller bladers, and a large amount of Veteran wheelchair racers.
4. People may or may not know that you are a competitive eating athlete, where did that idea come from?
I used to watch Man vs Food and the guy, Adam Richman, did a hotdog eating challenge downtown Raleigh at roast grill. There he ate 19 chili cheese hotdogs. I though I might be able to do that, and decided to check it out. Once I got there I found that it had changed to 27 hotdogs by a professional eater. That week, I decided to try to eat 28 chili cheese hot dogs in one hour, and barely got the last bite down before time ran out. Since then, I’ve done a few more challenges and competitions, usually I try to hide them from Brooks, but its had to hide sinking to the bottom of the pool the day after eating a giant pizza.
This spring I got invited to a few Major League Eating Events, to compete against Joey Chestnut. These have unfortunately gotten cancelled to COVID-19, but I think that it would be fun to get up there with the best in the world in this niche sport. Hopefully next summer, I can try to go to New York for the Nathans Hot Dog eating finals. Look for me on TV!
5. What's the craziest training session or food you've eaten to prepare for a competitive eating contest?
I’ve spent a lot more time than Im proud to admit training to eat 12 doughnuts after running a strong pace in the first half of the Kreme Challenge. The challenge of eating doughnuts is that they are fried, and the layer of fat on the outside of the doughnut makes it hard to chew and swallow. My trick is to use water and small bites to finish in about 1 minute. I do all the eating on my own, but I’ve worked with Brooks to reduce my breathing while I'm downing doughnuts
The my other favorite challenge is the beer mile (Drink Beer, Run .25 x 4). There are two things to train for the beer mile: 1) Chugging soda water and 2) Burping. I like enjoying my alcohol (sours / seltzer) too much, so I like to practice the beer mile chugging soda water from a can.
6. How are you staying motivated while so many races are being postponed to likely fall time frame?
It’s tough, but I’ve found a lot of joy in riding my old road bike in florida at a focused Z1-2 effort. They do challenge Daytona down here and the quarantine has really cleared up a lot of the roads much like during a race. I got stung by a man-o-war jellyfish last week, but swimming in the ocean isn’t too bad.
7. What's your social media handles and anyone you want to point to that's helped you along in your triathlon career?
Instagram: @AlexTriesRacing
I’d like to give a shout out to Brooks for always being flexible and always keeping me engaged
My PT Trainer Michael Donatelli at NC State, he’s really gone above and beyond to help me stay injury free and strong.
My General Physician Michael Shannon took many many appointments with me to help me get a diagnosis of Ankylosing Spondylitis. Now with a simple injection every other week, I no longer worry about being able to race.