Two decades past her prime as an elite athlete, Ellen Hart finally will experience the joy of wearing a USA uniform at a major international competition.
Having failed to reach the Olympics during her career as an elite runner, in part because of an eating disorder later depicted in a made-for-TV movie, Hart last month qualified for the Triathlon World Championships on Aug. 30-Sept. 2 in Hamburg, Germany. The Denver resident did it by finishing fifth in her age group (45-49) at the USA Triathlon Age Group Championships on June 30 in Portland, Ore.
“I never expected, in any of my wildest dreams, to be competing at this level at this age,” said Hart, 49. “It feels as if I were given this wonderful midlife gift.”
Some triathletes in her age group aren’t thrilled to have such a tough and talented competitor in their way, but Hart bubbles with excitement about her evolution as a triathlete.
“I’m just loving it,” said Hart, who won the 45-49 age group at Sunday’s Boulder Peak Triathlon with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, 25 seconds.
“The whole experience feels so joyful … when you’re discovering a new sport or a new capability you didn’t really know was there.”
Within her age group at the nationals, Hart was fifth in the swim, 15th in the bike and first (no surprise) in the run. Her time of 40:46 in the 10K run was sixth overall. All of the women who beat her 10K time were 31 or younger.
Hart discovered cross training and the triathlon because of a two-year battle with plantar fasciitis, which severely impacted her fortunes as a masters runner.
“I kind of railed against it, not realizing it was the gift in disguise,” Hart said. “There was one year where I didn’t really run at all. I did cycling and swimming, just because my way of addressing life is to have some exercise and some balance. I couldn’t just sort of stop.”
In 2004, Hart ran three marathons in five weeks in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic marathon trials. The goal wasn’t to run in the Olympics at age 46, just to make the trials. Needing to run 2:48, she ran 2:52:16, 2:49:28 and 2:53:56 in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Austin, Texas.
She probably would be trying even now to qualify for the 2008 trials in Boston (she went to Harvard) if not for the foot problems that spurred her transition to the triathlon.
“My injury profile doesn’t suggest that 60 or 70 or 80 miles a week (of running) is very good for me,” Hart said.
But in the triathlon, she can compete in races of marathon duration and walk without a limp afterward. She is taking her new sport seriously but trying to maintain a healthy balance between training and motherhood. She has no coach, preferring to be spontaneous about her workouts.
“I wake up every morning and I have three choices (running, swimming or cycling), because I don’t really have a set program,” Hart said. “One thing that lets me do is tune in a little better to my body.”
She’s also leery about doing more than one workout a day.
“Having had an elite running career, that’s not how I want my triathlon experience to be,” Hart said. “I do one sport a day, except for Tuesdays when I go to Boulder and I do two things, usually a run and a bike. I would be working out once a day anyway, so it doesn’t feel like I’m taking too much away from the other parts of my life.”
Hart is approaching her trip to the world championships this year as a learning experience for the 2008 worlds (she is already qualified) because of previously scheduled family trips this summer. Her kids come first.
“My training before worlds won’t exactly be optimal,” Hart said. “But next year, I ‘age up,’ I’ll be 50. I really feel that will be the year I focus on.”
Still, it will be a thrill for her to represent the U.S. this summer in Germany.
“I spent so many years of my life thinking about the Olympics, hoping to make the Olympics, regretting a number of factors including the eating disorder,” Hart said. “To get to walk into a stadium with the U.S. team, to get to compete for my country with USA on my jersey – just thinking about it gives me goose bumps.”
