Member Spotlight: Trish Henwood

by Kim Kaltreider

How did you get your start into triathlons? You’re so fast it seems like you were born with the tri-gene!

Haha, well I’m the 3^rd generation of a big Philly rowing family so I guess I’m lucky to have inherited some athletic genes but I was the first Henwood triathlete. Not surprisingly, my life revolved around competitive rowing for about a decade, but after tearing a disc in my back I was unhappily sidelined for quite a bit and when I eventually rehabbed, I got into running races. Then I was working at a pharma company and riding with a lot of weekend warriors, they on their corporate high-end road bikes and me doing century rides with them on my little brother’s mountain bike - worked out great because it kept us all at the same pace. Having always wanted to get into triathlon, one day it dawned on me that if I figured out how to swim, I would be set. Not knowing any triathletes, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought Triathlons for Women by Sally Edwards. I read the chapter on swim technique, then went to LA Fitness next to my office, yes even bringing the book to the pool deck for reference, and luckily was able to teach myself how to swim laps. So that is how it all got started…

What was your first triathlon and how did that go?

St. Anthony’s Triathlon in Florida, April 2005. Ended up doing relatively well though I vividly remember how freaking long I thought that first race brick run felt! Raced a lot that season, doing better and better each time and I was totally hooked. After doing a bunch of half IMs, I realized my over-training tendencies meant my workout volume was as much as normal people do for IM so I pulled the trigger and did IM South Africa in April 2009.

For those BTTers who are unaware, Trish is an ER doctor…Trish, how do you find the time to train?

Trying to train legitimately during residency has definitely been interesting. Doing emergency medicine, my schedule switches day/night on what feels like a daily basis and I work upwards of 80hrs a week so I pretty much just do whatever workout I can fit in and don’t have a real training plan. I definitely sacrifice sleep for training at times but I’m happier and have much more energy from working out than not – but does become a challenge when racing longer distances and trying to find time to rest and recover!

What do you do in your spare time – if you even have any?

Hum, spare time, a relative term I guess? I recently started a non-profit focusing on bedside ultrasound education for physicians in Rwanda so with that added to my clinical shifts and tri training I’m pretty busy lately. Luckily for me all are exciting endeavors so the hard work seems less like work (always the goal). Otherwise I’m game for anything involving some sort of adventure – whether it be far flung travel, hiking a new peak, sad attempts at skate skiing with Tammy (Thompson), run-ins with border patrol and the nice Canadian police with Nicole (Kimborowicz) and Maggie (O’Toole), or even just a night out in Boston with some fellow BTTers can be all the adventure I can handle at times!

What has been your most memorable triathlon moment this year?

Would have to be the Cohasset sprint. The week prior I had a bike crash commuting and busted up my shoulder, and I was sick on antibiotics so I wasn’t even sure I would make it to the starting line. I showed up and immediately ran into Sue (MacLeod), Will (Bruce) and Erica (Allen) pre-race so was psyched to see some BTT. My residency director lives next to the transition and was surprised to see several of my co-residents had gotten up at the crack of dawn and were there to cheer before the swim start so I was feeling more than a little pressure to perform. Happily my arm held up, I went hard, and ended up 4^th overall of the non-elites and won my age group. Best part of the day was having a BTT podium sweep with Sue and Erica up on the stage with me!

What has been your favorite moment with BTT since you joined last year?

I think training weekend last year would have to be it. I went in not knowing a ton of people on the team, and had NO idea what fun I was in for when I ended up in the condo with Elaine (Metcalf), Chrissie (Hines), Kelwin (Conroy), Kim (Kaltreider) and Trish (Weston). I live with a work hard, play hard mentality so training weekend was the perfect storm…climbing the Kank by day, condo happy hour and then team dinner/party that night was questionably too much fun for one day! Luckily, my new friend Kim offer to drive me and my car home on Sunday…

Any insight as to what your future holds?!

Broad question huh? From the tri perspective, I’m waiting for my schedule to lighten up a bit before going back to Ironman training. Kona is the ‘one day…’ goal and I don’t want to risk injury by training so hard when I don’t have enough recovery time. Over the next year I think I’ll continue to focus on shorter/mid-distance races and try to build more speed (see below question), and if my schedule allows, hopefully will represent BTT and Team USA at Sprint Worlds this time next year in New Zealand.

One last question – when should we expect a BK and Trish showdown?

Haha, you'll have to ask BK (Brian Kearney) - I know he won't let me chick him any time soon! Think he started training harder when my bike time was within seconds of his at Quassy so maybe I missed my window? I blew up in the heat at Fairlee and put up no fight there, and then he had a great end-of-season race at Esprit and again showed me no mercy. It could take years, but it is better to the hunter than the hunted right? ;)