The most special thing about Athletic Lab is our diverse community of members. Every month we highlight one (or more) of our members. For the month of July we’ve chosen four of our Performance Fitness members who completed Ironman 70.3 races. Krista Eberle, Devon and Andy Jarvis and Robert Stanley are our July Members of the Month. You can check out our previous members of the month here.

Name: Krista Eberle

Age: 31

What city were you born in Indianapolis, IN

What do you do when you’re not working out at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies, etc) I am a PhD student at NC State University in the Department of Poultry Science. When I am not working on the farm, writing, or attending class, I enjoy spending time with my amazing fiance Zach Krish (also an AL member) eating good food, drinking beer, and being outdoors.

What’s your favorite exercise? Least favorite? Out of the three sports, I like running the most and biking the least. However, training with Devon, Andy, and Zach has made me like biking a lot more. Plus, trying to keep up with them has made me a faster cyclist!

You recently competed in a half Ironman! Would you mind telling us a bit about your training for the competition How did you keep your mind occupied during the competition? Before this year, I had completed 2 other HIM (one being the 2014 Raleigh 70.3). I used the training plan developed for me by my triathlon coach in Atlanta, GA during my first HIM. I tweaked the plan a bit to accommodate for the lack of an endurance base as I had been out of triathlon 3 years due to a major back injury. Andy, Devon, and I tried to run 3-4 days a week, swim 2-3 days a week, and bike 2-3 days a week. The weekends were saved for the longer rides/runs.

The whole goal for this HIM was to finish. I told myself to just keep moving forward. I also like to talk to people on the course to keep myself occupied on the run. I met some amazing and inspiring people that day.

What was your first meal after the Ironman After the race, all I wanted was Mellow Mushroom pizza!!!!

What motivated you during your Ironman training I honestly could not have gotten through the training without Devon, Andy and Zach. Waking up at 4:30 am and exercising twice a day for 5 months is grueling. As a naturally active person, being injured was difficult for me. There were a lot of dark times where I thought I would never be able to do triathlon again. Watching my strength and endurance come back was exciting, and at times scary because I was afraid to lose it again. Being able to do the sport(s) I love again was motivation for me. Being able to train with the great friends (and athletes) and the man I love was just the cherry on top of an awesome training/racing experience.

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Name: Devon Williams Jarvis

Age: 30
What city were you born in? Salisbury, NC
What do you do when you’re not working out at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies, etc)? I am an attorney with Ward and Smith, PA in Raleigh. For hobbies, I enjoy being adventurous, traveling, sports (really anything competitive), seeing and doing new things….basically I love crossing things off my extremely long, ever-growing bucket list with my awesome husband, Andy. I also love doing the complete opposite- i.e. sitting on the couch, cuddling with our puppies while binge watching tv.
What’s your favorite exercise? Least favorite? Favorite exercise is probably biking and squats. Least favorite: Turkish get-ups and any type of animal walk, especially crab walk.
You recently competed in a half Ironman! Would you mind telling us a bit about your training for the competition? How did you keep your mind occupied during the competition?
Our training was pretty intense from February through May. I really had to dedicate myself to doing the training and putting in the hours. We had to sacrifice time with friends and sleep…oh the sleep I gave up to do this! But it was worth it! Our weekday mornings usually began around 4:30 or 4:45 a.m. with oftentimes two hours of training and then off to work. We tried to keep up with our CrossFit classes too…part of what made our training easier was the support our friends at Athletic Lab. Our weekends were focused on getting in long bike rides and long runs. Having training partners really helped hold me accountable. As for keeping my mind occupied during the actual race, that was tough. The bike and swim went pretty well. Then, I started the run and half a mile into it, all of my leg muscles cramped. That’s when I told myself, “just make it to the next aid station and take it little by little.” It was not a pretty or fast run, but I finished and did it under my goal time!
What was your first meal after the Ironman So I felt like absolute ____ after the race and was so dehydrated that I couldn’t bring myself to eat anything. But my father-in-law made me a not-so-delicious pickle juice and vinegar remedy and then McDonald’s French fries and Papa John’s thin crust pizza hit the spot! If Rise donuts had been opened, I would have crushed some donuts.
What motivated you during your Ironman training? My training partners (my husband- Andy, and Krista and Zach). Also, the Athletic Lab community- it was so humbling and incredibly motivating to have so many friends come out to support us during the race and throughout our training. Finally, food, particularly the delicious, totally-bad-for-you carbs that I could eat (or drink) after my long training sessions.
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Name: Andy Jarvis

Age: 30 but in the Ironman world you are categorized by what age you will be on December 31 of the year, so in Ironman terms I’m 31. Haha!

What city were you born in Hickory, North Carolina

What do you do when you’re not working out at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies, etc)? I work in the Sales & Marketing / Strategy Department of Blue Cross NC, so I spend a lot of time with our agent force across the state. But enough about work I currently live in Cary with my wife “Devon” and our two dogs – Nala and Levi. We try to stay as active as possible and visit with our families when we can.

What’s your favorite exercise? Least favorite Least favorite exercise is easy! DEADLIFTS! I hate those things! My favorite exercise hmm probably running. Running is one of those things I started doing a long time ago and have developed a love/hate relationship with as time has worn on. However, all you need are some shoes, shorts and a shirt and you have all you need to hit the pavement for a run, and I love that! You can do it when it’s hot or when it’s cold, so there are no excuses.

You recently competed in a half Ironman! Would you mind telling us a bit about your training for the competition? How did you keep your mind occupied during the competition
Our training was demanding, but extraordinarily rewarding. Lots of early morning brick workouts (combination of riding the bike and running) and lots of long bike rides on the weekends. For me, the most mentally taxing aspect, however, was the swim. On the bike and on the run you have your surroundings to at least get your mind off of what you are doing. It’s not that way with the swim. In the pool all you have is a black line (painted on the pool floor) to look at for 30 – 60 minutes! Boring! Closer to the race date we did start to incorporate some open water swims (in Jordan Lake) into our training which did help break-up some of the monotony a little bit!

What was your first meal after the Ironman Well, I was cramping very badly during the entire run so, technically, I would say my first meal was about 3 bottles of Gatorade! My parents were in town and did bring some Snickers Bars and Reese Cups – which tasted amazing! About 5 hours after the race, however, Devon and I ordered some Papa John’s thin crust pizza!!!
What motivated you during your Ironman training I’ve always wanted to do a race of this magnitude. I used to get triathlon magazines when I was in the 4th grade, and would dream about competing one day! So this race has been on my mind for a long time. Also and most importantly I had two great training partners “Devon and Krista” and a training Sherpa “Zach” who helped keep me accountable and who forced me to push my limits.

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Name: Robert Stanley
Age: 50
What city were you born in? Fort Benning, GA
What do you do when you’re not working out at Athletic Lab (occupation, hobbies, etc) I’m a dentist, inventor, lecturer, instructor, Boy Scout leader, Dad and Husband. I enjoy all types of sports and physical activities.

What’s your favorite exercise? Least favorite Favorite exercise is Wall Balls. I don’t have an exercise that I consider least favorite. The harder the better:-)

You recently competed in a half Ironman! Would you mind telling us a bit about your training for the competition? How did you keep your mind occupied during the competition? I didn’t train at all for the Ironman. I signed up early in the year but work constraints prevented me from training adequately, so I decided to postpone my race until next year. The day before the race I went with my wife to the registration to get my bag of goodies. While there she said, why don’t you just go for a swim tomorrow and see how far you can go. I said, “ok” and then she said, well, by some chance you finish the swim you might want to go for a little ride. I said, “okay” and before you know it, i was doing the entire race. My mental game plan was to complete the race. During the entire race, I kept telling myself to “pace yourself.” Interesting that my heart and lungs were never an issue durning the race. I attribute that to the conditioning that Crossfit provides. Finishing without training for an Ironman should not detract from those athletes that trained and competed, nor diminish their accomplishments. My endeavor was to complete the course while those athletes who trained, like my wife, competed.
What was your first meal after the Ironman? My first meal was a New York Strip steak and asparagus.
What motivated you during your Ironman training? I didn’t train for Raleigh Ironman however, I have 17 weeks to train for Ironman Louisville and I am training everyday for that Competition!